Page:VCH Lancaster 1.djvu/275

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EARLY MAN These implements, which are of the form illustrated by the figure No. i, were probably used as hoes, and the purposely flattened sides characteristic of them seem to have been designed to better secure the implement from lateral movement in its haft. The polish upon the broad ends, and occasionally small chips, show them to have been considerably used in hoeing and digging the soil. The greatest of these, from Newton-le- Willows, where it was found near the Vulcan Foundry, now preserved in the museum at War- rington, was described when found as a club, owing to its remarkable length of 17J in. It is 3 1 in. in greatest width and 2 J in. broad. The material seems to be smoothed flint, which has become coated with a calcareous skin. It was found about 2 ft. below the surface, in cutting a drain in a field near the Vulcan Foundry at Newton. (See photo on Plate II. No. 3.) The flattened sides, a conspicuous feature in the Newton celt, are not apparent in that found at Shaw Hall, Flixton, now in the Blackmore Museum at Salisbury. This object also has the comparatively great length of 1 2 J in. One of the Pendle celts, now in the museum of Black- burn, with a length of i if in. is next in point of size. Itswidthis3Jin., thickness If in. Itsmaterial is described as felspathic porphyry. One side is smoothly polished as if by continued use in soil. It was found at Wiswell near Whalley in 1835. The other celt from Pendle, the subject of the figure No. i, is the most remarkable for its ap- pearance, though least of the four in size. Its length is 10 in. and breadth 2 in. It was found in a turf pit near Windy Harbour P'arm on the north end of the hill.^ The material is a kind of green-stone, mottled, and the surface is beautifully polished. Among the small class of stone celts some of them retain the flattened side. Two very good specimens were found at Leagram,^ the one under the Hall itself, and the other northward in the Pale Farm, near the Loud. The former, which is illustrated by fig. 2, is 4J in. by 2J by i, and the latter somewhat Fig. I. — Mottled Stone Celt FROM Windy Harbour, Pen- dle. Scale, 1 ; 2. Fig. 2. — Celt with Flattened Sides FROM Leagram Hall. Scale, 1:2. ofSiMohn"Eval!r ^"'^'""""^'^ ^"'^ ^^- P" "7— from which the figure is taken by kind permission _ 2 Where they were preserved in the Hall by the late John Weld, Esq., from whose MSS. this information IS derived by courtesy of his daughter. ' 217 28