BRONZE FIBULA FOUND AT DATCHET OLD FORD. 



A HISTORY OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 



About the year 1827 two silver bracelets or armlets, exhibiting 

 certain features of late Celtic character, were found by a farmer at 

 Burtles Hill, in the parish of Castle Thorpe. 1 A small black earthen pot, 

 in which they had been deposited, was struck and broken by the coulter 

 of a plough. It was then discovered that numerous coins had been 



contained in the pot. No less 

 than twenty silver coins and 

 thirty-five large brass coins, 

 together with a massive silver 

 ring set with a cornelian, were 

 picked up in the plough fur- 

 row. The coins included some 

 of Antoninus Pius, Faustina 

 and Verus in the finest con- 

 dition, so it is probable that 

 the time of the deposit was 

 during the reign of Verus, A.D. 

 161-169. 



The armlets are of great 

 interest on account of their 



zoomorphic terminations and the decorative work all round their external 

 surfaces. Mr. Thomas Bateman, into whose possession they subse- 

 quently passed, considered that they represent the heads of serpents, but 

 the treatment is perhaps of a too conventional character to allow of 

 identification of the precise species of creature intended to be repre- 

 sented. 



From the fact that these treasures were found enclosed in an earthen 

 vessel showing traces of fire it seems probable that they represent the 

 remains of the cremation of some individual during the period of the 

 Roman occupation of Britain. The discovery of a skull during a sub- 

 sequent irregular search by servants is noteworthy, although it would 

 not of itself be sufficient evidence that this was a sepulchral deposit. 

 The association may have been purely accidental. 



It is a remarkable fact that two other silver armlets of very similar 

 character to these were found in a cavern at Carleswark, in Middleton 

 Dale, Derbyshire. 2 The Derbyshire specimens, as well as those from 

 Buckinghamshire, may be referred to a period not later than the second 

 century A.D. 



Other examples were found with the burnt remains of a cremated 

 interment at Slay Hill Saltings, Upchurch, Kent, and, like those from 

 Castle Thorpe, are now in the British Museum. 



Judged by their broad general characters one would be inclined to 

 place these armlets within the region of Roman art, as they unquestion- 

 ably are in respect of the date of their manufacture. The evidence of 



1 Journal of the British Archaeological Association, vol. ii. pp. 352-355; Catalogue of the 

 Bateman Museum, pp. 130, 131. 



a The Reliquary, vol. iii. p. 113. 



188 



