A HISTORY OF SUSSEX 



From the neighbourhood of Lewes we pass to Brighton. The 

 elevated ground between Dyke Road, Stanford Road, Port Hall Road 

 and the old Shoreham Road seems to be the site of a Saxon cemetery 

 dating from pagan times/ A Roman villa and sundry graves had been 

 found in the vicinity some years before, but it was in 1884 that the 

 first traces of later interments were discovered. During excavations 

 for the foundations of the school at the top of Hamilton Road some 

 human bones were uncovered that were resting on the chalk subsoil about 

 3 ft. from the clay surface. The position of the skeleton was north-and- 

 south, the head being to the south, and the grave contained a large iron 

 spear-head, an iron dagger (or part of sword) and a knife. The second 

 grave close by was found to be 5 ft. longer than the skeleton within it, 

 though the latter was of large build. It contained a smaller spear- 

 head and an iron shield-boss of the usual kind, which retained traces of 

 the wood to which it had been fixed, while the finger-bones were still 

 attached to the handle. A rivet from the shield was also recovered 

 which is of interest as showing that the thickness of the wood was 

 about I in. The iron relics are preserved in the Brighton Museum, 

 with three shield-bosses found with a sword in Stafford Road. 



In the museum at Lewes Castle are a few spear-heads, a shield-boss 

 and knives found with skeletons about 2| ft. from the surface near the 

 junction of Church Road and St. Andrew's Road at Portslade-by-Sea.^ 

 The orientation of these graves suggested a Christian origin, and accords 

 well with many cemeteries in the county which have yielded similar 

 relics. 



The discovery on High Down Hill of what may be regarded as a 

 typical cemetery of the South Saxons has not only supplied material for 

 the early history of the district, but has also proved a valuable addition 

 to the archaeology of the period. The site is about two miles from the 

 sea, behind the village of Ferring, a few hundred yards west of the 

 well-known Miller's Tomb, and about 5 miles to the west of Worthing, 

 the land between the down and the sea being a dead level of fertile soil. 

 Within the ramparts of an ancient British camp," the Saxon cemetery 

 covers rather more than half the width of the enclosed area ; and was 

 found to contain upwards of 86 interments, which were carefully exca- 

 vated and fully described^ by Mr. Chas. H. Read, the Secretary of the 

 Society of Antiquaries. In the autumn of 1892 Mr. Edwin Henty, 

 while planting trees on this site, came upon a number of graves which, 

 from the character of the relics found in them, were readily determined 

 to be of Saxon origin ; but it was found impossible to make an accurate 

 record of the earliest discoveries. As soon as the nature of the find 

 was determined, the owner readily undertook a thorough examination 



» D. B. Friend's Brighton Almanac, 1885, p. 166. 



3 Portslade-by-Sea Parish Magazine, August 1898 and June 1899, kindly communicated by Rev. C. A. 

 Marona. 



3 A plan and section of the earthwork is given in Archaeohgia, vol. xlii. p. 27 ; and earlier excava- 

 tions described in Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc, xiii. 274. 



* Archaeologia, liv. 369; Iv. 203. 



340 



