A Stone-Axe Factory at Pike of Stickle, Great Langdale, Westmorland

Abstract

The work of the Stone Axe Sub-Committee of the South-western Group of Museums and Art Galleries, familiar to readers of these Proceedings, has made it evident that an important stone axe factory must have existed in the immediate area of Great Langdale, Westmorland. The name ‘Stake Pass,’ applied to stone axes of Group VI of the Committee's classification, indeed referred to a small working-floor discovered at this locality by Professor D. M. S. Watson over thirty years ago. The present paper first records the discovery by Mr Brian Bunch of what was evidently the main factory at Pike of Stickle, as well as a number of subsidiary working-places, and then goes on to describe the material from the sites and to discuss the distribution of the finished products as evidence of early trade.