Page:VCH Lancaster 1.djvu/288

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A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE the communication to the Archsological Institute.' ^ The implement itself, as seen in the photograph on Plate II. No. 6, is the best of its kind which the county has provided, being true of finish, smooth of surface, and symmetrical in form. Its upper and lower surfaces are hollowed towards the hole, which is centrally placed as regards the body of the implement. The sides curve round uniformly, at the one end drawing in to the edge, which is regular, at the other end inclining more directly towards the head, which is dressed in a circle and presents a disc-like surface as a hammer. This end is partly chipped by use, and there is a small modern break in one end of the cutting edge ; the implement is now broken in two halves but accurately joined. It measures about 4J in. in length, 2 in. in depth, and 2I in. in breadth. The perforation measures ijin. across at each end, diminishing to I in. about the middle.' In addition to the implements described others have been found but less completely recorded. From Clitheroe, for instance, were ' a stone hammer and two axes ' ; from Hopwood a ' stone axe-hammer ' ; from Martin Mere ' a hatchet of dark stone found in peat ' ; from Turton, in Charters Moss, a ' perforated stone hammer ' ; from Heaton and /'^^v'~~'~~^7^^^^^^ Quernmore, near Lancaster, 'a rude stone ham-

(; ■ mer-head.'

%^i: -■■■;.. 'V ;>.,/ (^) ^ound perforated hammers^ mace-heads^ '"^^■^~-^=^^:g/l;^ etc. — In grouping together all the perforated stone hammers of roundish form, there are neces- sarily included several which it is hardly possible to separate from the adze-like implements on the one hand, and the smaller stone hammers just described on the other. That from Bolton Park is an instance, fig. 11. It is of quartzite, F„ ,, . „ nicely formed. Its length is 3 1 in., width about i-ic. II. — bMALL Hammer from „i • j j ^i_ ■, • <-v , . Queen's Park, Bolton. 1:2. ^^ ^"'^ ^"" depth i m. One end IS somewhat (Chadwick Museum, Bolton.) adze-like, the other is hammer-like. It was found buried in sand at the east end of the pro- menade m Queen's Park, Bolton, where it now remains in the Chadwick Museum. It is an interesting object. The maul-head from Silverdale, in North Lancashire, preserved in the same museuni, is of similar general character. It is more definitely flat in form, but without any edge, being hammer-hke at both ends. The hole is very much aslant in the section of this implement. Its length is U in., breadth 2 J in., and depth in general ij in. A further instance may be cited. There was found in 1879 while draining at the Stakes, Bowland, a perforated implement more round in form than the foregoing, and in this case clearly of adze-like section. Its extreme length IS 4iin., width 3J in., and depth i in.' An implement found, as it seems, at Goosnargh, near to Loneridge, north of Preston, is described by a sketch in the museum at Salford. It seems to be definitely rounded and of adze-like section, fig. 12. Its length IS z in., and breadth 2J in. : the perforation is small. It links in type ^ Evans, Ztone Imp. p. io8. = By courtesy of W. Fitzherbert Brockholes, Esq. of Claughton Hall. 8 Weld MSS, 226