26 Dr. Carpenter on Recent Observations made in the 



in the neighbourhood, as we gather when Domesday Book was 

 compiled. We have to go beyond the Norman Invasion for any 

 conjecture as to their som-ce. The fact that these interments 

 had talien place without coffins, or weapons, or ornaments, and 

 their position being east and west, goes to prove that they were 

 early Christian burials. That it was a cemetery and not a 

 battle-field is shown by the remains being those of all classes, 

 men, women, and children. The skull and thigh-bone exhibited 

 are the bones of a powerful man with a good cerebral develop- 

 ment. We may assume, therefore, that the remains are of 

 people of some position. I am inclined to think that these 

 burials were before the retirement of the Eomans, and when the 

 town of Noviomegus, or some similar important place, existed 

 between Barrow Hedges and Beggars Bush. The knife which 

 was found in one of the graves is of an unusual form ; it differs 

 very materially from the ordinary dagger, or short sword, 

 which is found in Roman and Anglo-Saxon graves. I found 

 one precisely similar to it in shape at Beddington, among the 

 weapons which were discovered there some years ago. Its 

 character assists -me to assign the date of these burials as 

 decidedly pre-Augustine, and most probably anterior to the 

 Anglo-Saxon and during the Eoman occupation. The knives 

 are both together upon the table, with a number of weapons, 

 Eoman in character, which were taken out of a bed of gravel at 

 Park Farm, by the side of the Wandle, ten years ago. 



These burial-places, when exposed, showed eight skeletons. 

 They were buried upon the field of battle, in no order as to east 

 and west position, and with their accoutrements. They were 

 probably the remains of men who fought at the Ford of Bed- 

 dington, either in defending that ford, or in forcing a passage 

 across it, against Celtic antagonists. 



The hills on all sides of Purley have been places in which the 

 dead were interred in ancient British, in Eoman, and in Anglo- 

 Saxon time. The name indicates " The Pure Ley," or open 

 field or greensward, and the family who held it drew then" name 

 from the place itself. The oaks in this neighbourhood have 

 been grand monarchs, though now only pollards and fast dis- 

 appearing. 



There are two skulls on the table which are nearly perfect. 

 A fine specimen of a thigh-bone, which belonged to the male 

 skeleton in companionship with the larger skull, and many 

 other bones of different kinds. The wonder is that bones 

 should remain in the soil without being utterly destroyed. We 

 must, however, remember that the down has probably only 

 been cultivated within this century, and that it was " Pure ley " 

 — pure greensward — from the time of the interments until it was 

 ploughed up ; that the chalk with which the bodies were covered 



