The cutlery makers of Salisbury.

Jack Black · Nov 16, 2016

Thank you Donn, that's another interesting post my friend :thumbup:

T. Erdelyi · Nov 16, 2016

Thanks for the links and pictures Donn and your imputation as always Jack. I was over in the UK a lot in the 90s, I was so busy with work I never got out, I did get to the castles, Carfilly(sp?) Raglan, the roman ruins but I never got to Sheffield or Bristol in fact the last trip I had made there in the later half of the 90s right after the laws changed when the teacher was stabbed by the school kids with knives. Sad to say on my last day there I went into a little shop in London and found a cheap Lambsfoot Jack Knife to bring home only to have it taken at the airport when I didn't drop it in an amnesty box. I just wanted to get home so I didn't even fight it and let them have it.

Jack Black · Nov 16, 2016

T. Erdelyi said:
Sad to say on my last day there I went into a little shop in London and found a cheap Lambsfoot Jack Knife to bring home only to have it taken at the airport when I didn't drop it in an amnesty box. I just wanted to get home so I didn't even fight it and let them have it.

That's very sad Ted

T. Erdelyi · Nov 16, 2016

I got to eat some great food, see some beautiful sites and meet some interesting people. The first time I heard and inner city cockney accent I had asked for direction from a group of 20 something year olds and they had tried to tell me several times and I just got more frustrated and the kids just laughed harded. I was lucky n that the girl at the petrol station was a transplanted New Yorker who was able to translate what they said and get me back to my hotel, I bought my first GPS that week.

Jack Black · Nov 16, 2016

:thumbup:

herder · Nov 16, 2016

Great thread, information, and pictures!!!

supratentorial · Nov 16, 2016

Thank you for sharing the photos! :thumbup:

Cambertree · Nov 17, 2016

Excellent posts, thanks Jack and Donn. Some good material in that linked museum site too. Beautiful scissors and revolver they show there.

ToddG · Aug 24, 2017

donn said:
Hello folks I thought I'd do a brief post on something I came across in the summer.
During the summer I visited Salisbury, one of England's ancient cathedral cities. During an amble through it's small but excellent museum I came across this small display. Like others I've often wondered about other cutlery centres aside from Sheffield; and was unaware that Salisbury at one time had one.

And finally a collection of blades found in the rivers and drains of Salisbury over the years. Some of these dated back hundreds of years.

Sorry for the quality of some of the pictures I was using my phone. I took other close ups of some of the knives but there actually really poor quality.

I am in Salisbury now! Just spent part of the day looking at that fantastic exhibit! Too bad there are no more cutlets here!

Jack Black · Aug 24, 2017

ToddG said:
I am in Salisbury now! Just spent part of the day looking at that fantastic exhibit! Too bad there are no more cutlets here!

That's weird, Barrett

btb01 was in Salisbury yesterday!

btb01 · Aug 24, 2017

I was indeed. I didn't know there was anything cutlery related to seek out there, otherwise I would have (likely to the chagrin of my wife, brother and sister-in-law.)

donn · Aug 27, 2017

I hope you got to see the 'Amesbury Archer' in Salisbury Museum. I took a couple of pics but didn't post them when I posted this thread as they were pretty poor.

http://www.salisburymuseum.org.uk/collections/stonehenge-prehistory/amesbury-archer

http://www.ancientcraft.co.uk/Archaeology/bronze-age/bronzeage_people.html
(scroll down)

Of interest to us all here are that the three copper knives found with him were the oldest metal tools/blades ever found in the UK. Effectively a link between the emerging metalworking cultures of continental Europe and stone-age Britain. Considering there over four and half thousand years old, these three small blades are in remarkably good condition.

Cambertree · Aug 27, 2017

Thanks for the additional material, Donn, really interesting stuff.

Fascinating to consider too, in the context of 'Otzi the Iceman' - an earlier bearer of a copper tool, also from the Alps, and also a man whose power and status, may have been related to his metalworking knowledge and abilities.

Here's a pic of the Amesbury Archer's dagger:

Donn, I wonder if you have pics, or could point out the other two copper blades? I can't quite make them out in the linked material.

Thanks again, mate :thumbsup:

donn · Aug 28, 2017

Cambertree said:
Thanks for the additional material, Donn, really interesting stuff.
Fascinating to consider too, in the context of 'Otzi the Iceman' - an earlier bearer of a copper tool, also from the Alps, and also a man whose power and status, may have been related to his metalworking knowledge and abilities.

Donn, I wonder if you have pics, or could point out the other two copper blades? I can't quite make them out in the linked material.

No sorry I don't have any pics, for some reason they came out really blurred.
If you look at the picture of the burial in the second link there's one near the knee and two near the notice on the right.

Cambertree · Aug 28, 2017

Ah thanks, I wasn't sure if those two together were knives or arrow/spear heads, at first. :thumbsup:

donn · Aug 28, 2017

Cambertree said:
Ah thanks, I wasn't sure if those two together were knives or arrow/spear heads, at first.

Aye I see what you mean. They are only quite small and in the picture they do look like arrowheads. The arrowheads found with him were flint.

Jack Black · Aug 28, 2017

Fascinating Donn, it's a long time since I was in either Salisbury or Amesbury, and I've not visited the museum :thumbsup:

@ADEE is actually heading to Salisbury tomorrow, so I'll draw his attention to this :thumbsup:

donn · Aug 28, 2017

Jack Black said:
Fascinating Donn, it's a long time since I was in either Salisbury or Amesbury, and I've not visited the museum @ADEE is actually heading to Salisbury tomorrow, so I'll draw his attention to this

The museum is in the (sizeable) Cathedral Close, alongside the Berkshire and Wiltshire Rifles museum so if ADEE likes his military history point that one out to.

Jack Black · Aug 28, 2017

donn said:
The museum is in the (sizeable) Cathedral Close, alongside the Berkshire and Wiltshire Rifles museum so if ADEE likes his military history point that one out to.

Will do Donn, I've been in the Cathedral, but missed the museum. It's that long ago now (1984), I can barely remember what else I did!

Edit - Sorry, just checked, and it's not Salisbury, but Bath ADEE is headed to!

ToddG · Sep 9, 2018

donn said:
I hope you got to see the 'Amesbury Archer' in Salisbury Museum. I took a couple of pics but didn't post them when I posted this thread as they were pretty poor.

http://www.salisburymuseum.org.uk/collections/stonehenge-prehistory/amesbury-archer

http://www.ancientcraft.co.uk/Archaeology/bronze-age/bronzeage_people.html
(scroll down)

Of interest to us all here are that the three copper knives found with him were the oldest metal tools/blades ever found in the UK. Effectively a link between the emerging metalworking cultures of continental Europe and stone-age Britain. Considering there over four and half thousand years old, these three small blades are in remarkably good condition.

I did! We spent a couple of hours chatting with the folks there. Fantastic time and a great look into flint skils