ANGLO-SAXON REMAINS 



more ordinary objects, but has little artistic importance. The sand-pit, 

 in which several burials were found, is alongside the railway on the east side, 

 close to the junction of Wichnor, about ij miles south of the site just men- 

 tioned ; and details have been kindly supplied by Mr. H. L. Hind, of Burton. 

 The remains found in 1899" were about four feet below the surface 

 of the pit, and more have been found since ; but the conditions were 

 unfavourable for determining their association, and all that is now possible 

 is to consider them under various headings as 

 products of a single cemetery. Several warriors 

 were evidently buried here, as six shield-bosses 

 (fig. 6) are preserved, slightly varying in their 

 dimensions, but all of the same general form : the 

 largest diameter of the base rim is 6J in., with a 

 height of 2| in., while the tallest specimen mea- 

 sures 3 in., and is nearly 5 in. across at the base. 

 These bosses are usually very well wrought and 

 are exceptionally durable, testifying to the skill of 

 the Anglo-Saxon armourer, whose praises were 

 sung in verse and whose life was assessed very high 

 in the primitive code of laws. The spear-heads 

 belong to two main types (fig. 3), most on this 

 site being of the willow-leaf form, one specimen 

 measuring i6jin., without its point or socket. 

 Three others belong to a common type with 

 waved edges to the blade and a sudden widening 

 at the base. The sockets, where preserved, are as 

 usual split to receive and hold firmly the wooden 

 shaft, and there is one ferrule, 3 Jin. in length, 

 originally fixed to the butt-end. Of the small 

 knife usually found in the graves, only a tang 

 2|in. long remains, the bone or horn handle having 

 perished. The only other iron object is a small 

 oval buckle (fig. 4), but so corroded as to be 

 barely recognizable. It probably belonged to a 

 leather girdle, and the type is commonly found. 

 Unfortunately only one brooch was found, and that 

 is without the foot (or part of the stem below the 

 bow), which is indicated in the illustration (fig. 5). 

 It has a square head-plate with trefoil extensions, 

 and closely resembles the only brooch of the kind 

 found at Stapenhill. To the bronze body was 

 attached an iron pin at the back, but only a rusted 

 fragment remains. Remains of the textile which the brooch was used to 

 fasten are often found preserved by rust on the back, but the only trace at 

 Wichnor is on one of the spear-heads. There were besides several staves of a 

 small bronze-mounted bucket, commonly found at the head or feet of the skele- 

 ton, but at present of uncertain use and meaning. The present example was 

 about 3! in. high, and the groove in which the bottom was inserted is plainly 



17 J. O'Sullivan, Trans. Burton-tm-Trent Nat. Hist, and Arch. Soc. iv, pt. ii, 80. 



205 



Fie. 3. IRON SPEAR-HEADS, 

 WICHNOR (^) 



