AN EARLY ANGLO-SAXON CROSS-ROADS BURIAL FROM BROAD TOWN 91 
Fig 3. Detail of the burial showing the extent of erosion. 
Fig 4. Burial location in relation to cross-roads. 
hundred metres north of the boundary between 
Kingsbridge and Selkley Hundreds, while the spur 
of land on which the burial lay is described by two 
hollow ways crossing at the point where the 
remains were found (Figure 4). These factors 
suggest deliberate burial at a place both elevated 
and inter-visible between a number of routes, 
coupled with interment in unconsecrated ground 
(although the burial could well be pre-conversion) 
at the geographical limits of local territories. While 
no evidence of trauma was found on the skeletal 
remains, the incompleteness of the remains ensures 
that execution cannot be ruled out. 
Andrew Reynolds has demonstrated that at 
least one of the cross-roads tracks is of mid to late 
Anglo-Saxon date (Pollard and Reynolds, 2002, 
225). This track originates in Marlborough and 
traverses the Downs, past Mans Head, a possible 
Hundred meeting place (Reynolds pers com.) then 
down Hackpen Hill. From there it cuts across the 
lower chalk terrace, in a north-westerly direction, 
crossing the Kingsbridge-Selkley hundred 
boundary, then down the lower escarpment, past 
the burial site and on to Wootton Bassett. As the 
