as if these relics were not so scarce as had been supposed. It will be remembered that at Lovehayne, about a mile distant from Broad Down, a deposit of about a hundred of these implements was brought to light when a stone barrow was destroyed by some road-makers in 1770.[1] In the Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter is another example of the palstave, that was picked up by Mr. Fowler, of Honiton, in the immediate vicinity of Farway Castle. Other examples have also occurred in Devon, at Morebarton, in a field near Sub Hill, between Clyst St. Lawrence and Rockbeare,[2] and at Rumby, near Bovey Tracey; whilst several bronze taper blades were discovered in a field near Escot, some of which have been presented to the Museum at Exeter by Sir John Kennaway, Bart., the remainder having been deposited in the National Collection at the British Museum. These remarkable weapons have been figured and described by Mr. Charles Tucker, in this Journal.[3] A more recent and remarkable discovery of bronze implements in Devonshire occurred at Plymstock, on the estate of the Duke of Bedford, in 1868; they have been presented by his Grace to the British Museum, a few specimens only being reserved for the Exeter Collection. These and the other "finds" that I have alluded to are described by Mr. Albert Way, in this Journal.[4] The fact of the discovery of those four pieces of bronze in the barrow at Gittisham Hill is of importance also, as helping to solve the question whether the weapons of bronze which have been occasionally found were fabricated in Britain, or were imported from other countries. The answer to this inquiry is not without importance to our early history. For if we may assume, as I think we are entitled to do, that the bronze celt, the palstave, the spear-head, and the blade-weapon—examples of each of which have occurred in East Devon—are actually native productions, we have here a decided proof that our forefathers in the Bronze Age enjoyed a certain degree of civilization. A savage people, destitute alike of the knowledge and of the love of the arts of peace, could
- ↑ Archaeological Journal, vol. xxvi. p. 341, and Transactions of the Devonshire Association, vol. ii. p. 647, plate ix.
- ↑ The implement here referred to is now used by a quack doctor as a charm for wens, and other affections of the throat.
- ↑ Notices of Antiquities of Bronze found in Devonshire, Archaeological Journal, vol. xxiv., p. 110.
- ↑ Antiquities of Bronze found in Devonshire, Archaeological Journal, vol. xxiv. p. 339; Supplementary Notices to the Memoir of Mr. Charles Tucker, in vol. xxvi.
