A HISTORY OF KENT 



Broomfield, Essex.' The vandyked rim of one among several two-handled 

 bronze bowls (as fig. 1 9) has at present but a single parallel ' ; and the bowl 

 here illustrated still contains hazel-nuts ; this and several examples else- 

 where support the view that the vessels placed in graves contained food 



Bronze Bowl, King's Field, Faversham {}j). 



and drink offerings. Most of the pottery found in the King's Field was 

 of Roman manufacture, and consisted of reddish-buff ware with one or 

 two handles. Swords with cocked-hat pommels, spear-heads, and shield- 

 bosses were common, some of the last-named having tin discs attached ; 

 while a large number of beads came from the graves of women. A 

 fine set of horse-trappings in gilt-bronze (see fig. 20) exemplifies the 



art of the period, and a 

 number of draughtsmen 

 made of horse-teeth (as 

 at Taplow) illustrate the 

 well-known gambling pro- 

 pensities of our forefathers. 

 Parallels from adjacent 

 counties have been cited, 

 and it would be surprising 

 if no typical specimens of 

 Prankish work occurred 

 in so large a cemetery. 

 Several pieces of coarse 

 garnet cell-work may have 

 been made across the 

 Channel about the time of 

 Childeric's death (a.d. 

 481), and there are two 

 small pieces of damascened 

 iron, with silver inlay. 

 This art was much prac- 

 tised in Gaul, but in England seems to have been confined to the sword 

 or scramasax. Several shoe-shaped rivets for securing the belt to the 

 buckle were also imported like those found in the Isle of Wight.' There 



> V.C.H. Essex, i. p. 324 > F.C.H. Bucks, i. 202 (Taplow barrow). 



= f'.C.H. Hants, i. pi. at p. 388, fig. 11. 



372 



E3 

 Gilt Horse-trapping, 



Faversham (^^). 



