A HISTORY OF BEDFORDSHIRE 
dish find are preserved, it is allowable to argue from such a coincidence, 
and to conclude that these horned brooches were 
made and worn by fellow-tribesmen in the two 
localities, who interred their dead without crema- 
tion. It is to this district that the South Gyrwa 
are assigned, and it is tempting to identify them 
with this folk, who lived in Anglian surroundings 
and yet had different burial rites ; but it has been 
suggested’ that the Gyrwa were Britons who had 
retained their territory and independence, and the 
question must remain an open one. 
Two silver pennies of the Anglo-Saxon period 
may be mentioned as having been found in the 
county and published on account of certain special 
features. The earlier of the two, from the Can- 
2 atl terbury mint, was discovered at Bedford and can be 
RONZE ROOCH, . . . 
Rane dated within three years. On the obverse is the name 
of Archbishop Ethelhard as ‘pontifex,’ and on the 
reverse that of Offa, King of Mercia (757-96). The coin was described 
by Sir John Evans,” who assigned it to the years 790-3, the former being 
the date of Ethelhard’s nomination to the see of Canterbury, and the 
latter that of his full recognition as archbishop on receiving his pall 
from Rome. The other piece is from Toddington, and was struck for 
King Ceolwulf of Mercia (822-3 or 4) by a moneyer whose name appears 
as /Elhun, but who is supposed to be same as Almund.” 
An interesting relic of the late Anglo-Saxon period from the count 
may be mentioned in conclusion. Reference has already been made to 
some east-and-west burials in Russell Park that may conceivably be later 
than the seventh century, and contemporary with another sword pre- 
served at Bedford,’ of the date and origin of which there is still some 
uncertainty. The place of its discovery is indefinite but not far from 
the county town, and this serviceable weapon may have been wielded by 
one of the Danes who made an unsuccessful attack on Bedford in gat. 
It is 354 inches long, and complete except for the bone or wooden portion 
of the handle. The blade slightly tapers, and is double-edged with a 
shallow groove running down either face, as on most swords of the Viking 
period. The handle however is not quite so heavy as usual, the pom- 
mel being diminutive, and the straight guard of 3°3 inches somewhat 
short in proportion, in this respect resembling the early Anglo-Saxon 
type. On one face of the blade near the hilt is perhaps a trace of a 
damascened circular mark,’ a not uncommon feature on swords of this 
class, that are supposed to have been exported from Normandy and the 
mouths of the Rhine, and often bear the name of a maker VLFBERHT. 
1 Rev. Edw. Conybeare, Popular History of Cambridgeshire, p. 42. 
2 Numismatic Chronicle, new ser. (1865), v. 352, pl. xiv. No. 2. 
3 Op. cit. p. 168 ; cf. Catahgue of Angh-Saxon Coins (British Museum), i. 40. 
* Recently restored at the instance of the Bedford Arts Club. 
5 Cf, A. L. Lorange, Den yngre jernalders Sverd, pl. iii. fig. 5. 
190 
