Page:VCH Norfolk 1.djvu/399

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

ANGLO-SAXON REMAINS centre being occupied by a very poor representation of a lion with the head turned back. The British Museum has a few fragments of silver from Weasenham, and in 1870 acquired an interesting series from a cemetery at Brooke, midway between Norwich and Bungay. The three largest brooches are unfortunately damaged, though not apparently by fire. One is square- headed (fig. 4) and two others cruciform, one of these being of large dimensions but not of great artistic merit. Besides these are half a dozen of a common type terminating in the conventional horse's head ; an equal number of ring-brooches, a pair of bracelet clasps, part of a girdle- hanger and a few glass beads ; while the objects in iron comprise two shield-bosses and several spearheads. No description of the find was published but the objects in this case tell their own tale. There were also included in the purchase a small rough vase 4 inches high and a triangular lump of baked clay pierced at two of the corners, such as are commonly associated with late-Celtic remains. A similar object was discovered among the Anglian urns at Castle Acre and was called a ' net-weight,' but its precise use has yet to be determined. To the south-east, on the north bank of the Waveney, is a group of Anglian sites of which two have already been noticed. In a field called ' Pewter Hill ' at Kirby Cane, workmen came upon a confused mass of human bones, among which were three or four spear- heads, a jewelled buckle and two swords. As no further description is given and all the objects were unfortunately dispersed it is difficult to decide their origin, but though they have been described as probably Roman,' they certainly seem to belong to an unburnt burial of the pagan Anglo-Saxon period and are sufficiently distinct from some Roman objects found on the same site. Further west beyond the Roman road to Norwich a discovery was made in excavating for the railway at Gissing in 1849. At a depth of seven feet were found on the breast of a skeleton a bronze square-headed brooch and a ring-brooch of the same metal, both of which are figured in Dawson Turner's collections.* About thirty years ago an Anglian burying-place was discovered at Kenninghall in a sandy field sloping to the east and overlooking the present village, about half a mile west of the church.' In digging for gravel the workmen came upon several graves about two feet from the surface, and various antiquities were found in them. In those of males were the usual iron bosses of shields, swords and spearheads and bronze brooches ; in those of females, amber and glass beads, brooches, buckles, etc., generally of well-known Anglo-Saxon types. No urns have been found, so that cremation does not appear to have been the practice of the tribe who settled here. Most of the articles were disposed of before the spot was visited by archaeologists, but several good examples were some years afterwards obtained from the place and are in the Fitch room at 1 Norfolk Archa-ohgy, vol. iv. p. 313. * British Museum, Add. MS. 23,055, fol. 136. ^ Norfolk Archaohgj, vol. vii. pp. 292, 358. 339