ANGLO-SAXON REMAINS 



Threxton.^ This is of circular form, having in the centre an engraved 

 lozenge with incurved sides branching into knotwork that occupies the 

 field. It probably dates from the eighth century, but there is no descrip- 

 tion of the silver coins found with a sword at Reepham.^ 



Passing now to later times, we have to inquire whether any Danish 

 relics have been found in this part of East Anglia, which belonged to the 

 Danelagh and was in fact the earliest Danish kingdom. It may be inferred 

 from certain social indications 'that Guthrum's Danes did not, like their 

 northern kindred, drive out a portion of the earlier population and estab- 

 lish themselves as a superior class above the remainder, but settled 

 amongst the original East Anglians on a footing of comparative equality.' ^ 

 This view is supported by an examination of physical traits in the 

 population of Norfolk. There is, according to Dr. Beddoe,* sufficient 

 evidence to show that this region was very densely settled by a population 

 almost exclusively Teutonic ; that is to say, it is more Anglian than 

 either Danish or British, though a Scandinavian district is marked not 

 only by the local place-names but also by a remarkably tall blonde race 

 occupying the hundreds of Flegg in the north-east of the county. 



Christianized through Alfred's influence, the Danes have left us 

 little in their graves, but one or two interesting finds of this period have 

 occurred in other parts of the county. 



'During the course of the year 1867 some men employed in raising 

 gravel at Santon, found a skeleton laid at full length about two feet below 

 the surface. The spot where the burial had taken place is on the slope 

 of the hill to the north of the church, and at no great distance from the 

 river Ouse.' With the skeleton were found an iron sword, afterwards 

 presented to the British Museum by Rev. W. Weller Foley, and two 

 characteristic Scandinavian brooches (fig. 12), also in the national collec- 

 tion by the gift of Mrs. Weller Foley and Rev. Canon Greenwell. 



The shape and ornamentation of the brooches leave no doubt of 

 their origin, as specimens of the type are often found in Norway, 

 Sweden and Denmark, and occasionally in the British Isles. Canon 

 Greenwell, who contributed a complete account of this discovery to 

 the Proceedings of the local archaeological society,* brings together for 

 comparison a number of similar instances from Orkney, Caithness, Sangay 

 or Sanderay near Harris, the Isle of Barra in the Hebrides, and Islay 

 in North Britain ; from the neighbourhoods of Garstang, Lanes, and 

 Bedale, Yorks. ; and from Fhcenix Fark, Dublin. To these may be 

 added several found on the mainland and islands of Scotland, which 

 have been brought together in a lecture" on ' Viking Burials ' by Dr. 

 Joseph Anderson of Edinburgh. 



1 Norfolk Anhaology, vol. iv. p. 363, and p. 358, fig. 5 ; Roach Smith's Collectanea Antijua, vol. iii. 

 p. 209. 



2 Journal of Ai-chceohgicallnstitute, vol. xxvi. p. 364. 



^ Robertson's Scotland under ker early Kings, vol. ii. pp. 435, 240. 

 * Races of Britain, pp. 64, 254. 



^ Bury and West Suffolk Archaological Society, vol. iv. (1874) p. 208, where one of the brooches is 

 figured. 



s Scotland in Pagan Times (Iron Age), chap. i. 



3-17 



