SEX78102 - Romano-British hoes or rakes, 1949

Abstract/Summary

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Description

Mr. Thomas W. Bagshawe, F.S.A., Local Secretary for Bedfordshire, sends the following note:-While looking through the collection formed by the late Mr. F. G. Gurney of Eggington, Bedfordshire, his brother Mr. E. T. Gurney and the writer came across an object made of red deer antler-either a hoe or a rake (pl. xi, b). Fortunately Mr. E. T. Gurney could remember the circumstances of its discovery so that its provenance can be fixed with certainty. The hoe, no. 5, has a roughly rectangular or more properly trapezoidal hafting hole tapering from 1 in. x in. to I in. in front to 1 in. x in. to in. at back. The longer sides lie parallel to a line bisecting the angle between the two tines (see also no. 4 below). The tines are 31 in. long. There are marks caused by a metal cutting instrument on the larger tine and the 'coronet' or 'burr' has been cut off. It is certain that the object came from the vicinity of the site described in 'An Early Iron Age Inhumation-Burial at Eggington, Bedfordshire', by Frederick G. Gurney and C. F. C. Hawkes, F.S.A. (Antiq. Journ. xx, 230-44), and almost certain that it was found about 1932 in a Romano-British rubbish-pit or trench in the sand pit, Manor Farm, Eggington, mentioned in the article. The writer was able to acquire the hoe and has presented it to the University Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Cambridge.

Record last edited

Jun 29 2026 3:05PM