A HISTORY OF LEICESTERSHIRE 



There is reason to believe that the art of working iron, and the know- 

 ledge of its immense superiority over bronze, were brought hither by a tribe 

 or division of the great Celtic family, known as the Brythons, a name which 

 is perpetuated in that of the people who still flourish in these islands. 



Gaulish and other continental influences are clearly shown in the arts 

 and industries of the people of the early Iron Age in Britain, and it is this 

 interesting fact, perhaps, which gives the chief importance to the discoveries 

 in Leicestershire now to be described. 



In this county there have been found several objects characteristic of the 

 late Celtic period, and of the greatest archaeological importance. The first 

 to be recorded, both on account of rarity and interest, are the remains of the 

 bronze mounts of a wooden bucket found at Mountsorrel' in what has been 

 considered a Roman well. Articles of this class and period are so very rare 

 that only two had been previously known as having been found in England, 1 * 

 namely, one found at Marlborough, and one found in the late Celtic cemetery 

 at Aylesford. Both of these are considered by Dr. Arthur Evans to be 

 foreign productions, and in both we find ornamentation of anthromorphic 

 and zoomorphic character. In the case of the Aylesford bucket the terminals 

 of the handle by which it is attached to the bucket are human heads. In 

 the Marlborough bucket there are also human heads- arranged in pairs. In 

 the Mountsorrel example, however, and also in that next to be described, the 

 handle attachments are in the form of bulls' heads. Zoomorphic forms of 

 this character are rare, but a bull's head cast in solid bronze was found at 

 Ham Hill, Somerset, 15 in which is displayed great artistic skill, although 

 convention is carried almost to the verge of caricature. 



The vertical bronze straps of the Mountsorrel bucket are decorated with 

 a debased form of spiral scroll-work in relief, interrupted at intervals by 

 raised rings. The main portion of the bucket, which has been restored, was 

 of course composed of wooden staves. The handle is of particularly good 

 workmanship, and consists of elegant bead and reel moulding. 



Another bucket, or rather the broken remains of the bronze mounts and 

 some fragments of the wooden staves of one, were found between Twyford 

 and Burrough Hill, Leicestershire, in association, it is said, with a socketed 

 spear-head of iron. The fragments of wooden staves are fairly well preserved, 

 and amongst the various pieces of metal is the bronze head of a bull from 

 which project the ears and horns of the animal. This was manifestly a part of 

 the attachment of the handle to the bucket, and it furnishes an interesting 

 parallel to the similar, if not quite identical, form on the Mountsorrel 

 specimen just described. 



In general character the Leicestershire buckets are clearly of later date, 

 and of more debased art, than the examples found in Kent and Wiltshire ; 

 and there is good reason to believe that they may be of native British work r 

 manship. 



The curious bronze object found at High Cross is another characteristic 

 relic of the late Celtic or early Iron Age. It consists of two disks of metal 

 connected by a tube, and may possibly have served as the ornamental boss of 

 the nave of a chariot wheel. Examples of these objects have been found 



14 J. Romilly Allen, F.S.A., Celtic Art in Pagan and Christian Times, 1 16. 



15 Free. Soc. Antiq. xxi, 133. 



172 



