Description
| Also known as an entrenching tool, this is a square metal blade with a wooden handle that is reinforced with metal strips. One side of the handle has been flattened, to form a pick. There is a circular piece of leather around the handle, to allow the spade to be attached to a belt. Although entrenching tools were common in the First World War for digging trenches, this design is believed to date to before WWI, possibly to around 1888 - see JHM:1983:84 for a typical WWI example. This spade was used by a soldier of The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles). |