NHER 6052 (Find Spot record) - Palaeolithic flint handaxes and cleaver

August 1909. Stray Find.
Found in a gravel pit to the north of Brettenham church on the right hand bank of a stream:
10 "fine palaeos"
Information from (S1).

This provenance recorded for these finds is consistent with a large gravel pit that can be seen in this area on early cartographic sources, and the record has been mapped on this basis.

There appears to be general agreement that these finds were probably those exhibited by H. Dixon Hewitt at a meeting of the Prehistoric Society of East Anglia in 1909, on behalf of Mr F. Russell (S2). These were described as being from Brettenham and "...obtained within the previous two months from the north bank of the River Thet from sand containing rolled and subangular flints". The objects themselves were noted to include "...several different types and patinations, one large oval implement being particularly fine" (S2). According to (S1) these finds are also mentioned in (S3) and (S4)

Roe (S5) list 9 surviving handaxes from the "gravel pit above church" at Brettenham; these held by the Norwich Castle Museum and the Warrington Museum. In (S6) Wymer records the finds in the NCM as comprising a "fine cleaver" and 7 pointed and sub-cordate handaxes. This suggests that the Warrington Museum is likely to only hold a single handaxe from this site. The NCM finds listed in (S5) and (S6) are part of three separate collections. Five of the handaxes are in the H. H. Halls collection (NWHCM : 1924.83) and another handaxe and the cleaver are amongst a collection of objects donated by Major T. H. Russell in 1939 (NWHCM : 1939.146). See drawing of cleaver (S7). The eighth handaxe was bequethed to the museum by A. L. Armstong and was formerly part of the Russell collection (NWHCM : 1959.435; marked as having been found in 1909). See rough sketch in file (S8).

These finds are also listed in (S9) and (S10) although no additional information is given.

P. Watkins (HES), 6 May 2013.