By Mr. Cunnington, F.G.S. 227 



Kennet, which is still subject to a considerable influx of water, both 

 the bronze and the iron fittings have been much oxidized. To such 

 an extent has this been the case with the iron that there is not 

 any of it left in the metallic state. Some of the oxide has run 

 tog-ether in a somewhat stalactitie condition, very hard and brittle. 



Judging from the present condition of the remains of some of the 

 old wood, it seems probable that the vessel might have been 

 preserved entire, had suitable precautions been taken at the time. 

 Hot solution of gelatine for wood (or bone), and melted paraffin for 

 metals, are excellent preservatives. 



There is considerable doubt as to the age of this relic. It has 

 been ascribed to the Saxons, but it differs so materially from the 

 buckets— situla— of that period that we hesitate to adopt the 

 opinion. (1) Cremation was practised to a certain extent by the 

 Saxons, but their buckets were in no case used to contain the ashes 

 of the dead. 1 (2) The capacity of the Marlborough specimen is about 

 three times as much as that of the largest known Saxon bucket. (3) 

 The ornamentation is more profuse, elaborate, and costly than in 

 any other example and no similar designs are known, except on a 

 1 It has been suggested (see Wright's "Celt, RomaD, and Saxon," p. 434) 

 that the situlce were for containing the ale, mead, or wine which was to be 

 served in the Saxon hall ; that they are probably alluded to by Beowulf, where 

 he describes how 



" Cup bearers gave 

 The -wine from wondrous vats." 

 An objection to this is their small size, as many of them are only 4in. in height 

 —few are so high as lOin. In addition to this we venture to suggest that, on 

 account of their peculiar mechanical construction, they were never intended to 

 contain fluids. The sides being quite straight " it is impossible," as a cooper 

 would say, " to make the hoops bind." It is necessary to have a certain amount 

 of "splay" in the staves in order that the hoops may hold them together water- 



^ Of the situlce in the British Museum only one is conical in shape, the rest 

 are cylindrical, The specimen from the Anglo-Saxon barrow on Roundway 

 Hill, now in the Devizes Museum, is also cylindrical. The middle hoops are 

 kept up by means of rivets passing into upright strips of bronze provided for 

 the purpose. Most of them are very small, capable of holding little more than 

 a pint • the largest is 16in. in diameter. The references in Beowulf's poem (an 

 Ano-lo-Saxon poem translated and published by Mr. Kemble in 1837) cannot 

 bear on the question, for the peculiar use to which the Marlborough vessel was 

 applied, as a receptacle for the ashes oi the dead, removes it altogether from the 

 category. 



