A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



being beaded and the backs plain ; and lastly a gold cross, which formed 

 no doubt the central ornament of the necklace. The body of the 

 cross is formed of two cylinders of gold, and at the intersection is set a 

 small garnet in bead-work, the back having had a similar ornament 

 which is now missing. 



Gold-mounted garnets in the form of pendants have often been dis- 

 covered in Kent,^ where the graves contain jewellery in such profusion ; 

 but elsewhere they are rare, and it is interesting to notice that while 

 single pendants are not unknown in other parts of England, three of 

 these rare necklaces have been discovered in districts which on 

 geographical or historical grounds may be considered as Romano- 

 British rather than Anglo-Saxon during the pagan period. One found 

 on Roundway Down, near Devizes, is figured in Akerman's Pagan 

 Saxondom ; another from Derbyshire formed one of the chief orna- 

 ments of the Bateman collection ; and the Desborough specimen is 

 figured in Rev. R. S. Baker's account in Archaologia. At the same 

 time it is unwise to call these trinkets late Roman, as some well- 

 informed antiquaries have done, for at present they seem to be gener- 

 ally associated with Anglo-Saxon remains in the graves, and a wiser 

 course is to consider them as Teutonic reproductions of the paste- 

 settings so characteristic of late Roman jewellery. The cross on the 

 Desborough necklace is presumptive evidence that the original owner 

 had adopted the Christian faith, and unless we allow that Christianity 

 has persisted in the county from the days of the Emperor Constantine, 

 remains of this character must be referred to some date before the end of 

 the fifth century or after the middle of the seventh. The presence of 

 Anglo-Saxon glass and other objects is generally held to fix the latter as 

 the period of this and similar interments. 



In the other grave, which also contained a skeleton and was near 

 the last, a number of objects were found, which are thus described by 

 the excavator. A saucepan-shaped vessel of very thin metal, with 

 rounded bottom and a broad flat handle which expands towards the end 

 into a circle. The edge of the handle is flanged or strengthened by a 

 projecting ridge, and at the back of the handle has been a small 

 loop or ring by which the vessel could be suspended. It is 3 inches 

 in depth, and the diameter of the bowl 10 inches, the entire length 

 including the handle being 16 inches. Besides this, a delicate pair 

 of scales, of which only fragments remain, the pans being of very 

 thin bronze, and measuring i| inches in diameter. A spoon of 

 base silver or white metal, just over 6 inches long has both extremities 

 imperfect ; and the lower part of the stem where it meets the bowl 

 has a singular expansion, suggested perhaps by the form of the late 

 Roman spoons, although the somewhat meagre ornament in the upper 

 end shows no mark of classical design.^ A hinge or clasp, also of white 

 metal, with engraved ornament of Teutonic character, each portion 

 having three prominent rivets, and the whole measuring 2| inches. 



> Several are figured in Inventorium Sepulchrale, pi. iv. ' Anhaolo^a, vol. liii. p. 117. 



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