A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



cess. One, about half a mile north of the church, contained cinerary 

 urns, spearheads, shield-bosses, knives and brooches, as well as several 

 skeletons. Another, a quarter of a mile north-west of the church, gave 

 similar results ; and remains from both sites are now in Northampton 

 Museum. A small rough vase in the national collection is almost 

 spherical, and has the rounded base marked with a cross, like several 

 found at Stade, on the Elbe.^ This may be the impression of the stand 

 on which it rested while being fired ; or if intended as an ornament 

 may be compared with several examples of the prehistoric period, figured 

 in a paper by Dr. Thurnam.'^ There is consequently no necessity to 

 recognize the mark on the Brixworth urn as the Christian symbol, 

 though the orientation might have shown both cemeteries to belong 

 to the transition period. 



In February, 1864, some men who were employed in digging for 

 stone on the side of a hill in Coneybury Hill Field at Holdenby 

 came upon some fragments of pottery, some bones, a horse-shoe and two 

 bronze brooches.' The vessels have since been restored, one of them 

 being of rough clay with projections like rudimentary handles for 

 suspension, the second having S-shaped and other impressed ornaments in 

 a deep band above the shoulder. This latter was evidently a cinerary 

 urn ; but in the following year the hill was again cut into and six distinct 

 skeletons were found, one of which was in a perfect condition, and 

 appeared to be that of a warrior. He lay as if he had been doubled 

 up, his knees nearly touching his chin. Attached by rust to his head 

 was the boss of a shield much decayed. The bodies did not lie in the 

 east-and-west direction, but seemed to have been buried regardless of 

 position. In all cases the bones were not more than a foot below the 

 surface. 



Again in 1899 thirteen interments were uncovered within a com- 

 paratively small area in the same locality.'' One of these was a crushed 

 cinerary urn, with several fragments of burnt bone and a broken bronze 

 hair-pin, but the rest were extended interments. It was again noticed 

 that the bodies were not interred in any special direction, and in one case 

 a female lay face downwards and rested on an earlier burial in another 

 direction. By the side of two male skeletons were found spearheads of 

 iron, and over the skull of one the large sharp-pointed boss of a shield 

 with the iron handle beneath it, recalling the similar discovery in 1864. 

 The nine female interments were rich in bead necklaces, mostly composed 

 of glass and amber, and here, as in many Anglo-Saxon burials, was tound 

 the melon-shaped bead of green glass-paste characteristic of the Roman 

 period. The bronze brooches (figs. 6, 10, 12) were interesting as pre- 

 senting more than one design not hitherto noted. In two or three 

 instances they were three in number, one in the centre of the breast 

 and the other two on the shoulders. A pair of ring brooches were 



1 Journal of Arcba-ohgical Institute, vol. xii. p. 315. ^ Archaologia, vol. xliii. 



' Figured in Miss Hartshorne's Memorlnh of HoUcnby, p. 6. 

 * Described in Athenaum, Nov. U, 1899. 



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