Billhook

Object/Artifact

Trimontium Museum

©National Museums Scotland. Digitised from a positive on film by The Trimontium Trust.

Name/Title

Billhook

Entry/Object ID

X.FRA 284

Description

Iron billhook from the Roman site at Newstead (Trimontium), 80 - 180 AD .

Use

A trimming hook, also known as a billhook, is a tool with a hooked blade for pruning and chopping. A wooden handle was inserted into the long socket. Tools such as pruning hooks and trimming hooks were used in Roman Scotland to collect fodder for animals. (NMS Scran)

Context

Found at Trimontium. "A larger implement (Plate LXI., Fig. 10), found in a rusted condition at the east end of the Bath building, is possibly the falx arboraria employed for cutting branches. It is 15 inches in length." - J Curle, A Frontier post... p.284

Collection

National Museums Scotland

Acquisition

Accession

X.FRA 284

Source (if not Accessioned)

National Museums of Scotland

Made/Created

Time Period

1st - 2nd century

Ethnography

Cultural Region

Continent

Europe

Culture/Tribe

Romano British

Lexicon

Nomenclature 4.0

Nomenclature Tertiary Object Term

Billhook

Nomenclature Secondary Object Term

Hook, Pruning

Nomenclature Primary Object Term

Tool, Pruning

Nomenclature Sub-Class

Groundskeeping Equipment

Nomenclature Class

Maintenance T&E

Nomenclature Category

Category 05: Tools & Equipment for Science & Technology

Getty AAT

Concept

billhooks

Other Names and Numbers

Other Numbers

Number Type

Previous Accession Number

Other Number

I 15-191

Material

Iron

Web Links and URLs

"A Frontier Post and Its People", James Curle, p.284 and Pl. LXI - 10, National Museums Scotland web link to object , Canmore web link to Newstead (Trimontium)

Provenance

Provenance Detail

1905 - 1911 Excavations

Acquisition Method

Found