Record ID: SWYOR-218337
Object type: BILL HOOK
Broad period: UNKNOWN
County: North Yorkshire
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
A complete iron bladed knife, a billhook or other form of curved knife, of unknown date, Roman to Post Medieval, AD 43 - 1800. It has a scale tang with two incomplete wooden scales forming the handle surviving. Three iron rivets secure the scales to the tang. The blade is the same width as the tang. In most modern examples, the blade is wider and steps narrower to the handle. The blade has a curved tip and is sharpened on the inner side of the curve only. The tip of the blade has a hard white substance adhering to the blade - possibly part of a sheath. Length 178.6mm, width 4…
Created on: Monday 15th May 2023
Last updated: Thursday 25th May 2023
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: SWYOR-8D57AF
Object type: BILL HOOK
Broad period: POST MEDIEVAL
County: North Yorkshire
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
An iron billhook of probably Post Medieval to Modern date, but unchanged in design since Roman times. It is a single edged curved blade, hooked at the tip, tapering at the shoulder into a socket (incomplete). There is no barb on this example. 315mm long, diameter (at socket) of 41.5mm, thickness (mid point of blade) of 10.2mm, and in excess of 657g. The back of the blade is blunt. The iron is rusted and pitted, with some areas of weeping corrosion. The website: https://www.billhooks.co.uk/ suggests that billhooks of this shape and style have been used since the Iron Age. However, t…
Created on: Monday 23rd September 2019
Last updated: Tuesday 1st October 2019
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: BH-D516CD
Object type: BILL HOOK
Broad period: ROMAN
County: Hertfordshire
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
An incomplete and very corroded cast iron bill hook dating to the Roman period. The bill hook, of Rees 1979, type 4, has a sub-trapezoidal-shaped blade with a straight edge and a gently curving back. There is no evidence of a hook or beak on the blade edge, nor a spike at the back. Both tips of the blade are broken. From the blade edge, the plate gradually thickens and tapers inwards towards a broken long open-ended socket set at an angle roughly parallel to the blade. The socket is rectangular in plan and in cross section, and originally may well have been longer. A roughly v-shaped …
Created on: Monday 5th March 2018
Last updated: Wednesday 19th December 2018
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: NLM-9ECD00
Object type: BILL HOOK
Broad period: MEDIEVAL
County: Lincolnshire
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
Iron possible billhook fragment. Wrought iron curved blade from an agricultural tool. The larger part is a straight rectangular section length, but the thickness diminishes from about half way along the curvature at one end, where it is perhaps thinned by sharpening and here the cutting edge is apparently along the outer side. The other end also appears thinner than the mid-section, and may have a finished rounded end. Reported together with carpentry tools and medieval arrowheads from the same area. Suggested date: Medieval, 1200-1500. Length: 150mm, Width: 22.3mm, Thickness: 6.…
Created on: Tuesday 12th August 2014
Last updated: Wednesday 3rd March 2021
Spatial data recorded. This findspot is known as 'Northorpe', grid reference and parish protected.

Record ID: NLM-48C6A7
Object type: BILL HOOK
Broad period: MEDIEVAL
County: East Riding of Yorkshire
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
Iron billhook. Wrought iron blade of a heavy V section, between 12mm and 9.5mm thick at the back of the blade, with a tapering tubular socket of which one side is lost. The blade is now angled eccentrically to the socket, which given its robust construction must be the result of heavy sharpening which has worn the cutting edge to its current short and curving form. The blade is probably near complete though over one third of the socket is lost. A billhook might be mounted on either a short handle or a longer staff, and was an essential tool for hedge laying and coppicing. Suggested da…
Created on: Tuesday 27th November 2012
Last updated: Monday 21st September 2020
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: LANCUM-08AF65
Object type: BILL HOOK
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: North Yorkshire
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
Anglo-Scandinavian bill hook 8th/12th century AD part of an extensive collection from a known settlement. The length is 370mm, width of blade 52.1mm, the blade is wedge shaped and the thickness is 9.9mm, the socket tapers and has a maximum diameter of 43.3mm, the socket is 'C' shaped with a depth of 29.5mm. The hook on the end is 69.0mm long, with a rectangular section which is 18mm wide by 10.8mm thick.
Created on: Tuesday 22nd June 2010
Last updated: Wednesday 9th December 2020
Spatial data recorded. This findspot is known as 'LEA GREEN', grid reference and parish protected.