Page:History of Manchester (1771), Volume 1, by John Whitaker.djvu/32

 Chap; L OF MAKCHE'STE R... t$ targeftefs of the cavity within, was there fecured by an infufioi* oi molted metal. And the whole appears from, the loop at the bead ffr hive been flung acrofs the fhoulder or fufpended at the fide by a leathern thong. Thus does this brazen inftrument appear to have been origirtally the head of a light battle-axe i and it is very like m the formation and fize of its blade to the- light axes of the American Mohawks, And this and all the m& are very plainly the heads of Britifh battle-axes.. Some of • thefe brazen weapons have been a&ually found in the fepulchers^ of the Britons upon the town* of Wiltshire and within the segion of Caledonia g And as other inftruments have been. discovered in Wiltfhire, Warwickshire, Staffordshire, and Cheshire* which were Shaped in: the fame manner and muft therefore have been defigned 'for the fajne ufes, which however were not compofed of brafs but were formed of ft ones '* ; the rude iim- plicicy of tiVftfe axes, their correspondence with the arrow-heads of flint which have been fo often discovered in Scotland,, and the frequent diSeovery of the fame fort "of axes in the fepul- cbers tk the Gauls and of the Britons**, inconteftabfjr evince the Britons to have been the original proprietors of all. Such a ftone-formed head of a Britifh battle-axe I have now in my own poffeflion, a great curiofity in itfelf, as very few have been found in the kingdom* a greater,, as it h die firft that has been found in Lancashire and the ieeoud that has been difcoveted in the North f This was thrown up by the harrow ia one of the fields that are immediately upon the left hand of the road fc> Throftlenefh This is a Strong heavy Celt, molded' with great regularity from, a large (lone* and ground neatly to an» edge, and is remarkably different from the flint-made axes of Warwickshire and Staffordshire. Thofe were all of theuv fmall, and mod about four inches and a half only in length* But this is twelve inches in length, and three inches and three and a half iu breadth- About three inches and an. half from the broad and blunted end, the breadth of the ftoue is perfo- lated fox the iniertion of an handle,, as the thicknefs of the " • • ftone*
 * finall orifice upon one ilde of it, and, as appeals from the