A HISTORY OF STAFFORDSHIRE 



burnt as to acquire a reddish-brown tinge, and are extremely hard to the 

 touch.' so There is also some doubt as to the origin of the unburnt burial in 

 the same neighbourhood. The grave-furniture, such as spear-head, knife, and 

 shield, or brooches and beads, may have been overlooked or concealed by the 

 workmen, and the position is by no means unusual at this period both in 

 England (as at Little Wilbraham, Cambs.) and in Normandy. 



Obviously distinct from the sites already dealt with are several in the 

 north-east angle of the county that as clearly range with a compact group 

 beyond the Dove in Derbyshire, and the physical similarity of the two areas 

 has been noticed above. At Steep Low, near Alstonfield, there seems 

 clear evidence of secondary Anglo-Saxon burials. The large mound, 1 50 ft. 

 in diameter and 15 ft. high, was opened in 1845, and found to contain 

 Bronze Age incinerations quite near the surface, but the primary burial was 

 not reached. Before the excavators arrived some villagers had found near 

 the top the body of a ' Romanized Briton,' extended on his back, accom- 

 panied by an iron spear-head, and a lance-head and knife of the same 

 material 21 placed near the head, also three Roman coins, one being of 

 Constantine (307-337), and another of Tetricus (268-273). The coins 

 simply show that the burial was not earlier than the fourth century, and 

 Constantinian coins are frequently found in Anglo-Saxon burials, whereas 

 weapons are not found with Romano-British interments, either burnt or 

 unburnt. Further, the present specimens have the split-socket characteristic 

 of early Anglo-Saxon times, and it may be assumed that one warrior, at least, 

 was laid to rest in a shallow grave cut in the mound that had been used for 

 burials about 1,000 years before. 



At the Boroughs, Wetton, there seem to have been several Anglo-Saxon 

 inhumations, but the remains 32 are very fragmentary, and the records in- 

 complete. A flat bronze ring with rust at one point may be a ring-brooch 

 with remains of the pin ; and an iron ring belongs to a type common in 

 Anglo-Saxon graves, perhaps attached to the girdle. More determinate are 

 a tanged knife, part of a pair of shears, and part of a whetstone of blue slate, 

 all found with a skeleton here in 1852. There are Roman objects from the 

 same site, and evidence of a Romano-British village near Wetton. 83 An iron 

 spear-head lo^in. long, and a knife 6 in. long, found with a skeleton in a 

 mound at the Boroughs in 1844, are sufficient evidence of an Anglo-Saxon 

 warrior's burial, either primary or secondary, and render it at least probable 

 that another iron knife, 6 in. long, also belonged to a burial of the period." 

 A knife of this kind seems to have been commonly carried by both sexes for 

 use at meals, and was usually deposited in the grave, as at Barlaston. 



Somewhat doubtful is an iron knife," now in fragments, from a barrow 

 at Blore's field, Calton (1849); an ^ a ^ at i ron rm g> S8 if in. in diameter, 

 found in a barrow near Blore in the same year is insufficient evidence of a 

 burial, though such rings are frequently found in Anglo-Saxon graves. The 

 presence of such people in the neighbourhood of Throwley is attested by an 

 iron spear-head 27 of ordinary type gin. long found near the River Manifold 



10 Trans. Burton Nat. Hist, and Arch. Sac. i, 185. 



" Sheffield Mus. Cat. 99, 232 (figs.), 235 ; Bateman, Vestiges, p. 76. 



" Sheffield Mus. Cat. 195-219. Bateman, Ten Yearf Diggings, 194. 



" Sheffield Mus. Cat. 232 (1844), 235 (1857). " Ibid. 220. 



* Ibid. 139. Ibid. 232. 



208 



