| Description | Hoard of bronze socketed axes, described in the antiquarian literature as having been found at Osmondthick. Osmondthick no longer exists on O.S. map; its former position is occupied by Flying Horse Farm at cited grid ref.Farm is situated on magnesian limestone immediately south of conjectured line of Roman rd., here running east west. There are three original descriptions of the hoard by Richard Richardson, Ralph Thoresby and and George Plaxton (the article cited above by Briggs is the best recent account of the hoard and gives great detail about the various records of it, circumstances of discovery, contents etc.; bibliog. contains v. full refs.: copy of article in SMR). Although there appears to have been considerable difference of opinion amongst the antiquarians as to the nature and origin of the hoard, all their descriptions agree about the nature of the find, i.e. that it was of socketed bronze axes. The figures of actual no. of axes found vary between 6 and 7 plus one (Richardson), 5 and 6 (Thoresby) and 5 (Plaxton). 5 seems most likely as it is based on a first hand account. The hoard was found in April 1709 and was illustrated by Rev. G. Plaxton, rector of Barwick, in a letter of 19 April, 1709 (YAS MS 15), to Thoresby. Plaxton's is the most useful and comprehensive drawing of the axes (he illustrates 4). Thoresby adds nothing to Plaxton's account and his entire printed contribution derives from Plaxton's. Briggs points out that the scattered and meagre nature of evidence has largely obviated dicussion of hoard in literature of Bronze Age metalwork. Hoard appears to have contained ribbed and plain axes. Socketed axes decorated with ribs belong to the `Yorkshire type' as defined by Fox in 1933 and more recently by Burgess and Miket in 1976 (Arch. Aeliana, 1976, 1 9, fig.2). As name implies, main distribution of the type is in Yorkshire and N. of England. Both`Yorkshire type' and undecorated type (Everthorpe) may be ascribed to the Heathery Burn tradition of the later Bronze Age,i.e. after c.800 B.C. (see PRN 3784 (Smalley Bight hoard from Stanley) for main features of this industry). The chronolgy is , however, ill defined and such axes probably continued in use for several centuries. Only one axe survives though some do have a history beyond 1709, one having belonged to Richardson, 2 or possibly 3 to Thoresby (see Briggs, p.252). The axe still surviving is acknowledged by Brigg's (see letter in SMR) as omitted in his article: a soc. axe described on O.S. card as from Kiddall (mod. Kiddal); is held by B. Mus. (axe desrbd. in Sloane Catalog. (Sl.283) whch.confirms it is part of this hoard). |