A HISTORY OF STAFFORDSHIRE lay north and south, the greatest depth (15 in. in the rock) being at the south-east corner. About 8 in. of soil covered the rock, and the floor of the grave at the north end was immediately beneath. At that end there was a basin-shaped cavity two or three inches deep in the rock beyond the original position of the skull, though the skeleton had completely disappeared. On the right or western side of the grave, near and parallel to the side, was a long two-edged sword, and to the north-east of the handle was an iron knife characteristic of the Anglo-Saxon period. Such is the story derived from the published accounts, and the site is now carefully railed in for preservation. A few remarks may be added by way of comment and illustration, but little is as yet known as to the precise significance of the enamelled bowls of this period found in various parts of England. The Barlaston specimen, though sadly injured by time, must have been exceptionally ornate, and is peculiar in having been cast, not wrought like the rest. It is on this account comparatively heavy, and there are marks of the lathe on the base, which seems to have been indented and ornamented on the outside 88 with the enamelled ring (fig. 9). The three discs were attached originally to the outside of the bowl at equal intervals below the rim, which is slightly thickened, and served, with the hooks above the discs, to form loops for suspension by three chains which have as usual perished. The enamelled discs are of the ordinary size and character, mounted in circular frames of bronze ; and the ornamentation on them and the ring that fitted into the base is of the late Celtic character. The enamel which fills the ground is of the usual red colour, but is remarkable in another respect. Irregularly set in it are discs of millefiore glass, produced by cutting thin slices off a bundle of glass rods so that the arrangement of the coloured chequers is constant. This inlaying of millefiore in enamel is again seen on similar discs for a bowl found in the north of England, and acquired for the national collection ; and the fourth enamelled disc in that find may well have been inserted in a broad ring at the base like that found at Barlaston. The narrow bronze bands ornamented with incised rings were evidently fixed horizontally to the outside of the bowl between the three discs, their centre line being about | in. below the rim, as is shown by rivet-holes for repair ; but these strips were originally fixed without rivets (perhaps by brazing), and the reason for their slanting ends is not obvious. They are 5 J in. long on the outside curve, whereas the intervals between the disc-frames must have been about /in., the circumference being about 27^ in., and each of the disc-frames being just over 2 in. across. Though an isolated burial the Barlaston discovery falls into line with others made just across the Derbyshire border. Remains of no less than three such bowls 33 have been found in the neighbourhood of Dovedale : at Middleton-by-Youlgreave, Over Haddon, and Benty Grange, the last lying in the grave beside the hair of a warrior, in association with a leather bowl ornamented with applied crosses. At Barlaston the bowl was found just where the head would have lain, and seems to have been in the centre line of the grave, so that perhaps the head rested within it at the time of burial. " At Caistor, Lines, the ring was apparently inside. The form of the base, whether indented or pro- truding, is often uncertain, but ornament may have been applied on both sides (Prof. Sec. Antiq. xxi, 78). " All noticed in Arch. Ivi, 42, 46 ; V.C.H. Derb. i, 271, 269, fig. on left of plate. 2IO
