A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



In south Lancashire there must be mentioned also two finds of such 

 coins, both from sites of earUer Roman fortresses. The one is a styca of 

 Eanred reported from Ribchester;^ and the other consists of nine sceattas 

 found c. 1820, in digging foundations for St. Matthew's Church, Campfield, 

 Manchester.' 



Ornaments, etc. 



Though belonging to a defensive weapon, the bronze boss of a shield 

 shown on the accompanying plate may appropriately open the hst of 

 decorative remains of the Anglo-Saxon period. Archaeologists see in its 

 design certain Celtic elements, and its decoration might be assigned by some 

 to late Celtic rather than Scandinavian art. Even the snake-motive which 

 it embodies is to be found, as Prof. Ridgway shows,' on objects of the late 

 Bronze and early Iron Age in Britain. This object is in the City Public 

 Museum at Liverpool, and is described as coming from Ribchester, the site of 

 the well-known fortress of Roman times called Bremetennacum upon the 

 Ribble. It is a small object of about 3 inches in diameter, and well worthy of 

 close study. It comprises six concentric rings, separated by plain circles, with 

 a broader plain band about all. The outer ring consists of continuous triple 

 spirals in relief, alternating with an open knotwork pattern, being separated 

 at the quarters by a transverse band. The next ring, which lies on the slope, 

 is symmetrically divided into four quarters by portions of circles forming ovoid 

 enclosures filled with snake pattern of graceful form, and the intervening spaces 

 filled alternately with knotwork and spiraloid patterns of symmetrical design. 

 A fillet with radiating lines leads to the outer ring of the central boss, which 

 is decorated with open knots or plaits, sinuous but symmetrical. Two fillets, 

 one plain and one ornamented as before, enclose the centrepiece, which is a 

 geometrical rosette of seven petals. 



The silver cup found on Halton Moor contained, in addition to the coins 

 of Canute previously described, a silver torque which had been squeezed into 

 the vessel. Both these silver objects are highly decorative and instructive. 

 The cup weighed just over 10 ounces ; the metal was described * as being of 

 silver alloyed with copper in the proportion of about three of the former to 

 one. It appeared to have been originally gilt, some of the gold still 

 remaining, which was of remarkably pale colour. ' The ornaments consist 

 of four circular compartments, separated from each other by branches 

 which terminate in the heads of animals in the arabesque style. In the 

 compartments are a panther and a butting bull alternately. These 

 ornaments are included within two handsome borders, which encircle the 

 cup in parallel lines.' 



The torque is equally of interest. It is a characteristic example of wire- 

 work, twisted and plaited, with the ends beaten together for a double-hooked 

 connexion. The face of this portion, which is flattened, was decorated with 

 small triangular pieces fixed by imitation rivets. It was of good silver 

 weighing 6 ounces 6 pennywreights. 



With the same deposit were some gold pieces, or thin laminae, struck on 

 one side only, and rudely representing a human head. Similar pieces have 



1 Whittaker, Hist. Whalley, i. 37. » Lane. andChes. Ant. Soc. Trans, iii. 269. 



' Earif Age of Greece, fig. 87, etc. * Arch, xviii. 199-200. 



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