ANGLO-SAXON REMAINS 



The iron pan itself also finds a close parallel in Kent, and a passage 

 from Rev. Bryan Faussett's record may here be of interest. In 1760 he 

 excavated a woman's grave at Gilton near Sandwich, and found near the 

 feet a round bronze trivet on which stood a flat bronze pan 1 18 inches 

 wide and about 4 inches deep. It had two handles, was much broken 

 and decayed, and had been patched and mended in several places. It was 

 plain that the body had been buried in a large and very thick chest or 

 coffin, which had either been excavated by fire or perhaps been burnt to 

 a certain degree in order to make it more durable. The bones were greatly 

 decayed, and there were many shapeless pieces of iron near the head. 



Near this group of vessels, but towards the south side of the grave, 

 were found two wooden buckets with iron mounts, sunk in the earth so 

 that the upper edges were level with the floor of the grave. They con- 

 tained nothing of interest, but iron bands were 

 noticed at the mouth, the middle and bottom, and 

 both had overarching handles of the same metal. 

 The wooden staves were clearly visible in the earth, 

 and showed that the buckets had a diameter of 12 

 inches and a depth of 10 inches. 



At the middle of the south side was found a 

 hemispherical iron cup containing a compact mass 

 of sand, and supported on a tall stem terminating 

 in four feet. The total height was originally just 

 over 1 1 inches, but nothing quite similar appears 

 to have been met with in graves or elsewhere, and 

 that it was a lamp or brazier is merely a conjecture. 

 In the south-west corner the excavators came upon 

 a deep cylindrical cauldron of iron with a stout flat 

 handle and a capacity of about 2 gallons. It was 

 much broken, and though of unusual size no doubt 

 served the same purpose as other large vessels 

 found in graves of the same period in different 

 parts of England. 



A much more usual article of sepulchral furniture is the iron shield- 

 boss which was taken from the east end of the grave where the sword 

 and certain other objects had been previously found. A circle of a 

 darker colour than the earth showed where the wooden shield had been, 

 but was not definite enough to prove the dimensions. Scattered about 

 in this part of the grave were fragments of a vase of dense grey ware, 

 well baked and made on the wheel, the ornament consisting of impressed 

 chevrons. It is quite unlike the ware usually found with such interments 

 in Kent, and is perhaps more nearly related to the Merovingian than to 

 the Roman civilization, which is not indicated by any other object in the 

 grave. The Merovingian pottery is fairly uniform in quality and size, 

 and is quite distinct both in form and texture from Roman and Anglo- 



1 Both are figured in Inventorium Sefukhrale, pi. xv. figs, i, a ; for description of the grave, see p. 

 1 6 and reference there. 



323 



IRON STANDING-CUP FROM 

 GRAVE AT BROOMFIELD. 



