Record Details

NHER Number:2615
Type of record:Find Spot
Name:A hoard of nineteen Bronze Age spearheads

Summary

A hoard of nineteen Bronze Age spearheads was recovered in this area in 1814. The exact location of this discovery is disputed.

Images - none

Location

Parish:OXBOROUGH, BRECKLAND, NORFOLK

Full description

1814. Stray Find.
Found at a depth of 5' [1.5m] "in Mrs Warnes turf-fen near the turnpike road".
Bronze Age hoard comprising 19 'Class V' copper alloy spearheads found 1.5m deep. Each around c.2 1/2" [63mm long]. One or more objects from this hoard are the subject of a drawing by Woodward in (S1).

A 60mm long spearhead from this hoard was subsequently donated to Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 1829.100.4). See annotated drawing (S2).
This object was exhibited at a meeting of the Archaeological Institute in 1847 (S3) and is listed in (S4) [1] and also noted in (S5)
Information from (S6).

A noted added to (S6) by R. R. Clarke (NCM) suggests that a 48cm long spearhead in the NCM's Fitch Collection was also from this site (NWHCM : 1894.76.789). But a subsequent noted by E. B. Green (NCM) says "no evidence". The object in question is now recorded by the museum as being from Barham in Suffolk.
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 24 May 2018.

There is a reference on page 3 of (S7) to an "arrowhead from Oxborough", which is corrected to 'spearhead' on page 12. This may be a reference to one of the objects from this hoard.
E. Rose (NAU).
Information from (S8).
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 24 May 2018.

No enclosure map for Oxborough. The tithe map of 1840 names no Mrs. Warnes but the locality described must be somewhere near White Bridge which is across the river from Boughton Fen. Any connection with these two hoards?
E. Rose (NAU).

Monument Types

  • FINDSPOT (Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 701 BC)

Associated Finds

  • HOARD (Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 701 BC)
  • SPEAR (Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 701 BC)

Protected Status - none

Sources and further reading

---Record Card: Ordnance Survey Staff. 1933-1979?. Ordnance Survey Record Cards. TF 70 SW 14.
---Secondary File: Secondary File.
<S1>Serial: Dawson-Turner. 1815. Dawson-Turner's Additions to Blomefield's History.
<S2>Illustration: [Unknown]. [Unknown]. Drawing of a Bronze Age copper alloy spearhead. Paper. 1:1.
<S3>Article in Monograph: 1851. Catalogue of Antiquities. Exhibited in the Museum formed during the Annual Meeting of the Archaeological Institute, held at Norwich, in 1847. Memoirs Illustrative of the History and Antiquities of Norfolk and the City. Archaeological Institute. pp xxiii-lvi. p xxvi.
<S4>Publication: Rye, W. 1909. Catalogue of Antiquities Found Principally in East Anglia. p 19.
<S5>Monograph: 1901. The Victoria History of Norfolk. The Victoria History of the Counties of England. Vol 1. p 277.
<S6>Record Card: Clarke, R. R. and NCM Staff. 1933-1973. Norwich Castle Museum Record Card - Bronze Age. Oxbough.
<S7>Publication: Muskett. 1832. Woodward Correspondence. p.74.
<S8>Record Card: NAU Staff. 1974-1988. Norfolk Archaeological Index Primary Record Card.

Related records - none

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