Page:VCH Kent 1.djvu/443

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ANGLO-SAXON REMAINS This remarkable grave further contained two iron latch-keys, a pair of shears, a heavy buckle, and strap-rivets resembling in outline the sole of a shoe : both these last are frequent in Prankish cemeteries as well as in Kentish graves of this period. There were other details, but special mention must be made of a crystal sphere with silver loops and one ring (originally two) for suspension from the girdle : a few inches higher, about the centre of the skeleton, was a garnet-mounted silver spoon with nine small round holes in the bowl arranged as a cross. The significance of this association (which is frequent in Kent) is dwelt upon elsewhere, and it only remains to state that near the crystal lay two square-headed brooches, the smaller one of silver, set with garnets and having a cruciform design on the foot, as at Chessell Pottery Bottles and Jug, Sarre (J). Down. The larger one, of bronze-gilt, is of a type also represented in the Isle of Wight cemetery. Of the graves excavated in the autumn of 1863, several call for brief remark. A sword determined the sex of a skeleton accompanied by about sixty draughtsmen, which had been probably placed in a purse. The material is said to have been bone or ivory, but several were no doubt made of horse's teeth like those from the King's Field, Faversham. Some had flat rounded tops marked with incised rings, others were plain and more conical in shape. Angons, as at Strood, were found measuring 42 and 45 inches respectively, and swords had generally been placed on the left side : one grave with a sword had an axe and bucket at the foot, and a shield-boss with stays that gave a diameter of 18 inches for the shield. One grave of a soldier included the beam and pans of a small 359