Newcastle, River Tyne, bronze sword

HER Number:
767

District:
Newcastle

Site Name:
Newcastle, River Tyne, bronze sword

Place:
Newcastle

Map Sheet:
NZ26SE NZ36NW

Class:
Armour and Weapons

Site Type: Broad:
Weapon

Site Type: Specific:
Sword

General Period:
Prehistoric

Specific Period:
Bronze Age

Form of Evidence:
Find

Description:
Said to have been dredged from the Tyne below Newcastle, but exactly where and when is unclear. Presumed to have once been in the possession of the antiquarian, Canon Greenwell, since it is now in the British Museum as part of the Canon Greenwell Collection. The sword is 692 mm long, 31 mm max. width, with a blade 7 mm thick, i.e. a little shorter than HER no. 768, with which it has more than once been confused. There is a wide V-shaped cleft in the end of the pommel-piece, and the handle is pierced by 8 rivet-holes, 4 on the butt, 3+1 on the handle, the last being on the pommel-piece "below, and quite separate from the point of the cleft - a unique feature".

Easting:
274

Northing:
634

Grid Reference:
NZ274634

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
<< HER 767 >> W. Greenwell, 1889, Ancient British Implements of Bronze, Etc.Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle, 2, III (for 1887-88), p. 309 W. Page, ed. 1905, Early Man, Victoria County History, Durham, I, pp. 206-07 Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle, 1907, 3, II (for 1905-06), opp. p. 226, no. 2 M.H. Dodds, ed. 1930, Prehistoric Period, Northumberland County History, XIII, p. 21 fig. 21 and p. 22 J.D. Cowen, 1967, The Hallstatt Sword of Bronze: on the Continent and in Britain,Proceedings Prehistoric Society, XXXIII, p. 445 no. 199, pl. LX.3 A.J. Challis & D.W. Harding, 1975, Later Prehistory from the Trent to the Tyne, British Archaeological Report, 20, pt. ii, p. 35 no. 4 R. Miket, 1984, The Prehistory of Tyne and Wear, pp. 43 and 45, fig. 13 no. 7