A HISTORY OF SUFFOLK 



illustrations are borrowed. The country traversed by the road from Snape to 

 Aldeburgh, a distance of about 5 miles, is mostly covered with whin and 

 bracken, and rises from the River Aide, which flows at the distance of half a mile 

 or a mile from the road. About midway, or rather nearer to Snape, it passes 

 between six large barrows, the highest being 5 J ft. from the ground level, 

 and three standing on either side in lines parallel to the road. Other mounds 

 are scattered irregularly over the common, and all seem to have been of 

 conical form 4 ft. to 5 ft. high and of various sizes, some being as much as 

 72 ft. in diameter, but others 6 ft. to 7 ft. The chief group had been 

 excavated about 1840 and again for the Ordnance Survey ; but, the result 

 being unknown except that a wagon-load of vases and other objects was 

 removed on the first occasion, operations were resumed by Mr. Davidson in 

 the autumn of 1862 on the north side of the road in a mound 4J ft. high 

 and 60 ft. to 70 ft. in diameter. They resulted in the discovery of a large 



cinerary urn ' of the Anglo-Saxon period, con- 

 taining charred bones in a compact mass. The 

 ware was dark and lustrous, and the ornamen- 

 tation consisted of incised triangles and rectangles 

 alternately, which inclosed stamped patterns 

 compared to ermine spots. A few days later 

 the smallest of the group, at the east end, was 

 opened ; and as there were signs of previous 

 excavation at the centre of all three, the work 

 proceeded from the centre outwards. 

 Fig. I.— Cinerary Urn, Snape On removing the surfacc soil of peaty 



sand, traces of large fires with layers of soft 

 unctuous matter were noticed, while in some places the earth was black 

 and caked, apparently where human bodies had been burnt. These 

 hard brick-like patches sometimes adjoined a cinerary urn, but occurred 

 irregularly in all parts of the mound. The larger barrow, towards the west, 

 had been cut into for the road, but contained a fine Anglo-Saxon urn, in 

 perfect condition, ornamented with incised lines, vertical bosses, and a 

 device that may have been a swastika.' It contained calcined bones and 

 resembled specimens found by Lord Braybrooke at Linton and Wilbraham, 

 in the adjoining county of Cambridge. Another vessel, entirely crushed, lay 

 near it, and large quantities of broken flint were found in and around these 

 barrows, though flint does not naturally occur in the locality. By driving 

 a wide trench through the centre of the principal mound, Mr. Davidson 

 found a cinerary urn of the Bronze Age (p. 267) empty and inverted, quite 

 unlike the Anglo-Saxon specimens ; and one or more iron spear-heads, found 

 in association with this and numerous fragments of other urns, may have been 

 contemporary, as a spear-head has been found within a Bronze-Age cinerary 

 urn at Colchester. No cremated bones were noticed on this occasion, 

 and so far there had been found only remains of different periods 

 deposited in all parts of the mound at depths varying between one foot 

 and three feet. The next proceeding was to reach the undisturbed soil 

 on which the mound had been raised. Below the black strata already 



' Fig. I in the Fif/J account. 



• Fig. 3 in the Fieii account shows a swastika on this urn. Cf. Redgrave urn, pi. IV. 



326 



