Highlights of the British Collection: East Oxford Archaeology

Object Biographies : An Iron Arrowhead from Bartlemas Chapel, Oxford

by Steve Nicholson, Archeox Volunteer

During Autumn 2011 the Archaeology of East Oxford (Archeox) group excavated at Bartlemas Chapel, Oxford. Among my finds was an Iron Arrowhead which is discussed below.

DESCRIPTION

A very rusted Iron Arrowhead 50mm long, with a 'leaf' shaped point without barbs at one end and a socket for attaching to an arrow shaft at the other end. This Arrowhead appears to be of a type designated as a multi-purpose military or hunting arrowhead ' ...because these forms could have been successfully employed for both hunting and warfare.'

[Possible illustration of multi-purpose examples MP1, MP2, MP3, MP5 or MP6
(Source : 'A New Artefact Typology for the Study of Medieval Arrowheads' by
Oliver Jessop, page 194-197.)]
.

CONTEXT

The Arrowhead was found in Trench Two (Context (2006), 0.15-0.2m deep) with a mixture of finds from a variety of centuries including 17th century clay pipe, flint, Victorian bottle or jar base and old electric wire.Also musket balls were found nearby - (eg.Context (2009) max 0.15m deep).
The variety of finds and the fact that Bartlemas Chapel has a Cemetery shows that there has been a lot of soil disturbance, making context dating alone impossible.
.

CONDITION AND MANUFACTURE

The Arrowhead is very rusty, is flaking longitudinally, and two or three flakes have fallen off since it was photographed. Does its condition show great age, well before the Civil War ? Or does its very rusty state merely reflect the very damp conditions of Bartlemas that prompted the drainage work which enabled the archaeological dig in the first place ? Or is its current condition due to unsatisfactory raw materials and / or workmanship due to Civil War expediencies ? As well as lead musket balls did those Roundheads quickly knock up some low quality arrowheads with low quality materials ? We don't know, so its condition alone cannot be used for dating purposes, although on balance 'Context and Condition' circumstantially weigh in favour of it being from the Civil War so far. There may be signs of a 'join' on the socket end, showing that it may be of 'wrought' construction which was typical throughout the ages. The longitudinal rust flaking pattern may possibly show where the metal was folded and hammered during manufacture.

(Source : http://www.the-exiles.org/essay/makingarrow.htm )
.
DRAWING OF BARTLEMAS ARROWHEAD AND ANOTHER FROM OXFORDSHIRE FOR COMPARISON.

LEIGH TO PHOTO

QUESTION - "Trust in God and Keep your Powder dry".

The Bartlemas Chapel was used during the Civil War, possibly during one or more of the three Sieges of Oxford, 1644, 1645 and 1646, by Parliamentarian troops who removed the roof lead to make musket balls. Oliver Cromwell is commonly believed to have said "Trust in God and keep your powder dry". (Source : "Fitz Stewart" (1834). Oliver's Advice." The Dublin University Magazine.) .

Did they resort to bows and arrows during the Civil War ?

What did they do if their gunpowder got wet ?
.

GUNS AND POWDER

English Privy Wardrobe accounts list "ribaldis," a type of cannon, in the 1340s, and siege guns were used by the English at Calais in 1346.
(Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_firearm ).

Therefore guns had been in use for 300 years by the time of the Civil War, so why should we consider the Arrowhead as a Civil War artifact ?
.
Although we think of the Civil War being fought with muskets, pikes and cavalry, there are plenty of examples of more primitive weapons being used during the Civil War that make the Longbow look 'advanced'. Also, only the wealthy were generally able to have firearms, the common man more likely to use a bow or other alternative.
.

CIVIL WAR ALTERNATIVES TO GUNS

Clubmen were bands of local defence vigilantes during the English Civil War (1642–1651) who, as their name suggests, were mostly armed with cudgels, flails, scythes and sickles fastened to long poles.

(Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Club_men)
.
In 1633 Charles I issued a new order; for the use of bows in the Trained Bands, with training to be provided by a master bowman. Indeed, a new company of pikemen also armed with bows (the “double-armed man”) was formed by the Royalist army in Herefordshire as late as in 1642, seeing action shortly thereafter at the Battle of Bridgnorth (October 1642) which was to be the last recorded use of the Longbow by a company of archers on English soil with the last action on British soil being the Battle of Tippermuir which took place in Scotland on 1 September 1644. (Source :
http://www.academia.edu/4084975/The_Longbow_Maker_Saviour_and_Protector_of_England_Prof._Jaimie_R_Lee-Barron_PhD_FIMAS ).
.
Also at Tippermuir in 1644 "Behind them came the clansmen who were only armed with stones, and started beating and clawing at their enemies, before grabbing fallen weapons to use upon the enemy. This was too much for the newly-raised Covenant troops, who had never dared to believe that battle could be as savage as this."(Source: http://www.scotwars.com/battle_of_tippermuir.htm ).
"...met the advance of the Covenanters with swords, pikes, and stones picked up on the field, and drove the untried levies in wild flight."
(Source :
http://www.forgottenbooks.org/readbook_text/A_History_of_Scotland_from_the_Roman_Occupation_v3_1
000147917/133 )
.
So we can see that the alternatives to guns during the mid 17th Century Civil War were many and varied - including clubs, cudgels, flails, scythes, sickles, pikes and, incredibly stones, that would be familiar to our Palaeolithic ancestors! Bows and arrows are starting to look quite sophisticated.!

ARROWHEAD TYPOLOGY, ORIGINS AND CHRONOLOGY

The barbless 'leaf shaped' hunting arrowhead, like the Bartlemas and Ashmolean example, have been known since the earliest medieval times and right up to the modern era. But there have been many other types that have come into, and gone out of use for military reasons.

Prior to the advent of guns, there were specialist arrowheads for piercing armour, chain mail and other defences.After guns began demonstrating their superiority over the Longbow, in armour piercing and ease of training, it became increasingly futile to wear any kind of protective armour against arrows.

Extract "...the long bodkin arrowhead was in use at the beginning of the Hundred Years War but rapidly became obsolete as plate armour became more common because it provided good protection against this ‘delicate’ arrowhead. The needle bodkin was therefore rapidly superseded
by a shorter, stouter (‘type 10’) bodkin and more bespoke lozenge shaped plate piercing arrowheads as the Hundred Years War progressed.
As in any arms race, as soon as a weapon forces the development of an armour to protect against it, a new weapon to defeat the new armour will be born out of necessity. There is however evidence of these supposedly obsolete long bodkin arrowheads being in use far longer than the developments in armour might suggest." (Source : UK Defence Academy Longbow Test Team).
.
Another major benefit of guns over Longbows was the very quick training time compared to the years it took to become an effective Longbowman. The gradual replacement of Longbows by guns meant that the great majority, if not all, of military arrowheads had become redundant well before the Civil War era leaving the general multi-purpose or hunting arrowhead type as the most common by the mid 17th century Civil War.
.

CONCLUSION


There cannot yet be a definitive conclusion, but all of the available circumstantial and other currently available evidence points 'like an arrow' in one direction. There is no evidence, circumstantial or otherwise, that shows that it cannot be an Arrowhead from the Civil War, but absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. We can definitely say then, that "its a Civil War Arrowhead" is not a "long shot"!!!

)

Further Information

 

Find out more about:

July 2014