Bronze Age palstave, South of Whitehouse Farm, Mistley Heath (EHER 7438)

Acton Park type palstave found in fieldwalking here in March 1982. The palstave was badly corroded when found and was taken to Colchester Museum where it was electrolytically reduced, leading to the loss of all the original surface.

`Acton Park' type palstave found in fieldwalking here in March 1982. In 1976 an unidentified copper alloy object was found at the same spot. The palstave was badly corroded when found and was taken to Colchester Museum where it was electrolytically reduced, leading to the loss of all the original surface. Notes by the writer suggest that the butt of the axe was broken in antiquity and that file marks were visible on the `casting-flashes'. The powdery green surface had a thin patchy black layer remaining in places. The field has produced a number of cropmarks, see EHER 3227, including a ring ditch close to the findspot of the palstave and two possibly neolithic enclosures - fieldwalking there has produced flint flakes, see EHER 7439. <1> <2>