Iron sword with copper-alloy pommel and organic scabbard remains

Sword in poor condition; in several pieces, and splitting in horizontal plane - tang now very shattered. It has a simple bronze cocked-hat pommel, with a single rivet at either end set in projecting lug, which secured the pommel cap to the perishable pommel knob. The sword itself with the pommel is 87cm long, and in its scabbard remains 6cm broad. There are considerable remains of a wooden scabbard, and some traces of fibre or hair beneath i.e. the usual sheepskin lining, but the whole is still coated with chalk deposit and some preservative. But it is possible to see a few traces of a smooth skin, presumably the sheepskin, under the wood and over the fibres. The impression of the lower guard is faint, but the upper is quite clear, 1.2cm wide and deeply indented into the surviving wood of the grip. Here as on some others there is the suggestion that the cross-piece was put on over leather. The top of the tang makes a knob where it has been hammered over.X-Ray no. 20: very indistinct, but some traces of pattern welding - no details distinguishable.X-ray could not be located in 2006-7. – D.H.