ANGLO-SAXON REMAINS 



in 1858, and a glass bead 88 of ring pattern, I in. in diameter, found in a field 

 in 1856. An almost identical bead, of translucent yellow glass with a thread 

 of bright yellow within the ring, is exhibited with it at Sheffield, and came 

 from Kirkham's land, Middleton Moor (by Youlgreave), Derbyshire. 



The Anglo-Saxon origin of a find on Readon (Wredon) Hill, one mile 

 north of Ramshorn, is open to question. On 4 September, 1848, a barrow 

 1 9 yds. in diameter and 3ft. high was opened and found to contain two 

 skeletons extended near the centre, with no protection but a few stones in 

 contact with one of the bodies, which was possibly interred later than the 

 other. It was not more than 2 ft. from the surface, while the other lay on 

 the natural level at least 3 ft. from the turf covering the mound. Of the 

 former, the skull, which was that of a young man with a longitudinal index 

 of 76, remained in perfect preservation with some of the hair, and a small 

 pebble was found at the right hand. The lower skeleton was covered with 

 a layer of charcoal, and the skull belonged to a middle-aged man. An iron 

 spear-head lay at least two yards from the upper, and further from the lower 

 burial, and measures 

 I 3 in., with part of the 

 shaft still preserved by 

 rust in the socket. With 

 it was a narrow war 

 knife 8 in. long, and 

 their association points 

 to an Anglo - Saxon 

 burial ; but they do not 

 seem to have belonged 

 to either of the bodies 

 found. The microscope 

 revealed the fact that 

 the shaft of the spear 

 was of ash, and the sur- 

 face of the weapon and 

 knife shows traces of 

 grass and the larvae of insects with which they had been in contact. 8 



There are reasons for classing with those in the north (the nearest of 

 which is 12 miles distant) an isolated burial in the Trent valley, but nearly 

 30 miles above Wichnor, and separated by the whole width of Needwood 

 Forest. This remarkable discovery was made in 1850 on the estate of the 

 late Mr. Francis Wedgwood, at Barlaston, some twenty years before it was 

 first published by Llewellyn Jewitt. 30 It has since been included in a paper 

 on bronze bowls with enamel mounts, by the late Mr. Romilly Allen, 31 and 

 an illustrated account was presented to the local society by Mr. Lawrence 

 Wedgwood in 1905. 



On a slope of red sandstone a grave (fig. 8) 7 ft. long and 2 ft. wide was 

 found cut into the solid rock when the gravel-pit hill to the east of the house 

 was dug over for the planting of trees. It was evidently an isolated burial, and 



>8 Sheffield Mus. Cat. 227. " Diggings, 122-3 ; SheffieUMus. Cat. 162 (skull), 235. 



80 Grave-mounds and their Contents (1870), 258, figs. 434, 435 ; Lawrence Wedgwood, 'Notes on Celtic 

 Remains found at the Upper House, Barlaston,' Trans. N. Staffs. Field Club, xl (1906), 148. " Arch. Ivi, 44. 

 I 209 27 



SECTION OF THE GRAVE 

 FIG. 8. GRAVE AT BARLASTOJ (PLAN AND SECT.-ON) 



29 



