(TR 1634) Two bronze axes from Hythe. At the Pitt Rivers museum in Farnham, Dorset, two bronze axes were labelled 'Hythe, Kent'. The labels are not in Pitt Rivers hand, and it is not known how they came into his possession. They are now in the Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum. The winged axe with a single loop SM No PR 2J4 is 160 mm in length (see illus). Two of the wings are damaged and one is completely missing. It seems to have been well-used with an asymmetrical blade, and one face well-nibbed. The surface elsewhere is badly pitted and corroded. The socketed axe, Fig 2 SM no PR 2J6, is 100 mm in length (see illus) it is an angular form with three slight ribs on either face. The flat-topped mouth moulding is rather uneven. The body is fairly roughand pitted by corrosion, but the blade is asymmetrical and notched, and would appear to have been used. There are some hammer marks on the blade. Both axes seem to be broadly contemporary and their patination and surface condition are similar, and so a single find-spot seems likely. The winged axe may be an import, but the socketed axe is a British form. They appear to be a small LBA3 hoard, or late survivals of a LBA4 hoard, thus giving then a date in the 8th or 7th century BC. It is more usual at this time, to have a much larger collection of objects in a hoard, and so these two axes may represent onbly part of such a hoard. (1)

<1> Arch Cant 101 1984 349-352 illus (M Bowden & R Taylor) (OS Card Reference). SKE34566.