LEADEN COFFIN FOUND AT CANN. 69 



of the coffin and tipped the human skeleton, or what remained 

 of it, into a hole and " re-buried " the remains under the 

 adjoining stone -heap ! 



With the exception of a number of shards of Romano- 

 British pottery, of black colour, no relics were preserved, 

 and there is no record of any coins having been recovered 

 or seen. I examined a number of fragments of this ware, 

 which is about J inch thick, and there was sufficient to 

 suggest the possibility that the coffin at one time contained 

 a complete vessel. The only object found outside the coffin 

 which I was able to recover was an interesting piece of soft 

 New Forest ware, painted with a black colouring externally, 

 and ornamented with a plain cross, the ends of the arms joined 

 by four lines forming a diamond-shaped device ; the whole 

 design is outlined in white paint. This fragment is un- 

 doubtedly of Roman manufacture. 



From its size it is evident that the coffin contained the 

 skeleton of a child ; but its chief interest arises from the fact 

 that the leaden receptacle rested on what at first appeared 

 to be a soft stone base (with a very slightly concave upper 

 surface), having a raised edge on all sides, and forming a 

 large tray with a plain moulded margin. This is clearly 

 seen in the illustration. This base, which was found to be 

 somewhat weathered, was 4ft. 2ins. in length, but is now 

 broken in half. The rounded, or moulded, edging was 

 found to be somewhat damaged, but its maximum height 

 above the ground was 9ins. The maximum width of this tray 

 was 18ins. This material has been examined through the 

 kindness of Mr. J. Allen Howe, B.Sc., Curator of the 

 Geological Survey and Museum, Jermyn Street, S.W., and 

 it proves to be an artificial cement, composed of lime and 

 sand, the latter no doubt obtained from the local Upper 

 Greensand formation. 



This unornamented coffin is on the whole in good condition, 

 and the thickness of the lead of which it is composed is about 

 3-16ths inch. The lid, also of lead, is now somewhat concave 

 (viewed from the top), owing no doubt to the weight of the 



