Targe. A circular shield, about a foot and a half wide, covered with leather and studded with brass rivets arranged in four concentric circles. Four brass bosses incised with spiralling lines are equidistant from each other near the edge, and in the centre is a large boss with a pointed blade about a foot long projecting from it.

ABDUA:17619

Targe made of wood, covered with ox leather which has been tooled with a key-like design and studded in a circular pattern with round-headed brass rivets and four larger round bosses. The central boss is decorated with pierced hearts and a dirk screws into it, making it a weapon as well as a defence. Museum's slip catalogue: 'John Roy Stuart and his Badenoch men stayed at Lowther Hall on the eve of the Clifton Fight and there John Roy lost his kit and his servant. This target was found hung high in the stables complete with a screw-in dirk in its sheath behind'. See also ABDUA: 18083.

Early: 1700 Late: 1745

wood leather ox skin metal brass copper alloy steel, Dia: 496 mm approx

Europe, England, North.East.England, Lowther Hall Clifton Northumberland

Field Collection Date: 1950 (pre)

ABDUA:18038

Physical Object

Acquisition Source: Davidson, George

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