A builder working at an old Victorian house in Gurnard recently stumbled across a Swedish Barrel knife dating back to 1874.
James Bell and Anna Wyeth have taken to social media to share the interesting find, which was uncovered as a result of renovations being done to their house.
Whilst working on the project, builder Chris stumbled across a Jon Engstrong Barrel knife within the wall cavity. The owners assume that the knife was most likely lost by a labourer when the house was originally built.
The family is unsure about the future plans for the knife, however, they have received a couple of offers from people wanting to buy it from them. James and Anna also quite like the idea of keeping the knife with the house.
Anna has told Island Echo:
“To unearth the knife from between the walls of our home was so interesting. At first it looked like nothing but cleaning it up revealed the wooden handle and the engraving in the blade.
“I’m fascinated by the thought of who last held it, what their life was like, what were they wearing. I can imagine he was frustrated to loose his knife.
“I assume a Swedish knife – one of the first of its kind in design – wasn’t easy to get hold of back then and was probably a prized possession. If only I could let him know it’s been found!”
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Ever thought it might be a murder weapon, hidden by a killer. Just a thought!
That’s nice
My father Bruce Brudenell lost a knife exactly like this near the Gurnard Sailng Club, I was with him when he lost it as a child back in early 1950s. I remember him being so upset at losing it, it was such a unique knife.
He also worked for a local builder, Ball & son and could have been involved with work on this house.
Perhaps the owner would be kindly enough to let you see theirs. Perhaps it was a design of knife used in the building trade at that time.
This knife was lost in Victorian times, not Elizabethan so it’s highly unlikely to be your father’s.
unless of course he had the knife and it was handed down to him, he then did some work on that house and lost it in the wall and the owners are mistaken about the timeframe that the knife was actually lost.
Dont carry it about in the street for god’s sake!!
Definitely keep it with the house, it’s part of the history of the house.
Not that i’m superstitious but, it might be unlucky if you remove it.