A HISTORY OF KENT 



but this has little bearing on the date of the burial. The decayed wood 

 mentioned was probably what remained of the usual coffer, and the 

 iron chain is of quite common occurrence in Kent. A diminutive 

 chatelaine and small amber beads are also characteristic, but the 

 orientation is the reverse of that usual in Anglo-Saxon graves of the 

 district. It is possible to see in this a blend of British and Teutonic 

 custom, at a time when the Anglo-Saxon was not yet firmly established 

 in the land of the Cantii. 



Of special interest, both as a work of art and an indication of date, 

 is the sword-pommel (fig. 15) from Crundale preserved in the British 

 Museum. The blade is incomplete, but of the usual outline, and the 

 interest centres in the hilt, which had two gilt bands, of pointed oval 

 plan, with excellent interlaced work in relief. The pommel is virtually 

 intact, and consists of a silver-gilt terminal of cocked-hat form affixed 



(originally) by two rivets to the 

 wooden cross-bar. The ornamenta- 

 tion on both faces is carried out with 

 infinite care and taste, and consists of 

 two interlaced animals with ribbon- 

 like bodies which are held in their 

 elongated jaws. Though not identi- 

 cal with any animal forms charac- 

 teristic of the seventh century on the 

 G,LT s'oRD-roMMEL, Crundale Coutinent, thcy are undoubtedly re- 

 DowN (J). lated, as indeed is indicated by the 



form of the handle itself, to specimens 

 from Ultuna* (Uppland, Sweden) and the Isle of Gothland ^ in the Baltic, 

 while close similarity of the sword to a complete specimen ^ from Bildso 

 Moss (Fyen, Denmark) would justify a restoration on those lines. Dr. 

 Salin has recently published the Crundale specimen, and assigns it to the 

 seventh century, to which the Kingston brooch also belongs ; but the 

 bearing of these analogies on the nationality or commercial relations of 

 settlers in Kent must be dealt with subsequently. 



In 1858 Roach Smith and Rev. L. B. Larking opened two of a 

 number of grave-mounds on the summit of Wye Hill, to the left of the 

 Dover road : most had been previously disturbed. One contained the 

 bones of a child, the other those of a very tall adult, lying with the 

 head SW., a spear-head by the right shoulder, and a small knife on the 

 breast.* The national collection includes several objects of interest 

 from the downs between Wye and Crundale, but full details 

 of their discovery are not available.'' From one grave came part of a 

 keystone brooch, earrings, a pin with garnet head and a silver finger- 

 ring, and, above all, a gold bracteate with applied cruciform design and 



• Bernhard Salin, Die AUgermamiche Thierornamenlik, figs. 575, 588, 589; Crundale pommel, fig. 

 709, p. 328. 



- Ibid. fig. 580. 3 Figured in Arch. Cant. viii. pi. 21, p. 262. 



* Davis and Thurnam, Crania Britannica, vol. ii., where the skull is noticed, 

 5 List in Proc. Soc. Antiq. xiv. 313-5: some found in 1858. 



368 



