93 



A HISTORY OF SUFFOLK 



a rough example of the type represented in the national collection by one 

 fromGarrick Street, London,'' and in the Ashmolean Museum by another from 

 Bossington, Hampshire.'" The bezel expands into an oval with its longer 

 axis at right angles to the hoop, and in the present case is rudely ornamented 

 with punched annulets, while the tapering ends are fastened by a slip-knot. 

 This feature is seen on a gold ring from Ixworth (1849), published at the 

 same time, but the hoop is of a different form of circular section, thickest at 

 the point opposite the slip-knot or twist of the terminals. A similar ring of 

 silver was found in a barrow on Breach Down, Kent," and another of gold 

 from Suffolk was exhibited by Mr. Whincopp in 1846.'^ This weighed 

 I2dwt. 14 gr. and was ' formed of silver round wires curiously twisted, 

 like a rope tapering towards the extremities, which were united and formed 

 a sort of loop to which a smaller ring or hook might be adjusted for suspen- 

 sion from the ear.' 



In Ixworth churchyard were found ' a brass ring with the ends twisted 

 in a facet,' and a 'finger- ring of bronze wire with pretty openwork pattern 

 and the ends wound round the hoop,' both apparently of the Saxon period 

 Another, found in 18 19 near some coins of East Anglian kings in Laxfield 

 churchyard, had a cruciform pattern of concentric circles ; '* and Mr. Fenton 

 has a bronze ring with overlapping ends and S scrolls in openwork between 

 beaded borders, much like a gold specimen from Coggeshall in the neighbour- 

 ing county of Essex. ** It was found either at Icklingham or Lakenheath. 



Four examples of the sword-knife, generally known as the scramasax, 

 and rare in this country, are known from Suffolk, but unfortunately there is 

 no record of any associated finds from which their precise date might be 

 deduced. The longest is now in the British Museum, and was found deep in 

 alluvial soil near the old ford at Little Bealings,"" between Woodbridge and 

 the county town. It measures 32 in. in length (including the tang), and is 

 well preserved, with a strip of damascening (in the true sense) down both 

 sides of the blade. Another was found at Hoxne," with a total length of 

 l4Jin., the hilt being 4 in. long, and as usual without its grip of bone or 

 wood. The blade was i in. wide, and two grooves ran parallel and near to 

 the back edge. A third specimen, § in. shorter, was found at Offton," with 

 circular bands of bronze at the junction of the blade and hilt (no doubt to 

 bind the grip). It is said to be in Ipswich Museum, but the only specimen 

 there (now in Christchurch Mansion) is 11 '3 in. long with a blade of 9 in. 

 It has no history, but was probably found in the county, and has one groove 

 at the back inlaid with silver and brass. London has yielded a fair number of 

 these weapons,'" which seem to date from the later Anglo-Saxon period, as 

 they are not found in pagan burials ; but on the Continent they were com- 

 monly carried, at a somewhat earlier period, by the Burgundians, Alemanni, 

 and Franks. 



An exceptional relic of the later Anglo-Saxon period was found at 

 Blythburgh on the property of Mr. Seymour Lucas, R.A., who presented it 



" r.C.H. Lend. 1, 157. " Joum. Brit. Arch. Assoc. \, 341. " Akerman, Arch. Index, pi. xviii, fig. 17. 



"* Proc. Soc. Antif. (ist ser.), i, 117; also a silver ear-ring found near Bury St. Edmunds. 



" Bury and W. Suff. Proc. ii, zl2 ; £. Angftan N. and Q. i (1864), 437. 



" Arch. Joum. xiv, 177 ; E. Anglian N. and Q. i, 347. 



'* f^.C.H Essex, i, 327, fig. 15 on coloured plate. ^ Proc. Soc.Antlg. x, 17. 



»' Ibid, viii, 80. '« Coll. Aniij. ii, 243, pi. Iviii, fig. 4. '» F.C.H. Lond. i, 152. 



350 



