ANGLO-SAXON REMAINS 



the others, while that discovered by the Hon. R. C. Neville shows the 

 original form of the square plate from which projected a number of 

 characteristic heads of animals and birds, the latter being at the angles, 

 with stout curved beaks. It so happens that the more perfect specimen 

 was found at a spot fairly accessible from the continent, while the 

 debased copies were found far inland, in the north and west of Wessex. 

 Till further examples of these large gilt brooches with their square 

 crenellated heads and rude but striking decoration are forthcom- 

 ing, it would be rash to assign their manufacture and use exclusively 

 to any one tribe ; but the objects found with the Hornton specimen 

 closely resemble a large number found in the Thames valley, and the 

 likeness encourages the belief that in the finds at Marston Hill there is 

 an appreciable Saxon element. 



Attention must also be drawn to a circumstance which is not 

 emphasized in the original account of the discovery. The West-Saxon 

 character of at least the two circular concave or saucer-shaped brooches 

 found in grave No 1 3 is hardly open to question, and it is from the 

 adjoining grave (No. 14) about two feet distant that the remarkable gilt 

 brooch already mentioned was taken. Though it is impossible to prove 

 that these two graves contained a West-Saxon warrior and his wife — and 

 the presence of weapons in the one case favours the suggestion — it is 

 equally open to question whether these are the only two graves in the 

 cemetery which could possibly be attributed to that branch of the 

 Teutonic family. It is true that the area excavated yielded twenty-one 

 brooches, of which three at least may be so assigned ; but this does not 

 necessarily fix the proportion between Angle and Saxon. In the first 

 place the cemetery has in all probability not been entirely excavated, for 

 operations were discontinued when the limits of the unsown ground were 

 reached. Secondly, of the thirty-two graves containing skeletons, only 

 eight yielded brooches of any description ; and two of this number were 

 the pair referred to above. These last, again, did not contain anything 

 characteristically Anglian, and should not therefore be regarded as the 

 graves of two Anglians who had borne to the grave ornaments they had 

 looted or bartered from a neighbouring Saxon tribe. Finally, in con- 

 sidering the excavations as a whole, it must be noted that very few of 

 the graves on this site exhibit any signs of wealth, and the fact that only 

 one sword in the district has been found may be taken to indicate the 

 humble, perhaps peaceful, circumstances of the community.* In most 

 cases the ornaments consisted of a string of beads, with perhaps a buckle 

 for the belt and the usual knife worn at the side. Here are no bronze- 

 mounted buckets, inlaid sword-handles or jewelled brooches such as have 

 been collected in districts enriched by trade or natural resources. Nor 

 is it surprising to find on what was probably the limit of the West-Saxon 

 territory till the expansion of Merciain the middle of the seventh century, 

 the remains of a humble settlement evidently isolated from the main 



1 It is conceivable that the paucity of relics and of cinerary urns may be due to the influence of 

 Christianity. 



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