Pool Crofts

NG88SE 8 c. 858 802.

(Area: NG 858 802) A Middle Bronze Age spearhead (Type E), 14" long, was found in May 1879, at a depth of 3' in a moss, near a croft on the S side of the River Ewe, at a point opposite the find-spot of the Bronze Age hoard (NG88SE 5).

W Jolly 1880; J H Dixon 1886; J M Coles 1966.

Held among the manuscript collections of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (under index number SAS 502.iii) there are two sheets of drawings by an Alexander Ross that were clearly prepared to accompany a paper by William Jolly describing material from Wester Ross, particularly the Poolewe hoard (NG88SE 5), but unfortunately two of the illustrations never saw the light of day; one find referred to in Jolly's text as a "spearhead" is in fact a previously-unrecorded rapier. It was discovered in May 1879 "about 3 feet deep in the moss, at a point opposite the site of the large bronze find on the north side of the river (NG88SE 5)".

Jolly described the rapier as follows: 'It is 14 inches long, 1/8 inches broad at the base, expanding to 1 1/2 inch, 1 inch upwards, and gradually tapering thence to the point which is pointed and perfect. The cdouble edges are fine and sharp, and not indented in any way, showing that the weapon had been very little if at all used'.

Ross's pen and ink drawing (which more accurately describes the weapon as a "dagger or poniard") appears to bear out Jolly's observations regarding the condition of the blade. The trapezoidal butt is asymmetrical and has two deep rivet-notches. On one side at least the shoulder appears to be sharply out-turned at the tip; on some rapiers, the angle thus created may have been designed to hold supplementary rivets. Stemming from the shoulders, a broad flattened midrib appears to have run along the blade converging to a point some way from the tip. Dimensions: length 355mm; width at shoulders 48mm; thickness of blade 4mm.

Remarkably, Ross includes a profile of the blade, clearly indicating that the weapon has the flattened cross-section characteristic of Burgess and Gerloff's Group IV. The butt shape permits its tentative attribution to the Corncarrow type, although it is longer than average for this type.

Information from Mr B O'Connor and Mr T Cowie, 10 January 1995.