109 



Cljalfi ^oxk at §roa}^ Pmtait. 



Communicated by the Rev. John A. Llotd. 



gig^URING the work of restoration of the parish Church dedi- 

 ^1^^ cated to St. Peter, in the village of Broad Hinton, Brode- 

 henton, or Hinton Magna, as it has been variously styled, two very 

 interesting graves, excavated in the solid chalk rock, have been 

 brought to light. 



The builders had occasion to remove the soil to the rock for the 

 foundations of an organ chamber, when they came upon some perfect 

 human remains, deposited in a grave neatly cut in the solid rock 

 with a prolonged semicircular excavation for the head, slightly in- 

 clined inwards, in the horizontal section — similar to the head cavity 

 in two stone coffins found in the churchyard and south porch of the 

 Church, and to be seen in stone coffins of the same period elsewhere, 

 e.ff., in the coffin of Godfrey the Trumpeter, from the Chapel 

 of the Guildhall, London, exhibited in the Guildhall Museum. 

 At the same time they came upon what they considered must be the 

 foot of another similar grave 5 inches to the westward of the 

 head of the one first discovered. This proved to be the case, and 

 as no stone cover had been found, nor traces of rebates to indicate 

 its presence at any time, the ground was moved with great care from 

 over the second grave, to find-, if possible, marks of any lid or cover 

 of wood having been used, which would have been shewn by the 

 usual brown mark remaining in the soil after the wood itself has 

 disappeared, but no such indication could be seen : I do not think, 

 therefore, that these graves were at any time covered with a lid. The 

 earth completely filled the cavity over the bones, and no weapons, 

 ring, key, or other article was discovered in either grave to give a 

 clue to the date of the interments. The two graves difier con- 

 siderably in their east and west line of position : the westernmost 



