Page:VCH Kent 1.djvu/439

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ANGLO-SAXON REMAINS confronted quadrupeds and fish separated by a twisted cord terminating in knot-work. This arrangement might be called heraldic, and is strongly suggestive of the well-known oriental motive, consisting of the sacred tree flanked by animals. An enamelled scabbard-mount of silver in the British Museum is a better illustration of its adoption at this period, and the fish frequently occurs in Anglo-Saxon ornaments, perhaps as a Christian symbol. The smaller bowl from this site is of thicker bronze and belongs to a common Kentish type (as fig. 19), having a diameter of 14 inches a pair of angular drop-handles and a circular open- work foot-rim of chevron pattern.' Of greater rarity are the brooches ; while one is of the smaller circular variety with three garnet settings round the centre, another (like pi. ii. fig. 2) is a late and rare form of the square-headed Jutish type, probably confined to this country. Dis- coveries at Coombe, also in Ash parish, deserve special mention, though Fig. 9. Bf Bowl, witk Patches, Gilton. the accounts are not so detailed as one could wish. In the British Museum are an olive-green glass cup' and part of a lobed glass said to come from an Anglo-Saxon grave, but it is doubtful whether they were associated with what follows. Akerman also does justice to a fine sword' which, with another and a spear-head, some beads, part of a jewelled ornament and a bronze bowl, was found in a grave 6 feet below an artificial bed of clay which had a diameter of 20 yards. The two swords had evidently been wrapped in cloth which had also covered the bowl. The latter had short legs (not the usual openwork foot-rim), and is said to have contained some burnt human bones. Nothing is said as to any skeleton in the grave, and it is possible that in this case, for some special reason, as perhaps at Folkestone, the body was cremated, though the funeral • Akerman (Pagan Saxondom, p. 34) states that the green glass cup (fig. 2 of his plate xvii.) was found with a bronze bowl similar to that from Wingham on his plate x. ; but the latter has semicircular handles. 2 Pagan Saxondom, pi. xxvi., cup with ribs and amber-coloured bosses at base. 3 Ibid, pi. xxiv. fig. I ; Bury and West Suff. Arch. Inst. Proc. vol. I, p. 27 ; Coll. Ant. ii. 164, pi. xxxviii. ; Kemble and Franks, Horae Ferales, pi. xxvi. fig. 4. 355