A HISTORY OF STAFFORDSHIRE 



lay north and south, the greatest depth (15 in. in the rock) being at the 

 south-east corner. About 8 in. of soil covered the rock, and the floor of the 

 grave at the north end was immediately beneath. At that end there was a 

 basin-shaped cavity two or three inches deep in the rock beyond the original 

 position of the skull, though the skeleton had completely disappeared. On 

 the right or western side of the grave, near and parallel to the side, was a long 

 two-edged sword, and to the north-east of the handle was an iron knife 

 characteristic of the Anglo-Saxon period. 



Such is the story derived from the published accounts, and the site is 

 now carefully railed in for preservation. A few remarks may be added by 

 way of comment and illustration, but little is as yet known as to the precise 

 significance of the enamelled bowls of this period found in various parts of 

 England. The Barlaston specimen, though sadly injured by time, must have 

 been exceptionally ornate, and is peculiar in having been cast, not wrought 

 like the rest. It is on this account comparatively heavy, and there are marks 

 of the lathe on the base, which seems to have been indented and ornamented 

 on the outside 88 with the enamelled ring (fig. 9). The three discs were 

 attached originally to the outside of the bowl at equal intervals below the 

 rim, which is slightly thickened, and served, with the hooks above the discs, 

 to form loops for suspension by three chains which have as usual perished. 

 The enamelled discs are of the ordinary size and character, mounted in 

 circular frames of bronze ; and the ornamentation on them and the ring that 

 fitted into the base is of the late Celtic character. The enamel which fills 

 the ground is of the usual red colour, but is remarkable in another respect. 

 Irregularly set in it are discs of millefiore glass, produced by cutting thin 

 slices off a bundle of glass rods so that the arrangement of the coloured 

 chequers is constant. This inlaying of millefiore in enamel is again seen on 

 similar discs for a bowl found in the north of England, and acquired for the 

 national collection ; and the fourth enamelled disc in that find may well 

 have been inserted in a broad ring at the base like that found at Barlaston. 

 The narrow bronze bands ornamented with incised rings were evidently 

 fixed horizontally to the outside of the bowl between the three discs, their 

 centre line being about | in. below the rim, as is shown by rivet-holes for 

 repair ; but these strips were originally fixed without rivets (perhaps by brazing), 

 and the reason for their slanting ends is not obvious. They are 5 J in. long 

 on the outside curve, whereas the intervals between the disc-frames must 

 have been about /in., the circumference being about 27^ in., and each of 

 the disc-frames being just over 2 in. across. 



Though an isolated burial the Barlaston discovery falls into line with 

 others made just across the Derbyshire border. Remains of no less than 

 three such bowls 33 have been found in the neighbourhood of Dovedale : at 

 Middleton-by-Youlgreave, Over Haddon, and Benty Grange, the last lying 

 in the grave beside the hair of a warrior, in association with a leather bowl 

 ornamented with applied crosses. At Barlaston the bowl was found just 

 where the head would have lain, and seems to have been in the centre line 

 of the grave, so that perhaps the head rested within it at the time of burial. 



" At Caistor, Lines, the ring was apparently inside. The form of the base, whether indented or pro- 

 truding, is often uncertain, but ornament may have been applied on both sides (Prof. Sec. Antiq. xxi, 78). 

 " All noticed in Arch. Ivi, 42, 46 ; V.C.H. Derb. i, 271, 269, fig. on left of plate. 



2IO 



