ANGLO-SAXON REMAINS 



one piece with the body of the brooch, but furnished with split shanks 

 into which fitted the sharpened edges of the head-plate. Originally these 

 side-knobs served as terminals of the spiral coil of the spring, and were 

 kept in place by it, but in Norway especially they soon ceased to be 

 functional, and became an ornamental part of the head-plate. In Denmark 

 and England they remained separate for some time longer, and are con- 

 sequently often wanting on extant specimens. The result of casting knobs 

 and head-plate together is seen in one of this group (top right), where the 

 cruciform design is apparent. The two long brooches have lost their side- 

 knobs, and two others have semicircular terminals to the foot that seem to 

 have been derived from the Baltic provinces, and have been termed Prus- 

 sian. There are also annular and penannular brooches, the latter being not 

 far removed from the Roman prototype often found in Britain, while the 

 other is evidently the common form of such exceptional specimens as that 

 from Husbands Bosworth (coloured plate, fig. 4), or from Sarre, Kent. 3 Other 

 simple examples have been found in the 

 neighbouring counties of Lincoln 8S and 

 Northants. 4 



Only one urn was discovered on this 

 site : it was well fired, had been turned on 

 the lathe, and highly ornamented. Close 

 to the urn lay an iron sword, and across 

 the mouth an iron spear-head, distinguished 

 from the rest by a narrow bronze ring round 

 the socket. Other pottery was found of a 

 distinct character, comprising several cups 

 capable of containing about half a pint each, 

 imperfectly baked and in crumbling con- 

 dition. 4 * These may have been similar to 

 those found elsewhere in the county, at Saxby 

 and Rothley Temple. 



Of the objects illustrated from this 

 site by Roach Smith, two call for special 



mention, being of rare occurrence in Anglo-Saxon graves. One is a 

 metal fragment described as ' an article of brass supposed to have been 

 attached to a sword-belt,' but its original breadth of 2i in. leaves little room 

 for doubt that it was the chape of a sword-scabbard, the longitudinal ribs on 

 both sides having clearly been attached to the leather sheath, which has 

 perished. Whether this fragment originally belonged to the weapon found 

 near the urn just mentioned is, perhaps, impossible to decide, but it is in 

 itself a rare specimen, and is sufficient evidence that a sword was once 

 deposited with it in the grave. 



The other piece of special interest is a circular brooch of bronze, from 

 which the settings have disappeared. No detailed description is given, but 

 the form is enough to refer it to a type common in the late Roman period, 



1 V.C.H. Kent, \. 3a Castle Bytham, Arch. Journ. x, 81. 



4 Badby, Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc. i, 61. 



* Roach Smith, Coll. Antiq. i, 41 and pi. xviii, 3 ; Proc. Sac. Antiq. iii, 55 ; Bloxam, Fragmenta 

 Sepulchralia, 52, 53, 57, and Monumental Archit. and Sculpture of Great Britain, 34, 44, 52. 



223 



CINERARY URN, FOUND NEAR BENSFORD 

 BRIDGE 



