ANGLO-SAXON REMAINS 



it must be confessed that they are few and unimportant and are perhaps 

 no more conspicuous here than in other counties not so favourably 

 situated for trading in continental productions, for which Kent appears 

 to have been the principal depot in this country. 



In addition to the Broomfield jewels, of which enough has already 

 been said, there belongs to this category a handsome jewelled ornament 

 (fig. 2) that was probably worn by some wealthy lady as the head of a 

 pin for the hair and points unmistakably to Kent as the place of manu- 

 facture. This remarkable relic 1 was found at Forest Gate, and is of 

 massive gold with four sides broadest in the middle, the truncated ends 

 pierced for the reception of the pin, probably of silver. The four faces 

 are inlaid with garnets and blue glass arranged in step-pattern, the design 

 being the same on opposite pairs. This cell-work is characteristic of 

 Kentish jewellery, and is easily distinguishable from foreign examples of 

 the art. 1 At the other end of the county, at Dovercourt near Harwich, 

 was found a bronze radiated brooch (fig. i) which may also have been 

 manufactured south of the Thames. It is of the usual type, rare in this 

 country outside Kent but common in Switzerland, Western Germany, 

 and Normandy, and its discovery so close to the sea can throw little light 

 on the nationality or origin of the dwellers inland at the time of its 

 deposit, some time in the seventh century. Another interesting find 

 near the coast was made at Great Clacton during the demolition of a 

 mound within an entrenchment. A glass cup was discovered with 

 broken tiles and charred wood, but further details are not available, and 

 without dwelling on the apparent similarity to graves in Kent it will 

 suffice to notice the close resemblance of the cup to several found in 

 that county as well as certain other localities, such as Wheathamp- 

 stead, Herts, and Desborough, Northants. Tumblers of this mammiform 

 type were perhaps not of native manufacture ; and the present speci- 

 men* is evidently contemporary and intimately connected in origin 

 with continental specimens from the Rhine district. Of three bone 

 combs found at Great Wakering and now in the national collection, two 

 are of a type fairly common in Kentish graves, having two rows of teeth 

 running the entire length ; while the third has a very thick cylindrical 

 handle, of which there are two examples in the same collection from the 

 Thames and one from the county of Durham. A diminutive axe-head 

 of iron* found at Colchester was probably intended for the use of a boy, 

 as the ' francisca ' was one of the commonest weapons among the Prank- 

 ish peoples across the Channel, though rarely met with in Anglo-Saxon 

 graves. 



Of quite another character is an important discovery at Saffron 



1 Now in the possession of Sir John Evans, who hat kindly lent it for illustration, together with the 

 radiated brooch (fig. l) and gold bracelet (fig. 1 1). 



1 Pin-heads of similar form but different ornamentation are figured in Lindenschmit's Altertktimtr 

 umerer htiJniichen Porztit, vol. ii. pt. x. pi. vi. figs. 13 (Andernach) and 14 (Palatinate). 



Figured in Journal of British Anhteohgical diiociation, ii. 99 ; its Kentish character is noticed at 

 p. 54 of the same volume. 



4 Figured in Akerman's Pagan SaxonJom, pi. xxiii. fig. 2 ; Hor<t Feralet, pi. xxvii. fig. 18. 



I 329 42 



