Once upon a time, when I was a kid, I was told that a sword had been found on our land, and actually I saw it once. I cannot remember now whether it was in Lancaster or Preston Museums.
Anyway I had ten minutes and did a google search and found this. (There is no link from this farm to the spear head)
Art. III.—Bronze Age Relics from Furness. By H. S.
Cowper, F.S.A.
Read at Penrith, September 13th, 1906.
TRANSACTIONS
OF THE
CUMBERLAND & WESTMORLAND
ANTIQUARIAN & ARCHAEOLOGICAL
SOCIETY.
(FOUNDED 1866.)
VOLUME VII.—NEW SERIES.
THE objects described, I obtained last year at the sale of the collection of local and other curiosities formed by the late Mr. William Hodgson, cabinet maker, of Buxton Place, Ulverston, in whose possession I had known them a considerable time. Since there is fair ground for believing all three to be local finds, they merit record in our pages. The bronze dagger, shewn in Fig. i, was found many years ago at Page Bank near Rampside, Aldingham, though no account appears to have been preserved as to the circumstances in which it was found. It is 14 inches long, the greatest width (near the rivet holes) is 2 inches, and at six inches from the point 1 inches. There are two rivet-holes for attaching the handle, and one of the rivets was still in its place until about the time of the sale, when it was lost: and from four to five inches from this end there are, on both cutting edges, some ancient notches, probably made by blows against the edge of another blade in combat. The dagger is similar in type to Fig. 315 of Evans' Ancient Bronze Implements (1881), and is, I believe, the only example of this class hitherto found in Furness. Fig. 2 is a fine bronze spear-head, measuring 10 inches in length, and 3 inches in its greatest width. The general shape can be seen from the illustration, a notice able feature being that the midrib, which is continued to the point, is brought to a sharp ridge, so that at the section it is nearly square. On either side of the midrib is a depression or hollow. The cavity for the shaft is 5 inches long ; the edges are jagged from wear and use in ancient times, and the loops are at the base of the blade and connecting it with the socket. This fine spear-head has been much cleaned. Mr. Hodgson, whose information was generally very reliable, assured me it was a local find. In general shape it may be compared with the example from Dalton Castle, figured in our Transactions, N.S., vol. v., p. 183, also in my possession, which, however, is much smaller ; also with Fig. 407 in Evans' work, from Norfolk ; and the Scottish example in the Catalogue of the Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (1892, D.G. 40, p. 139).
I'm not sure of a date but 'old' probably sums it up :)
Page bank dagger.JPG
Isn't that a wonderful description, standards of clarity in English have slipped. :(
I do chuckle though, that even over a hundred years ago there was a need to ascribe a local uniqueness to objects. Objects always seem to be described in some way to make it clear the the locals that this is something they need to take notice of with a phrase like 'only one of its type found in #######' or equivalent. It always makes me think 'yes but they found a shed load exactly the same at @@@@@@@ a few miles away', what a cynic I am. :-\