Page:VCH Worcestershire 1.djvu/245

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EARLY MAN service to any one who undertakes the business of a thorough examina- tion of Prehistoric Worcestershire. The finds of Prehistoric implements and weapons that have been recorded are here grouped under the locaHties in which they have been found. No attempt is made to distinguish between the ages NeoHthic, Bronze and Iron to which the articles belong. The localities are divided into four groups : — (a) Avon Valley. (^) Severn Valley. (c) Teme Valley. (J) Mid-Worcestershire. (a) Avon Valley. i. Bevington Waste. A rough stone axe was found here by a workman and placed on a rockery in his garden, from whence it was obtained by the late Canon Winington Ingram. It is now in the Victoria Museum, Worcester. ii. Harvington. A bronze celt, socketed, ringed and reeded, evidently cast in a mould consisting of two halves, for the mark where the two parts met is very clearly shown on the implement, was found in a deep watery ditch between Harvington and Salford, this ditch forms the boundary between the counties of Worcester and Warwick. It has a total length of 4I inches and was in the possession of the late Mr. E. Bomford of Spring Hill, Flad- bury. iii. Church Lench. A bronze palstave found at Church Lench forms part of the Winington Ingram collection in the 'Victoria Museum, Worcester. iv. Offenham. A celt of black stone was dug up in a ditch in this parish and is now in the possession of the Rev. F. 8. Taylor. It is 3 inches in length, 2 inches in width at one end, i| inches at the other, and has been sharpened at both ends. v. Aldington. A rectangular piece of chlorite slate 5I inches long, 1 1 inches broad, and of an inch thick, slightly convex on one surface and with a corresponding concavity on the other was found in a gravel pit at Aldington. It has four holes through it, one at each corner, just low enough on the convex face for a small cord to pass through it. The hole is countersunk on the concave face. This implement has been described as a bracer (Evans, p. 381 ; Wilts Arch. Mag., vol. x. (1867), pi. vi.). vi. Evesham. A bronze palstave found near Evesham, now in the possession of Mr. R. F. Tomes of Littleton. vii. Sedgeberrow. In deepening the channel of the brook at this place the sharpened half of a basalt celt was found, together with the portion of another (May's History of Evesham, ed. 2, p. 365 ; Allies, Antiquities, p. 85). viii. At the same time, about 1827, and in the same place, while deepening the brook two oval-shaped spearheads of bronze of I 193 o