A HISTORY OF KENT 



bracteate * found with amethyst beads and a number of trinkets for the 

 chatelaine, one of them of cruciform shape at the lower end," like 

 specimens from Breach Down in the British Museum. 



The fifty-three interments explored by Faussett in 1764 and 1773 

 on Chartham Down (or more precisely Kenville Down), about 3 miles 

 south-west of Canterbury, were remarkable for the absence of weapons, 

 with the exception of one small lance or arrow. The majority were 

 under mounds, and all the twenty-three coffins found had ' passed the fire.' 

 The comparative poverty of the series is shown by the fact that nineteen 

 graves without coffins were quite devoid of furniture. In one instance 

 a cinerary urn, probably Roman, had been replaced in the grave, 

 and Roman bracelets, a key and stylus were also found in other graves. 

 A wooden coffer lay at the foot 



^^^^ME^^^^^^^^g^Bpl cup with silver-gilt rim and three 



Fig. 16. Gilt Mount of Wooden Cup, ^^ ^^^'^^ ^f ^ L^^i^ ^,^088 found 



FavERSHAM m. , , r -IT 



at the neck of a young girl, it 

 is of silver with a boss of that metal at the centre in a socket of gold. 

 The pair found at Kingston were of the equal-armed or Greek pattern, 

 as are most of the metal crosses of the Anglo-Saxon period. Douglas 

 also gives a drawing of a small round-headed pin set with a garnet^ 

 found during these excavations. 



The Anglo-Saxon collection bequeathed to the nation by Mr. 

 William Gibbs in 1870 represents the spoil of the richest cemetery 

 in Kent, the richest of all our counties in this respect. It was amassed 

 during a number of years by purchase from the workmen engaged 

 in excavations for the railway in what was known as the King's 

 Field at the south end of Faversham, and consequently nothing is known 

 as to the distribution of the relics in the graves. Roach Smith pub- 

 lished more than one illustrated paper on the finds,* and prepared the 

 catalogue for the Science and Art Department. Perhaps the most 

 striking relic is a large circular brooch ° of gold like that from Kingston 

 (pi. i.fig. 10), but smaller with the garnets'and fiHgree all missing from the 

 cells with which the face is covered. Though glass was frequently 

 used in this cell-work, it was ascertained that some of the jewellery from 

 this site was set with real garnets, the brilliance of which was enhanced 



• Pag. Sax. pi. li. fig. 5 ; Ntn. Brit. pi. xxi. fig. I. 



1 Nin. Brit. pi. iviii. figs. 3-5. 3 Ibid. pi. xviii. fig. 6. 



* Jrch. Cant. i. plates i.-iii. p. 42 ; iii. pi. v. p. 46; Coll. Ant. vi. plates ixii.-xxvii. p. 136; 

 Summary in Coll. Cant. 114, and long list of finds in Proc. Soc. Antiq. iv. 122; liv. 313 (Durden 

 Collection). 



» Arch. Cant. i. pi. ii. fig. I. 



370 



