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Monument details

HER Number:TR 16 NW 3
Type of record:Monument
Name:Late Bronze Age founder's hoard

Summary

A Late Bronze Age bronze hoard found at Swalecliffe in February 1922 following a cliff fall. The hoard comprises more than 60 items in all, the bulk of them being in the British Museum. The hoard comprises a collection of winged axes, socketed axes, sword blade fragments plus other implements including a socketed hammer, a socketed knife, gouges, a chisel and a chape, plus some 26 ingot fragments


Grid Reference:TR 132 675
Map Sheet:TR16NW
Parish:WHITSTABLE, CANTERBURY, KENT

Monument Types

  • Hoard (hoard, Late Neolithic to Late Bronze Age - 2600 BC to 701 BC)

Associated Finds

  • HOARD (Late Bronze Age - 1000 BC to 701 BC)

Full description

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A late Bronze Age hoard of 16 objects from Swalecliffe is in the British Museum. It comprises socketed axes, swords, spearheads, winged axes and founder's metal, and was revealed in 1922 by a fall of cliff 320 yards eastwards from the boundary stone [shown on Worsfold's map at TR 13016738]. At 345 yards eastwards from the stone, a late Bronze Age cinerary urn containing calcined bone and ash, was found in 1925 (7) with a Bronze Age arrowhead and biconical holed hammer or adze nearby. [The siting on the O.S. County Series agrees with Worsfold's siting evidence for the hoard, the cremation being 25 yards away. The incorrect siting on the O.S. N.G. Series seems to have been taken from the personal records of L.R.A. Grove which were kept on a copy of O.S.6" 1908.] (5-7) Twelve objects from this hoard, including a winged axe and the fragments of two socketed axes are on exhibition Maidstone Museum ex. Worsfold's collection. Two looped and socketed palstaves from this hoard are in the possession of Mr. W.C. Harvey, 53 Oxford Street, Whitstable. The sites of both hoard and burial now fall on the foreshore below high water mark, but can be accurately plotted (from Worsfold's description, H.W.Ms. on contemporary plans and identification of the boundary stone) to TR 1329567478 and TR 1331567487 (the latter coincides with a Me/Ne site - see TR 16 NW 2.) (8)
A Late Bronze Age bronze hoard found at Swalecliffe in February 1922 following a cliff fall. The hoard comprises more than 60 items in all, the bulk of them (54 items) being in the British Museum. The remainder (13 items) were initially kept by FH Worsfold, and are now in Maidstone Museum. The exact location of the findspot is uncertain. Worsfold located it 320 yards east of a marker stone at TR 13016738. He did not mark the hoard findspot on his published location map, instead describing the hoard as being found 320 yards east of a boundary or marker stone at TR 13016738. The coast actually runs ene-wnw at this point, so he presumably meant 320 yards further along the coast. The Ordnance Survey's suggestion of TR 1329567478 seems a reasonable approximation, given that the findspot now lies on the foreshore below the high water mark, although a 10 digit NGR might imply greater precision than is actually possible. The hoard comprises a collection of winged axes, a winged adze, socketed axes, sword blade fragments plus other implements including a socketed hammer, a socketed knife, gouges, a chisel and a chape, plus some 26 ingot fragments. In 1963, the Ordnance Survey noted two further socketed axes in private possession which apparently belong to this hoard. This has not been confirmed. Worsfold also noted other finds in the vicinity - a "Bronze Age arrowhead" (exact type not mentioned), and a "biconical holed hammer or adze of diorite", both found close to an urned cremation. Worsfold referred to the latter as "Late Bronze Age", though it is almost certainly Middle Bronze Age if not earlier. [NB TR 16 NW 25 is a duplicate entry referring to the Swalecliffe hoard]

OS card and NAR entries (2-9), additional references from relevant field reports (10,11) and site photographs (12-14).


<1> Ordnance Survey, 1905-10, Ordnance Survey 1:2500 3rd edition: 1901-1912 (Map). SWX11833.

<2> OS 1/2500 1938 (OS Card Reference). SKE48123.

<3> OS 6" 1938-9 (OS Card Reference). SKE48357.

<4> OS 1/2500 1957 (OS Card Reference). SKE48127.

<5> OS 6" 1962 (OS Card Reference). SKE48371.

<6> PPSEA 5 1925-7 230 (FH Worsfold) (OS Card Reference). SKE48635.

<7> Arch of Kent 1930 108 (RF Jessup) (OS Card Reference). SKE36870.

<8> Rev ONB 1939 97 (OS Card Reference). SKE49199.

<9> F1 CFW 17.09.63 (OS Card Reference). SKE42603.

<10> Field report for monument TR 16 NW 3 - September, 1963 (Bibliographic reference). SKE5532.

<11> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, Canterbury Sites and Monuments Record, 3 (Index). SWX11836.

<12> 1982, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX11613.

<13> 1982, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX11612.

<14> 1941, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX10090.

Sources and further reading

Cross-ref. Source description
<1>Map: Ordnance Survey. 1905-10. Ordnance Survey 1:2500 3rd edition: 1901-1912. 1:2500.
<2>OS Card Reference: OS 1/2500 1938.
<3>OS Card Reference: OS 6" 1938-9.
<4>OS Card Reference: OS 1/2500 1957.
<5>OS Card Reference: OS 6" 1962.
<6>OS Card Reference: PPSEA 5 1925-7 230 (FH Worsfold).
<7>XYOS Card Reference: Arch of Kent 1930 108 (RF Jessup). [Mapped feature: #44184 Hoard, ]
<8>OS Card Reference: Rev ONB 1939 97.
<9>OS Card Reference: F1 CFW 17.09.63.
<10>Bibliographic reference: Field report for monument TR 16 NW 3 - September, 1963.
<11>Index: Canterbury Archaeological Trust. Canterbury Sites and Monuments Record. 3.
<12>Photograph (Print): 1982. Photograph. TR1368/2. print.
<13>Photograph (Print): 1982. Photograph. TR1368/1. print.
<14>Photograph (Print): 1941. Photograph. 34. print.