ANGLO-SAXON REMAINS 



In 1852 Anglo-Saxon remains were found in a gravel pit on the 

 edge of the high ground at the top of Otterham Creek, about 

 i mile from the famous Roman potteries of Upchurch. Two 

 glass cups of bottle form from this site were exhibited in 1846/ and six 

 years later a richly furnished grave was found there, containing a circular 

 brooch of silver-gilt with star centre," a mammiform cup of light green 

 glass, amethyst beads, a bottle-shaped earthenware vessel, and a 

 Gaulish red-ware dish stamped TITTIVS.F., the last, being a survival from 

 the early days of the Roman occupation. A gold coin' weighing 50^ 

 grains, struck in imitation of an imperial original and pierced for sus- 

 pension, may have belonged to an interment in this locality. 



The next discovery westward was made near the WatHng Street at 

 the summit of Chatham Hill, in a field behind the Star Inn, where a 

 gold ring of the fourth or fifth century was found. It was recently 

 presented to the British Museum, and has a niccolo bezel with a 

 Roman intaglio (bird pecking at a snail) ; pellets flank the oval setting, 

 and the hoop is of a beaded pattern.' 



Discoveries on the Chatham heights were made as early as 1756 

 when the Lines were first thrown up, but no proper exploration was 

 made till 1779, when Douglas received permission to dig from the 

 military authorities. His first plate in Nenia Britannica gives the plan 

 of a grave below a circular barrow, the head to the south : also the 

 shield-boss, sword, spear-head, buckle and pottery bottle buried 

 with the warrior. The next plate illustrates the contents of a woman's 

 grave, with the head again south. Here were no less than ten earrings 

 of silver wire with glass beads, a number of large beads of crystal, amber 

 and coloured glass, as well as some more important relics that serve to 

 illustrate the close connexion between the inhabitants of Kent and the 

 Isle of Wight at that time. A silver spoon (pi. i. fig. 8) set with garnets 

 was found (as such relics usually are) between the thigh-bones, and was 

 selected by Akerman for illustration.^ The bowl had many perforations 

 and was washed with gold, while a hole at the end of the stem had 

 evidently served for attachment to the girdle, the back being worn 

 smooth. Two small square-headed gilt brooches with a cruciform 

 pattern on the foot, and a gilt button-brooch engraved with a human 

 face, also found in this grave, belong to well-marked types, while two 

 small radiated brooches are early specimens of their kind, with three 

 rudimentary projections from the semicircular head. A few Roman 

 coins perforated as pendants were found, including one of Anthemius, 

 Emperor of the West (467-72) ; they were much worn, and indicate 

 the early part of the sixth century as the date of this grave. The 

 next interment of special interest {Nen. Brit. pi. iv.) was that of a 

 woman with the head lying at the north end, about 30 yards from those 



» Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc, ii. 347 (fig.). 



» Coll. Ant. ii. 161, pi. xxxvii. fig. i. (coloured) ; the cup is figured p. 162 ibid. 

 ' Figured in Coll. Antiq. vi. 260. ' A rough sketch in Coll. Cant. p. 86. 



'■ Pag. Sa.x. pi. nxiii. fig. 2 ; now in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, with several other objects 

 from this site. 



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