Page:VCH Lancaster 1.djvu/315

 EARLY MAN Our first example is an iron sword, with bronze hilt and sheath, from Warton, near Lancaster. The two portions, sword and sheath, have become adherent and worn by corrosion, but the annexed restoration, in fig. 30, is courteously supplied by the Ethnographical department of the British Museum, where the object is preserved. It is a simple type. The handle is distinguished by the circular ball enclosed in the triangular end, in which circles and lines are blended with the characteristic geo- metrical and symmetrical effect. The grasp is embellished by three nicked, rounded ridges which run around it, one at each end, and one in the middle, where the thickness is somewhat greater. Opposed pear-shaped ornaments com- plete the decoration of the hilt. The sheath is much worn ; but down the attachment, which is fixed by pins, may be recognized a fine rope pattern, lying vertically down the middle. The date of this interesting relic, if the product of normal develop- ment, should be the first century B.C. Another relic of late Celtic work is a dagger-sheath from Pilling Moss, south of Lancaster, now in the mu- seum at Salford. The figure, fig. 31, illustrates this object in every detail. The position of the attachment, and the binding rings, are of interest ; and the circular ornament of the tip is apparently unique in character. There seems to be no record of its discovery. It was found in PilUng Moss, near to Garstang. Its length is ii| in. Its date might be as late as the first century. Some bronze fittings, enamelled, but without decoration, said to have been found at Walton-le-Dale, and now in the museum at Preston, may be assigned to Celtic workmanship. Passing from the implements of war, the most striking object is a bronze-beaded torque, or necklet, found near Handle Hill, at Mow Road, near Rochdale, where it now remains in possession of the lord of the manor. It is figured in fig. 32.^ A workman found it beneath a flagstone at the root of an oak tree. Technically this object belongs to the class of beaded torques : — ' Rather more than one half the collar is composed of bronze beads of two 1 Taken from Fishwick, op. cit., by courtesy of the author, 247 Fig. 30. — Sword AND Sheath from Warton. (British Museum.) Scale, I : 4. Fig. 31. — Late Celtic Dagger-sheath from Pil- ling Moss. (Salford Museum.) 1:3.