ANGLO-SAXON REMAINS 



not only to account for the presence of the ewer and cup but also for 

 the absence of ornaments of Anglian type in association with them. 



It is true that Aethelbert's supremacy had passed even before his 

 death in 616 into the hands of Raedwald of East Anglia, but unless and 

 until some traces of Anglian cremation or influence are found in Hert- 

 fordshire or Essex, archaeology may admit the truth of Mr. Green's view 

 that Raedwald's dominion did not reach further south than the Stour 

 valley. Hertfordshire perhaps fared similarly, and the southern limit of 

 East Anglia in Raedwald's time may have been the Icknield Street, for 

 Anglian remains are plentiful in the extensive discoveries of Hon. R. C. 

 Neville (afterwards Lord Braybrooke) at Wilbraham, Cambs, and a fine 

 square-headed Anglian brooch has been found near Bassingbourn in the 

 same county. 1 In the absence of indications to the contrary it is more 

 reasonable to refer the cremated burials at Wilbraham to the time of Raed- 

 wald, who was a pervert from Christianity, than of Wulf here, who was 

 a staunch upholder of the faith that Penda had trampled on. The dis- 

 covery in Hertfordshire of a mixed cemetery such as that so richly 

 illustrated in Saxon Obsequies would throw much light on the early his- 

 tory of the county ; but till that occurs such negative evidence as there 

 is may be accepted. 



Besides those already mentioned only one cemetery appears to have 

 been noticed in the county, and there are but slender grounds for deter- 

 mining its precise date. The following seems to be the only record of 

 the find : ' In a field near Sandridge remains have been discovered of a 

 supposed Anglo-Saxon burial ground. A large number of human bones 

 have been found together with iron implements, which are said by local 

 antiquaries to be of Saxon origin. Unfortunately the greater part of 

 the remains, which were discovered by a ploughman, were buried after 

 being shown to a gentleman who pronounced them to be only old bones.' 2 

 Of isolated finds but few have been recorded, 3 and are here included 

 more on account of their antiquarian interest than for any historical 

 evidence they can afford. Future discoveries and investigations may 

 however add some importance to the small bronze coins (figs. 3, 4) 

 found in recent years at St. Albans and now preserved in the museum 

 there. They belong to the class called minimi, and these particular 

 specimens cannot have been struck before the year 345, when the 

 type here represented was introduced. 4 The imperfect devices here 

 preserved would not of themselves go far towards identifying the 

 pieces, but there can be little doubt that they are copies, rudely 

 executed, of certain mintages of the Roman emperors, Constantius II. 

 (33761) and Julian the Apostate (3613), having on the obverse the 

 imperial head and on the reverse a warrior felling a horseman with 

 his spear. The St. Albans pieces are much smaller than the originals, 



1 In the collection of Mr. William Ransom, F.S.A., of Hitchin. 



* Antiquary, xi. 132. 



8 Sir John Evans' Ankttokgcal Survey of Hertfordshire has here been of service. 



* This and other information has been kindly supplied by Mr. H. A. Grueber, F.S.A., of the 

 British Museum, 



259 



