Bronze Age Hawkhurst

Hawkhurst's Decorated axe was lost for 3,500 years

This page is to give those interested a chance to see a few Bronze age artifacts found in the Kent parish of  Hawkhurst, So far consisting of two Bronze age axes & a Bronze age spearhead. They take the known human history of Hawkhurst back 3,500 years.

A brief  history of Hawkhurst

Hawkhurst is a village on the Kent/East sussex border which lies to the south-east of Tunbridge Wells. Modern Hawkhurst is made of two villages, the older of the two, consisting mainly of cottages surrounding a large triangular green known as The Moor,  the other to the north on the main road, called High Gate.

The village is known for many things, primarily the famous "Hawkhurst Gang", notorious 18thC smugglers. Also its part in the wealden iron industry.

Prior to the bronze age finds the earliest known habitation in Hawkhurst was a site in Conghurst Lane, a moated dwelling that legend says was burnt to the ground by the danes in A.d 892/3.

Though the discovery of bronze age tools does not prove habitation, it does at least prove that people were passing through. They also add nearly 2,500 years of  previously unrecorded history to Hawkhurst.


 --------------- The Bronze Axes ---------------

The axes are made from bronze which is a mixture of 90% copper & 10% tin. The axe would have been glued into a wooden handle using woodtar & bound with raw-hide. More information on how they were made here - http://1501bc.com/bronzes/nf_randbijl_met_stoprand_eng.html                             

They would have been a highly prized possesion to whoever owned one, and were probably lost during use, either breaking away from its handle or lost under leaves.

The Decorated Axe

The Decorated Axe

The decorated axe is the best preserved, one side being almost completley intact. The "decorations" are more likely to be from the manufacture of the axe rather than true aesthetic decoration.

Its 18cm long & 7.5cm wide at its cutting edge.

The Axe has recently been Dated to 1500-1450 B.c
possibly a little older.

It will hopfully go for metal analasis soon, which will tell us its exact origin, metellic composition and date.

The axe within moments of being found. 

The hole in the background is were it lay for 3,400 years.

This photo shows the cutting edge & the marks left the last time it was sharpened.

This photo shows marks left by the axe maker,

where the sides have been hammered out slightly.

The stop ridge, this prevented the axe spliting its wooden handle.

The 1st Axe

This was the first of the two axes found.
Its smaller than the decorated axe & badly corroded with only a small amount of the original surface surviving where the axe would have been fitted into its wooden handle.             

Its 14.6cm long  & 4.6cm at its cutting edge,
Dated by Maidstone Museum to 1500-1150 B.c

The Spear Head

This was the first bronze age artifact to be found in Hawkhurst. This would have originally been much longer, only the last 5cm have survived. Though badly corroded a small amount of the original surface can still be seen.

Its 5cm long & 2cm wide.

Dated by Maidstone Museum to 1200-900 B.c

Other Local Finds

Other local finds

BENENDEN - A bronze age axe found during the building of the chest hospital in the 1930s.
GOUDHURST - A hoard of 8 bronze age axes found in the late 1800s.
HEADCORN - A bronze age axe found by a Metal detectorist.
FLIMWELL - A bronze age axe found near a spring.

If you have found or know of any other Neolithic, Bronze age, Iron age or Roman finds from Hawkhurst or the surrounding villages please feel free to contact me. Bronze age finds are sparse in the weald & so far these are the only bronze age finds from the area so any other finds are important to help build a picture of life in the weald.