A HISTORY OF LEICESTERSHIRE 



Chester to Derby may be those of the earliest Anglo-Saxons to enter the 

 district, but unfortunately there is nothing to suggest a more precise date ; 

 and while some of the Roman remains may possibly date from the fifth 

 century, it should be pointed out that nothing distinctively Anglo-Saxon 

 has been found in Leicestershire older than the sixth. 



Two small but costly relics from the southern border of the county 

 remain to be described. A jewelled brooch of considerable interest was found 

 with human bones at the end of the eighteenth century in gravel-digging at 

 some point between Husbands Bosworth in Leicestershire and Welford, 

 Northants, which are two miles apart. As the county boundary runs nearer 

 the latter, the discovery probably took place to the north, and is so indicated 

 on the map. The jewel (coloured plate, fig. 4) has been illustrated twice in the 

 Gentleman 's Magazine** and worthily presented in colours by Akerman. 60 The 

 late Sir Henry Dryden made a drawing of it now among his papers at 

 Northampton, and called it ' the Naseby brooch ' ; but no particulars of 

 the discovery are given in the sale catalogue of the Baker collec- 

 tion (1842) to which he refers, and the name may be a simple 

 error, as Naseby occurs on the line above. An alternative 

 explanation is suggested by the following quotation from the 

 magazine already mentioned (1800, p. 121): 'it seems to have 

 been found in or very near the route of retreat of part of 

 Charles I's army to Leicester after the defeat in Naseby Field, 

 14 June, 1645.' When found the pin was evidently in place, 

 lying across the opening in the centre, and the brooch belongs 

 STUD, WIBTOFT to the annular type generally made of bronze, but an elaborately 

 (1) engraved specimen in silver is preserved from Sarre, Kent. 61 



The front is of gold ornamented with filigree and four pearl 

 bosses each set with a slab of garnet, and is fastened with gold wire to a 

 thin plate of silver forming the base. 



The other piece of jewellery referred to was formerly in the collection 

 of Mr. Bloxam of Rugby and is now preserved in the School Art Museum. 

 It was said to have been found near the town and has therefore been described 

 under Warwickshire ; 6S but when exhibited to the Archaeological Institute 

 at Worcester in 1862, it was catalogued" as coming from Wibtoft, on the 

 Watling Street, which there divides the two counties. It consists of a 

 gold stud now somewhat damaged, with the centre ornamented in quad- 

 rants, and garnets inlaid in imbricated and step patterns, while the edge 

 has oblong pieces of the same stones. This jewelled boss was probably 

 intended to ornament a circular brooch, a buckle, or even a cup," and may 

 have been subsequently attached as a pommel to a sword-hilt, as rough holes 

 at the bottom and at two opposite points on the rim show that an unskilled 

 hand had fastened it by means of a wire or metal band. 



As immovable objects, such as stone carvings or details of architecture, 

 are reserved for treatment elsewhere, the list of Anglo-Saxon finds in the 

 county is now completed, and tells a fairly consistent story. Tentative dates 



49 1800, p. 121, pi. iii, fig. i, and 1815, p. 209, pi. ii, fig. 4 ; see also de Baye, Industrial Arts, pi. ix, 

 fig. 5 ; Arch. Journ. xi, 59 ; and V.C.H. 'Northants, \, 254. 60 Pagan Saxondom, pi. xxxii, fig. 2. 



" V.C.H. Kent, i. V.C.H. War*,. \, 254. " Arch. Journ. xix. 279. 



64 Compare the Kentish jewellery, the Taplow buckle, and the Ardagh chalice. 



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