By Mrs. M. E. Cunnington. 403 



primary interment, and separated only from that by a space of about 

 one foot. Like it, its doubling up, or contraction, was excessive, the 

 skeleton occupying no more than l£ cubic feet. There was reason 

 to suppose from the appearance of the left side of the skull, and the 

 position of the long bones in regard to it, that this last had been 

 cleft at the time of death. With neither skeleton was there any relic, 

 but about a foot to the west of the|last was a fine skull oiBos longifrons. 

 At the base of the barrow near the west end was a second skull of 

 the same species of Bos somewhat less perfect than the last, though 

 with six or seven of the cervical vertebras in situ. A foot or so 

 above the first skull of Bos I. were several fine antlers of red deer, 

 and a metatarsal bone and phalanges of Bos I. Note. I (Dr. 

 Thurnam) retain the first skull of Bos I., the second has been pre- 

 sented to the Museum at Oxford, with the remains of Bos I. from 

 other long barrows." No. 232. Anglo-Saxon. From a secondary 

 interment about a foot below the turf near the centre of the same 

 barrow ; the skeleton stretched at length, with the head to the west. 

 On the neck and upper part of the chest were the remains of a shield 

 consisting of the umbo, handle, and four studs, all of iron. Close to 

 the head were the decayed remains of a small situla, or bucket, of 

 wood, bound with thin hoops of brass." 

 This barrow, though now down to grass, appears to have been under 

 cultivation for some time, and to have been considerably lowered in 

 consequence ; the ditches, however, are still visible. O.M. 53 NW. ; 

 A.W. I. 91 ; Arch. xlii. 180, 182, 184, 196; Mem.Anthrop.Soc.nl 

 67 ; MS. Cat. 230-232. 



Tilshead. 7. In Barrow Plantation, E. of the village of Tilshead. 

 Length 210ft. (Thurnam). S.E. and N.W. Opened by Thurnam in 

 1863, who states it was then covered with trees of about twenty years' 

 growth. " Excavating near the east end, a stratum of black earth 

 was found at the depth of about 5ft. ; and in and below this a pile of 

 human bones closely packed within a space of less than 4ft.in diameter, 

 and about 18in. in depth. They proved to be the remains of eight 

 skeletons, strangely cemented together, so closely as to show that if 

 not interred after the decay or removal of the flesh, the bodies must 

 have been packed together as closely as possible in the sitting or 

 crouching posture. The lowest skeleton, covered by the others, and 

 most centrally placed, was that of a woman. . . . The skeletons were 

 those of three men, three women, and two infants, from one to two 

 years of age ; . . . nearly all (the skulls) had been extremely cleft, 

 apparently during life. . . . The only skull without greater or 

 less trace of violence is that referred to as the deepest and most 

 centrally placed." Mem. Anthrop. Soc. I. 146. 

 This barrow, referred to by Thurnam as " Tilshead East," and described 

 by Hoare as a " fine Long barrow on a hill," is now quite obscured 

 in a plantation and covered with thick undergrowth and trees ; rabbits 

 are also playing havoc with the mound ; the ditches are still dis- 

 tinguishable. There is said to be an artificial fox's earth with drain 



