Celtic Phallic Woad Grinder (Dates from Around 100 BC)
It
had been raining hard and the field was a little bit muddy
to say the least. After about an hour of hard slog and nothing
to show for it, I attracted my digging mate Jim's attention
to that fact that I had had enough and was on my way back
to the car. Half way back, it felt like my height had grown
from about 5'10" to 6'4" with all the clinging mud
on my boots. It was then that I got a good signal, so I dug
down into the mud, which as you will know, is not easy, as
it sticks like glue. I reached into the last lump of muck
I had lifted and pulled out a strange metal object, when Jim
caught up with me, he said in good king’s English (what’s
tha fon then?) I said I think it's part of a bucket handle
and was just about to throw it away when a little voice in
the back of my head said "No", so instead I stuck
it in my pocket without another thought. It was only when
I got home and washed the mud off, that the penny finally
dropped and I saw it was a woad grinder! Wow!
I
went back to the field as soon as the conditions improved
and searched for the top half of the woad grinder, but was
unlucky. Perhaps another day, because I will never give up
you know!
The
story goes, when a Celtic warrior went into battle he was
naked and daubed in blue woad all over his body. His hair
would be spiked up with mud. So with a small shield and a
big sword and screaming like a banshee, he would present a
very scary sight as he charge at you with murder in his eyes,
and you would think all your nightmares had come at once -
although I think these days he could quite easily fit into
any Saturday night town centre at turning out time and no
one would notice.
PS
The woad plant is now very scarce in England and grows only
in small areas in the south of England.