ANGLO-SAXON REMAINS 



centre being occupied by a very poor representation of a lion with the 

 head turned back. 



The British Museum has a few fragments of silver from Weasenham, 

 and in 1870 acquired an interesting series from a cemetery at Brooke, 

 midway between Norwich and Bungay. The three largest brooches are 

 unfortunately damaged, though not apparently by fire. One is square- 

 headed (fig. 4) and two others cruciform, one of these being of large 

 dimensions but not of great artistic merit. Besides these are half a dozen 

 of a common type terminating in the conventional horse's head ; an equal 

 number of ring-brooches, a pair of bracelet clasps, part of a girdle- 

 hanger and a few glass beads ; while the objects in iron comprise two 

 shield-bosses and several spearheads. No description of the find was 

 published but the objects in this case tell their own tale. There were 

 also included in the purchase a small rough vase 4 inches high and a 

 triangular lump of baked clay pierced at two of the corners, such as are 

 commonly associated with late-Celtic remains. A similar object was 

 discovered among the Anglian urns at Castle Acre and was called a 

 ' net-weight,' but its precise use has yet to be determined. 



To the south-east, on the north bank of the Waveney, is a group of 

 Anglian sites of which two have already been noticed. 



In a field called ' Pewter Hill ' at Kirby Cane, workmen came upon 

 a confused mass of human bones, among which were three or four spear- 

 heads, a jewelled buckle and two swords. As no further description is 

 given and all the objects were unfortunately dispersed it is difficult to 

 decide their origin, but though they have been described as probably 

 Roman, ^ they certainly seem to belong to an unburnt burial of the pagan 

 Anglo-Saxon period and are sufficiently distinct from some Roman 

 objects found on the same site. 



Further west beyond the Roman road to Norwich a discovery was 

 made in excavating for the railway at Gissing in 1849. At a depth of 

 seven feet were found on the breast of a skeleton a bronze square-headed 

 brooch and a ring-brooch of the same metal, both of which are figured 

 in Dawson Turner's collections.* 



About thirty years ago an Anglian burying-place was discovered at 

 Kenninghall in a sandy field sloping to the east and overlooking the 

 present village, about half a mile west of the church.^ In digging for 

 gravel the workmen came upon several graves about two feet from the 

 surface, and various antiquities were found in them. In those of males 

 were the usual iron bosses of shields, swords and spearheads and bronze 

 brooches ; in those of females, amber and glass beads, brooches, buckles, 

 etc., generally of well-known Anglo-Saxon types. No urns have been 

 found, so that cremation does not appear to have been the practice of the 

 tribe who settled here. Most of the articles were disposed of before the 

 spot was visited by archsologists, but several good examples were some 

 years afterwards obtained from the place and are in the Fitch room at 



> Norfolk Archaeology, vol. iv. p. 313. * British Museum, Add. MS. 23,055, fol. 136. 



3 Norfolk Jrcho'ology, vol. vii. pp. 292, 358. 



339 



