A HISTORY OF STAFFORDSHIRE 



noticed at Kempston, and the following extract throws some light on the 

 process : 



A pit was discovered over 7 ft. in length, from 3 to 4 ft. wide, and the same in depth, 

 where a body stretched at full length had been consumed by fire. About 2 ft. from the 

 surface was a large quantity of ashes, and among them were found portions of a human 

 skull, vertebrae and other bones, all charred, but the leg-bones showing less traces of fire 

 than the rest of the skeleton. In the ashes and on the left side of the body was a long 

 iron spear-head witli a portion of the wooden shaft left in the socket, and also an iron 

 knife ; while surrounding these remains lay numerous pieces of charred wood, and ends of 

 branches not quite burnt through. It seemed as if the pit had been partially filled with 

 live embers, on which the deceased was laid, and then large branches heaped over. 13 



Animal bones were found in at least four of the Stapenhill graves, and 

 in large quantities elsewhere on the site, especially in a trench 92 ft. long, 

 5 ft. 9 in. deep at the south end, and 2 ft. 6 in. deep at the north. Plans 

 and sections are given in the original account, but it seems clear that this 

 fosse had nothing to do with the burials, but was dug for the reception of 

 rubbish by the previous Romano-British, or even pre-Roman, inhabitants; 

 and, to judge from the few Anglo-Saxon sherds near the surface of the ditch, 

 the site may have been occupied by Teutonic settlers before it was appro- 

 priated for burials. No grave-mounds were observed by the excavators ; and 

 as the plan shows great irregularity, surface indications were perhaps 

 dispensed with altogether, but even on sites where some memorial must have 

 existed to mark the regular lines of interments u all trace has disappeared 

 before our time. The discoveries in this cemetery are held to prove that 

 the two rites of burial (cremation and inhumation) were practised by 

 contemporaries, and such seems to be the case on certain other sites ; but the 

 contention would be hard to prove by crucial instances. 



Facing Stapenhill, on the other side of the Trent, is another Anglo- 

 Saxon burial ground, of which a few details are recorded by Molyneux. 16 

 Some gravel pits adjoining the Lichfield Road, close to the Leicester branch 

 of the railway, yielded about 1868 an iron spear-head, gin. long and much 

 corroded, also some fragments of brown pottery ' which agrees in appearance 

 rather with the Saxon than the Roman form of manufacture.' The nature 

 of these finds is clear from Stapenhill and other discoveries higher up the 

 valley. 



The next site to be noticed is close to the Barton and Walton station,, 

 on the south side, and is recorded by Molyneux. A ballast pit was 

 opened by the Midland Railway Company about 1851, and a great number 

 of urns containing human bones were then found about three feet below the 

 surface. Some were described as British and others as Roman or Saxon, 

 but as two iron knives were found with the bones in one specimen, and iron 

 weapons were found in others, their Anglo-Saxon origin is fairly established. 

 The field from which these remains were exhumed consisted of a somewhat 

 circular knoll of gravel that sloped gently down to the banks of the old 

 river-course, and was beyond question the site of an ancient cemetery. 16 



The sepulchral series from Wichnor, now happily preserved by the 

 Natural History Society at Burton, includes some interesting types of the 



11 V.C.H. Beds. \, 177 ; Roach Smith, Collectanea Antiqua, vi, 205. 



14 Mounds existed on Farthing Down (V.C.H. Surr. i, 265), but not in recent times on High Down 

 (r.C.H. Suss, i, 341). 



15 Burton-on-Trent (1869), 22. " Molyneux, Burton-tm-Trent, 189 note. 



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