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'Ditch Park Moss'
Rapier (Bronze)(Period Unassigned)
Site Name 'Ditch Park Moss'
Classification Rapier (Bronze)(Period Unassigned)
Alternative Name(s) Tankerness; Sillerdyke; Nether Bossack
Canmore ID 2332
Site Number HY40NE 18
NGR HY 4972 0772
NGR Description HY c. 4972 0772
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/2332
- Council Orkney Islands
- Parish St Andrews And Deerness
- Former Region Orkney Islands Area
- Former District Orkney
- Former County Orkney
HY40NE 18 c.4972 0772.
Approx. HY 4972 0772 Exhibited by J W Cursiter at the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (NMAS) on 13 June 1887 was a dagger "one of the class known as rapier shaped, having a long narrow blade and short broad base; it measures 10 ins. in length, 1 inch in breadth at the base of the blade which expands to about 2 inches at the butt, which is semi-circular, and has been attached to the handle by rivets. It was found in April 1886 by Archibald Smith, tenant of Nether Bossack, when peat cutting, and at a depth of six peats in the Ditch Park Moss, in St Andrew's Parish, Orkney, about 400 yards from the house of Sillerdyke, in a straight line between Sillerdyke and Nether Bossack. The rivet holes are broken away, and no traces of the rivets or handle were found."
J W Cursiter 1887.
The precise site of this find could not be established, and no further information could be found.
Visited by OS(RD) 10 April 1964
In 1887 Cursiter exhibited to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland a narrow rapier-shaped bronze dagger, 250mm long and riveted for a handle, which had been found the previous year at a precisely recorded location bewteen Sillerdyke and Nether Bossack.
J W Cursiter 1887; RCAHMS 1987
This object is classified as a rapier; its present whereabouts are unknown.
Information from Mr B O'Connor and Mr T Cowie, 10 January 1995.
The Orkney Herald mentions a bronze dagger or "sword" from Tankerness on June 30th 1886.
