A HISTORY OF NORFOLK 



Norwich, while another series is preserved in the national collection. 

 This includes a pair of wire hooks with spiral ends (fig. i) and four 

 large square-headed brooches, some with traces of gilding (fig. 5) ; also 

 a curious silver ornament in the form of a fish. This is 5I inches in 

 length and bears a remarkable resemblance to another just an inch 

 shorter found in the important cemetery at Kempston in Bedfordshire. 

 From the rivets in the latter it seems probable that both were used as 

 badges, but until more evidence has accumulated it would be unwise 

 to pronounce them symbols of the Christian faith, though such an 

 interpretation is perhaps justified in the case of the Hardingstone jewel 

 found in Northamptonshire and several brooches in fish-form chiefly 

 from the Rhine district. In the early days of persecution the fish was a 

 favourite emblem, as the letters of the Greek word constituted the initials 

 of a confession of faith, only intelligible to Christian converts. 



There seems sufficient evidence for classing the burials at North- 

 wold as unburnt, though neither skeletons nor urns are mentioned. In 

 1839 a necklace was found in removing part of a barrow near Lord 

 Berners' watermill in that parish. The beads were sixty-five in number 

 and comprised fifty-six of dark blue glass with one of rock crystal cut in 

 facets, cubes of variously coloured glass-pastes and other shapes of like 

 material, doubtless of Anglo-Saxon date. Swords and bosses have also 

 been found ;^ and a few objects in the British Museum, consisting of a 

 long brooch (fig. 6), one smaller and another circular brooch and bracelet 

 clasps (fig. 3), go far to show that this was not a case of cremation. In 

 the absence of a drawing it is somewhat difficult to fix the date of 

 two fragments of silver personal ornaments, said to be portions of girdles. 

 ' They are bands of stout metal, chased with considerable care, the surface 

 being alternately grooved and ornamented with beaded and zigzag lines 

 in relief. One of the fragments measures just over an inch in width, 

 the other rather less than an inch, and a round locket or fastening is 

 hinged upon it like the fastening of a belt. In this is set a silver coin 

 of the Lucretia family. On the obverse is a radiated head of the sun, 

 the reverse having a crescent in the midst of seven stars with the legend 

 L. LVCRETi TRIO. Thcse fragments were found in the Norfolk Fen at 

 Northwold and are supposed to be of Saxon workmanship. They 

 resemble the work of that period in general character and may be com- 

 pared with some of the silver fragments found at Cuerdale, Lanes, now 

 in the British Museum. The ornaments however appear to be wholly 

 wrought with the tool without the use of the punch. '^ 



The use of Roman coins as ornaments in Anglo-Saxon times is well 

 illustrated by discoveries in East Anglia. The Northwold specimen, 

 which is a denarius of the Lucretia family and dates from about 74 B.C. 

 occurs on what seems in truth to have been a bracelet, but little can be 



• Journal of British Archaological Association, vol. iv. p. 382. 



* Ibid. vol. xiii. p. 296, which also records the find near the watermill. Proceedings, Society of 

 Antiquaries, vol. iii. p. 252. The coin is figured in Babelon's Monnaies de la Refublique romaine, vol. ii. 

 P- '53- 



