A HISTORY OF SURREY 



scraps of bronze that may have been portions of brooches but were 

 beyond recognition. 



Three years later, in 1874, further discoveries 1 were made in the 

 same area, which has now been converted into a sewage farm for Croy- 

 don. The remains of a giant of about 6 feet 6 inches were discovered, 

 his head resting on a circular shield of which the iron boss alone 

 remained ; another shield with a similar boss lay close to his left arm, 

 while a spear had been placed along his left side. There also came to 

 light part of a sword and a few spearheads that may have belonged to 

 other graves, as the excavations were not rigidly supervised. Fragments 

 of charred wood as well as ' a coarse black urn and a white drinking 

 cup glazed with bright clean glazing ' were taken as evidence of 

 cremation ; and it was deduced from a plan that the main interment 

 mentioned above was made with the feet pointing to the north-east and 

 the head towards the centre of one of two slight eminences during the 

 levelling of which, in 1871, had been found two cinerary urns. There 

 seems here a slight discrepancy between the two accounts, but the 

 essential fact remains that within a restricted area were found skeletons 

 lying with the head to the west, one at least with the head to the 

 south-west, and several cinerary urns of the Anglo-Saxon period. It 

 might be inferred from the account of the excavations in 1874 that the 

 skeleton lying south-west and north-east was on a lower level than those 

 previously found lying east and west and the cremated burials which 

 were cleared away with the ' slight eminences ' three years before. If 

 this could be established the presumption would be that the burial not 

 orientated was of earlier date than the others, 2 though the presence 

 of cinerary urns in association would still leave the Christian character 

 of the later graves uncertain. 



On the chalk uplands to the south more satisfactory excavations 

 were carried out in 1871 by Mr. Wickham Flower, who contributed an 

 illustrated account to the Surrey Archceologkal Collections* The grave 

 mounds which had attracted his attention were situated on Farthing- 

 down near Coulsdon, and about five miles south by west of Croydon. 

 The chalk here rises over 400 feet above sea level and afforded a site 

 such as the Saxons as well as the ancient Britons before them preferred 

 for the burial of their dead. The existence of this burial place had 

 been known for at least a century, for about 1770 one of the barrows 

 had been opened and a perfect skeleton found within it. Mr. Flower 

 considered that only the two largest mounds had been previously opened, 

 so that his account of the smaller barrows may be taken to represent the 

 original condition of the graves. Sixteen of these were examined in 

 two groups about a quarter of a mile apart. They were all hewn in the 

 solid chalk to the depth of 3 to 3! feet from the original surface of the 



1 Journal of British Arcbteological ditociation, xxx. 213. 



8 There were similar cases in a Cambridgeshire cemetery, but the converse was also observed more 

 than once, and such a conclusion would here be fallacious. W. K. Foster, ' An Anglo-Saxon Cemetery 

 at Harrington ' (Cambridge Antiquarian Society's Communications, vol. v.). 



8 Vol. vi. p. 1 08. 



264 



