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Ancient monument

The Battersea Shield

River Thames, London

A bronze shield pulled from the Thames, made for show rather than battle.

In 1857 workmen dredging the Thames at Battersea pulled up the bronze face of a shield, decorated with swirling Celtic patterns and red enamel. The metal is too thin to stop a blow, so it was probably made for ceremony.

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When
c. 350–50 BC
Where
51.4830, -0.1530
Group
Circles & monuments

Visiting

On display at the British Museum.

Cover of The Ledger of Lost Britain by Cale Mills
From the book

The Ledger of Lost Britain

They pulled up a sheet of bronze that had once covered a wooden shield. The wood is lost. The bronze is the Battersea Shield.

The Romans arrived in AD 43. For most people that is where the history of Britain begins. But by the time the legions landed, people had already been living on these islands for thousands of years. They had hunted, farmed, mined flint, dragged stones across the country, raised a hill by hand, and buried their dead in great tombs. They left no written words. What they left was the ground itself. Every place in this book can be visited, or has been dug up, or is in a museum.

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