KNIFE

Forged iron whittle tanged knife blade of probable 14th century date.

The Knife blade is sub-triangular in plan with a straight back and sloped shoulder. The cutting edge tapers to a point. The blade is triangular in cross section and is 140mm long, 23.5mm wide (at the base of the blade nearest the tang), and 9mm thick. The whittle tang of the knife is broken and is therefore only 23mm long and 11.2mm wide.

The whole knife is encased in a mid-orange / brown encrusted corrosion layer. The cutting edge of the blade has been chipped in several places and the black iron layer below is visible. There is also damage to the rear of the blade (closest to the tang)where a large portion of the cutting edge has broken. Again the black coloured iron below is clearly visible and therefore all this damage should be treated as recent or post deposition. However, the broken tang is encrusted with corrsion suggesting that this break occured prior to deposition.

A similar example to this knife can be seen in Cowgill, Neergaard,and Griffiths, 1987: Knives and Scabbards. pp 88-89, catalogue number 85 and has been dated to the late 14th century (1350-1400)