Page:VCH Suffolk 1.djvu/362

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A HISTORY OF SUFFOLK Topographical Index Aldeburgh. Between Aldeburgh and Orford small Roman coins of the Lower Empire were found in great quantities on the sea shore [MS. Min. Soc. Antiq. 1743, iv, 190]. (See Hazlewood.) AsHBOCKiNG. — At a spot on a farm in this parish, lying between two mounds and inclosed with ditches, a considerable quantity of scattered broken pottery was found [Davy, Suff. Coll. B.M. MSS, viii, 19084, fol. 30]. Bardwell. — Near a gravel pit 330 yds. south of the village ' Roman Pottery was found in 1840 ' [O.S. 6-in. xxxiv, NE.]. A bronze enamelled diamond-shaped fibula was found in May 1869 Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc, xxvii, 258-9]. Barking. — A bronze statuette was found near Barking Hall towards the end of the i8th century, buried about 12 ft. below the surface of the ground. It is 22 in. in height, and represents an imperial personage in full armour, but bareheaded. The left arm is lost, the right is raised, the fingers of the hand being bent, an indication that they once grasped a spear. Besides the quality of the workmanship, the figure exhibits a fine instance of metal inlay and niello work, the cuirass being covered with scrolls and leaves of the latter work, interspersed with flowers and leafage formed by thin laminae of white metal. The bronze serving as a ground to this ornamentation was of a fine golden colour. The figure was found on land belonging to the Earl of Ashburnham, who presented it to the British Museum in 1813 [MS. Min. Soc. Antiq, xxviii, 13 (1800) ; Fet. Menum. iv]. A bronze handled bowl was found at Needham Market in this parish [Chart, Watling Coll. in possession of Miss Nina Layard]. A bronze bowl (Anglian) and another (Celtic) with a coarse buff earthenware pot, which contained coins dating from Antoninus Pius (a.d. 138-61), were found at Gatesford [Chart, Watling Coll. in possession of Miss Nina Layard ; and note by Mr. H. Watling, Reliq. and Illus. Arch, vi, 244]. Barrow. — A Roman key found here is now in the Museum, Bury St. Edmunds. Barsham. — A gold ring was found about 18 16 near Barsham Hall engraved with a figure holding a standard [Suckling, Hist. Suff. i, 44]. Baylham. — Near ' the Great Road ' supposed to be Roman have been found so-called Samian pottery, painted white ware, and other remains, together with coins, one of which was a first brass of Hadrian (a.d. 117-38). A considerable number of coins found had been sold to different people [Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc, xxv, 387-8]. A knife with bone handle and a ring of bronze were found here with Roman urns [Suffolk Illustrations (Fitch Coll. in Lib. of Suff. Inst, of Arch, Bury St. Edmunds), vol. xiii ; Proc. Suff. Arch. Inst, v, 117]. Amongst the pottery found was a piece of figured so-called Samian, part of a vase of early type, three flanged basins, the rim of one painted with white scrollwork, all three of the same ware ; pans of so-called Samian ; different sizes of brown and pale buff ware, and two ollae, one pale red, the other brownish buff ware, and a one-handled bottle, with short small neck, of black ware. There is also in the Watling Coll. in possession of Miss Nina Layard a plan of the site showing the track of the Roman road, and with it a note where a bronze box was found. Belton. — Pottery from a tumulus was found here [Proc. Arch. Inst. Norw. 1847, xxviii], Benacre. — 'A few days ago, as the workmen were making a new turnpike road at Benacre . . . one of them struck his pickaxe against a stone bottle which contained about 920 pieces of silver coin' [Ipswich Journ. 27 May 1786]. A further reference to this find says : ' The coins alluded to were in good preservation, and included a large series (some few before Domitian [a.d. 81-96]). They are all about the size of a sixpence, nine of them weighing an ounce. . . . Sir Thomas Gooch purchased near 700. Some were bought by different persons, and the remainder sold to a Jew, who retailed them at a low price in the neighbourhood. Impressions of Aurelian [B.C. 270-5], Germanicus [b.C, 15-A.D. 19], and Trajan [a.d. 98-117] are in my possession ; drawings of which I have sent. . . — R.L.* Gent. Mag. Ivi (i), 472-3], In Excursions in the Co. of Suff. ii, 1 30- 1, it is stated that none of the coins in this hoard were prior in date to Vespasian (a.d. 69-79). I" Benacre Park is a clump of trees near the road from Lowestoft called ' Money tree clump' [O.S. 6-in, xix, SW.]. Bergholt, East. — A number of urns, evidently sepulchral, from the ashes they contained, was found in 1838 in digging foundations for a house in a field about a quarter of a mile north of the church, on a hill towards Stratford. They lay in a circle with a diameter of about 12 or 14 yds., and were much broken. Those in the centre were of fine earth inclining to white, the outer ones were of a coarse red earth. The necks of some were entire, and about the size of a common bottle [Note from E. Dunthorne, Sept. 1838; Davy, SuiF. Coll, B.M, MSS, xxviii, 1 9 104, fol. 134], 300