A HISTORY OF LEICESTERSHIRE 



In the winter of 1844 an interment, evidently of a woman, was found 

 during drainage operations 2 J ft. below the surface in a field known as ' The 

 Gorse Close,' fifty yards from the highway, in the parish of Beeby.** Only 

 a few teeth remained of the skeleton, but the grave-goods comprised seventy- 

 one beads of various shapes and materials, including amber and glass, the 

 latter of translucent blue and opaque colours, while at the centre of the 

 necklace was a large faceted bead of crystal, of the kind often found in 

 graves of this period, as at Glen Parva, in the same county, and St. Nicholas, 

 Warwick. 44 Found apart, this would naturally be taken for a spindle-whorl, 

 more for ornament than use, but specimens of similar dimensions are known 

 to have belonged to necklaces, and have the perforation worn by friction 

 with the thread. The grave further contained three hooks-and-eyes of stout 

 silver wire, evidently for fastening the dress, as at Twyford. But the chief 

 feature of the grave was a trio of brooches, all of the same Scandinavian type, 

 but with minor differences of outline and ornament. Of these the central 

 specimen is the purest in style and corresponds best of all to the Norwegian 

 pattern, while the other two, which constitute a pair, but are in part defec- 

 tive, show insular workmanship. One of the knobs still remains in position 

 on the square head-plate, and, as on the majority of English specimens, was 

 fastened by clasping the thin edge of the plate. The side pair as well as all 

 those on the other brooch are wanting but were evidently affixed in the same 

 way, serving originally to hold the ends of the spiral spring-coil of the pin 

 behind the head. The third specimen shows the method common at the 

 time in Norway and Sweden, as opposed to Denmark and England, whereby 

 the knobs were reduced to a purely ornamental feature and cast in one piece 

 with the head. The extravagant development of the so-called horse's head 

 at the foot probably marks a stage beyond any represented in Scandinavia, 

 where this type of brooch (there known as cruciform) went out of fashion in 

 the latter part of the sixth century. The Beeby burial may therefore date 

 from the last quarter of that century, but in view of further developments 

 in this part of the country, the type probably did not survive into the 

 succeeding century. 



The Ingarsby brooch 45 (coloured plate, fig. i) has been well published 

 and is remarkable not only for its unusual size but also for its settings of 

 garnets and blue glass. When perfect it must have been about 6J in. in 

 length and the width of the head is 3*8 in. It belongs to the square-headed 

 type common to this country, Scandinavia, and South Germany, but bears 

 unmistakable signs of English manufacture. The appearance of jewels on 

 this kind of brooch is itself an indication of a comparatively late date, and 

 while the Billesdon specimen (coloured plate, fig. 2) presents the type in an 

 early and almost pure form, the brooch under discussion must mark an advanced 

 stage of decadence, and dates probably from the early part of the seventh century. 

 The animal forms characteristic of Teutonic art in the sixth century are barely 

 represented on the earlier brooch, while on the Ingarsby fragment they are so 

 dismembered and distorted as to be beyond recognition, and mark a time when 

 mere hugeness of form had become the aim of the bronze-worker in place of 



43 Anastatic Society's vol. for 1858, p. 10, pi. lii ; Leic. Trans. \, 42, 64. 



44 V.C.U. Warw. i, 258. 



45 Akerman, Pag. Sax. pi. xvi ; Coll. Antlq. ii, 1 68, pi. xliii. 



