A HISTORY OF SUSSEX 



Some interesting deductions were made by Mr. Horton-Smith ^ from 

 the examination of fourteen skulls from High Down, Sussex, presented 

 to the Cambridge University Anatomical Museum by Mr. C. H. Read. 

 The fact that many Saxon ornaments had been found with them leaves 

 no doubt as to the age of the burials ; and comparison with West Saxon 

 and other skulls shows that the Sussex specimens uniformly exhibit 

 certain peculiarities which may throw some light on the character of 

 the Teutonic conquest of this district. The craniological details which 

 form the basis of his arguments were supplied by Mr. Horton-Smith 

 himself ; and his results accord so well with the scanty but equally 

 trustworthy evidence of archaeology, that no excuse is needed for intro- 

 ducing this factor in the elucidation of early Sussex. 



Broadly speaking, the amount of Teutonic blood in a given subject 

 varies directly in this country with the comparative length of the skull 

 from back to front ; and it may be regarded as a leading principle in 

 British craniology that the intermixture of Teutonic immigrants with 

 the original occupants of the soil may be estimated by the variation of 

 the skull from the average Anglo-Saxon type. By this method it 

 appears that the South Saxons were of a purer type than their fellows 

 of the west. While the sea-board of Wessex compared with the size 

 of the kingdom was anything but extensive, intermarriage with the 

 Romanized Britons would in all probability have proceeded rapidly and 

 have left its mark in a modification of feature and skull form. Sussex 

 on the other hand consisted in the early days of little more than the sea- 

 coast, and was doubtless occupied by relays of Saxons, who must have 

 intermarried to some extent with the natives, but retained the Teutonic 

 type in comparative purity. The fusion of race is much more notice- 

 able among the West Saxons, as Dr. Beddoe has also observed. According 

 to that authority the Saxon type is very conspicuous about Chichester, 

 the starting-point of the Conquest. Regular features, elliptic head and 

 face, brows moderately arched, nose straight and often rounded or bul- 

 bous at the point, mouth well moulded, complexion fair and transparent, 

 eyes well opened, the iris seldom large, of a beautiful clear blue, but 

 sometimes brown or hazel, hair flaxen or brown of various shades, 

 seldom bright, curly or abundant.^ 



A discovery further west has still to be noticed. In the neighbour- 

 hood of Arundel several Anglo-Saxon barrows were opened near a spot 

 called 'Friday's Church' on the Downs in 1893-4. Besides skeletons 

 the only finds were two iron knives and a small bronze pin. The 

 slightly raised mound called Friday's Church was found to consist of a 

 rough platform of large flints embedded in clay. A small spring of water 

 is at the foot of the hill, and it has been suggested that the spot was 

 originally dedicated to Freya, the present name being a corruption.^ 



The discoveries so far described belong to a period before the 



• Journal of Anthropological Institute, vol. xxvl. p. 82. 



2 Races of Britain, pp. 256-7. 



' Communicated by Mr. H. C. Collyer, of Beddington. 



