The Grave-mounds of Derbyshire, and their Contents. 459 



Fig. 14. — Poli/celis nigra, at rest. 



Fig. 15. — Reproductive organs of P. lactea. a, Penis and 

 sheathe ; b, oviduct ; c, vesicle and reservoir of eggs ; d, 

 common orifice (after Duges). 



All the figures, except 11, 12, 13, and 14, are magnified. 



THE GRAVE-MOUNDS OF DERBYSHIRE, AND 

 THEIR CONTENTS. 



BY LLEWELLYNN JEWITT, P.S.A., ETC., ETC. 



(Continued from page 350.) 



THE ANGLO-SAXON PEEIOD. 



The county of Derby fortunately affords abundant and un- 

 usually excellent, as well as remarkable, examples of the graves 

 of the Anglo-Saxons, and therefore we need be at no loss in 

 describing the modes of interment, and the objects which are 

 found in the graves and in the barrows of this period. When it is 

 recollected that one of the towns of Derbyshire — Repton 

 (Hrepandune) — was the capital of the kingdom of Mercia and the 

 burial-place of the Mercian kings ; that the names of many 

 other places are derived from their Saxon owners ; and that one 

 of the main roads used by them — and before their time by the 

 Normans and the ancient Britons — the Rykneld Street, ran 

 through the county, it will easily be seen that in the Saxon 

 times Derbyshire was so well populated and so thriving, that 

 the interments must have been not only numerous but of all 

 kinds. Accordingly we find examples both of burial by 

 cremation and of the unburnt body in cemeteries, as well as 

 instances of interment having been made in the earlier Celtic 

 barrows. 



Generally speaking the Anglo-Saxon graves were rectan- 

 gular cists or pits cut in the ground to the depth of from two 

 or three to seven or eight feet. On the floor of this the body 

 was placed at full length, on its back, in the dress which was 

 worn by deceased when living. The arms were usually extended 

 by the sides, with the hands resting on the pelvis. Around 

 the body were placed articles which had been used, or were 

 valued by, or which it wa3 thought might be useful to, the 

 deceased. The grave was then carefully filled, and a mound of 

 but low altitude raised over it; the earth being generally 

 u puddled " or tempered. This mound or hillock was called a 



