A palstave was recovered as a surface find by Mr Bennett of Boxted Hall, in a recently ploughed-up meadow. Fieldwalking produced no further finds and the find appears to have been brought to the surface during the laying of field drains. It is low flanged, unlooped, having a shield pattern on the blade with pendant midrib. The ends of the blade are cast flat rather than pointed. Slight damage to the cutting edge is presumably the result of use. There is modern damage to the side and scratches on the blade, otherwise it is generally in good condition, other than a few corrosion spots on the face of the blade. The low flanges and relatively narrow blade would be appropriate to Smith's transitional type and Rowlands' class 1 `shield pattern' group 3 palstaves. A date in the Late Middle Bronze Age is therefore probable. Such palstaves are widespread in the midlands, the south Welsh Marches, Lincolnshire and southern England but are concentrated in East Anglia. A broadly contemporary palstave eas recently recovered from Wakes Colne. Find in private possession. <1> - <4>

Site Assessment = Extensive field walking and metal detector survey revealed no sign of further artefacts in what was until recently a water meadow. <2>