Axe head found in river near Durham UK.

[scott73]

Found this in a river North of England near Durham, looks like a axe head but unsure of age etc. Have given it a clean and had a quick search to see what age it is but could not find anything. Any help would be great.

 

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[Tony in SC]

Can't tell without knowing the size but could be a wedge or hot chisel?

 

[Red-Coat]

Welcome to Tnet

have you checked it with a magnet? It looks to be iron, and what it most resembles in form is not an axe, but an Iron-Age hammer-end chisel. How big is it?

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Looks like a splitting maul head. I use an 8 pound one all the time (as in 3.6 Kg).

 

[scott73]

Can't tell without knowing the size but could be a wedge or hot chisel?

Its 12cm long and 3.5cm wide and about 3/4cm tall.

 

[scott73]

Welcome to Tnet

have you checked it with a magnet? It looks to be iron, and what it most resembles in form is not an axe, but an Iron-Age hammer-end chisel. How big is it?

I actually fished it out with a magnet.

 

[Red-Coat]

OK. It clearly has some age to it, but whether it's Iron Age or substantially later is a question that probably only a metallurgist or a museum expert could answer.

Just one other thing. There is a suggestion of a rectangular depression but it doesn't look to be a hole that goes all the way through. If it did then that would be a hafting hole. Is is just blocked with rust or a mixture of rusk and decomposed wood; or just a coincidental part of its general deterioration that happens to be be that shape.

 

[GoDeep]

I believe that is a Mason Workers Hammer Head or Blacksmith hammer head or the like, not an Axe head:

 

[scott73]

OK. It clearly has some age to it, but whether it's Iron Age or substantially later is a question that probably only a metallurgist or a museum expert could answer.

Just one other thing. There is a suggesting of a rectangular depression but it doesn't look to be a hole that goes all the way through. If it did then that would be a hafting hole. Is is just blocked with rust or a mixture of rusk and decomposed wood; or just a coincidental part of its general deterioration that happens to be be that shape.

I have just cleaned out the hole and uploaded some new images of it.

 

[Red-Coat]

I have just cleaned out the hole and uploaded some new images of it.

Thanks. If you'd told us it was magnetic and cleaned it up a bit before showing it, then it would have been more obvious that it's in the territory that GoDeep describes. That kind of style hasn't changed much for several centuries, so I think all you have to go on is the degree of corrosion related to metal quality and a probability that it's it's neither ancient nor modern but somewhere in between.

 

[old digger]

I'll have to go along with ''GoDeep''. It looks very much like a blacksmith's hammer, which was used put folds in steel while it is hot.

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Agreed. Now that we have a size it appears to be a blacksmith's "cutoff" hammer/chisel. It's struck with a larger hammer to shear off a bit of heated iron from a larger bit of stock.

Though I'm still wondering about that "3/4cm tall" measurement(?)

 

[scott73]

Thanks for all you help, can anyone give a idea on age/dates even if its only a rough idea.

 

[Bruce R]

I’m voting stone masons hammer, probably goes way back to castle and cathedral building.

 

[Bruce R]

Ask a local mason

 

[scott73]

I’m voting stone masons hammer, probably goes way back to castle and cathedral building.

Have done some more research of where I found it, it was found in the river just along from this Priory https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/finchale-priory/history/

Says it was built in 1100's, could this have come from this period and used to build the Priory?

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

Looks like a splitting maul head. I use an 8 pound one all the time (as in 3.6 Kg).

This was my first thought as well Charlie, but it now being a blacksmith hammer seems to make more sense.

Nice magnet-fishing find Scott,
Dave

PS. I sure wish we had ruins like those here in Canada!
My wife and I were married in Scotland in '96 and I loved wandering through all of the ruined castles on the coasts.

 

[scott73]

Nice magnet-fishing find Scott,
Dave

This was my first time using the magnet and apart from a bottle top, this was my only find

 

[GoldieLocks]

I bet it is only about 70-80 years old.

 

[CRUSADER]

Thanks for all you help, can anyone give a idea on age/dates even if its only a rough idea.

18/19th C