King's Meadows, bronze dagger

In August, 1882, this dagger was dredged from the Tyne on the north side of the King's Meadows, Elswick. With 2 other daggers, it was for a time in the possession of R. Blair whence it passed to the Greenwell Collection, and so to the British Museum. The object, 334 mm long x 75 mm wide, was described as follows: "Long dagger with ogival blade, damaged at hilt end. The hilt, which has 3 lobes, is offset from the axis of the blade. The 3 rivets are in situ. Broad midrib with one narrow rib at each side; bevelled edges to blade". Heslop suggests that the metalwork at King's Meadows was a deliberate votive deposition. The River Tyne was a major arterial route inland and a possible boundary between tribal groupings, and appears to have been the focus of ceremonial activity by communities gathering here from considerable distances. There is a recurring pattern in the Bronze Age for metalwork deposition in watery places. The concentration of objects around the small island of King's Meadows has parallels at Runnymede on the Thames.