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Axe
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A hand forged axe head fitted to a apparently hand made axe handle. The handle shows signs of shaping and carving possibly from a draw knife or similar. Later damage has bee caused to the handle where a section has been removed, and nails driven through. Possibly for display purposes. The very bottom of the handle has split and portion is missing. The axe head has a standard blade one side, with a forged round section on the other. The round section is hollow on the end with a hole through one side. The very tip of the tube has been chamfered to sharpen. Identified by description as a pole axe by Mr S Mitchel and Mr P Smith of Hereford College of Technology. Used during a battle to humanely put down injured horses. The round tube would be driven into the skull of the horse removing a small core, which would quickly kill the animal. The hole would release air pressure from inside the tube ensuring that blow was successful. Each horse would have identificaition numbers burnt into the dorsal wall of a hoof, the axe was then used to remove the hoof which would be collected and sent back to confirm the death of the animal.
| Details | |
|---|---|
| Accession Number | 2011-230 |
| Date | 1714 - 1837 |
| Period | Georgian |
| Collection | Social History |
| Technique | |
| Creator | |
| Name | |
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