Page:VCH Suffolk 1.djvu/404

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A HISTORY OF SUFFOLK there by Mr. H. G. Casley (p. 332). Such glasses are frequently found in south-east England beside the head of a skeleton as part of the grave furniture. In the possession of Miss Betts, of Wortham Hall/" were formerly some portions of an iron brooch (or brooches) of the long variety, inlaid w^ith bronze and silver and with a panel of animal ornament in the centre of the heads, pointing to the latest pagan period. There were also beads, part of a clasp, and a diminutive bronze bell, all probably from a burial at Hoxne ; and the iron brooch is of exceptional rarity. The next interment recorded was at Redgrave, on the watershed between the Waveney and Little Ouse or Brandon river. A fine cinerary urn, now in the Bury St. Edmunds Museum, has swastikas impressed on the shoulder (pi. iv), and a small vase from this locality is in Norwich Museum. It is not easy to find an exact parallel for the gold pendant found at Palgrave near Diss, and published by Rev. C. R. Manning in 1852." It is formed of seven rings of corded gold wire soldered together and inclosing a centre globe of the same metal. Ornaments in the same style are not un- common in the richer finds of the Anglo-Saxon period, and one found on Chartham Downs near Canterbury may be mentioned in particular, but here the centre is a cross, and the loop, as in other cases, is simply attached to the edge. The Palgrave example, however, has the strip that forms the loop prolonged across the back and turned to form a hook on the opposite edge, where it was broken off as if by accident. That the arrangement, as shown in the illustration, is not a mere accident, is proved by the fact that the narrow strip is soldered to the centre globe at the back ; and it is just conceivable that it served for attachment to the ear. Its Anglo-Saxon origin is not perfectly established, but it is included here as a reputed county find of about the 7th century, and its republication may lead to the discovery of closer parallels. Both Finningham and Eye on the Dove, a tributary of the Waveney, have yielded relics that have been inaccurately described. At the latter place in 18 1 8 were found in the space of 120 square yds. about 150 cinerary urns called British, but obviously of Anglo-Saxon date. Labourers working gravel came upon them at depths varying from 4 in. to 2 ft., under a covering of fine sand. They varied in size, shape, and ornamentation, and were from 5 in. to 9 in. in height, many being well preserved and containing calcined bones. Most, however, were destroyed in uncovering, and only a few survive. One was exhibited to the Bury and W. Suffolk Archaeological Society ^ in 1 848, and Sir Edward Kerrison in 1855 exhibited to the Society of Antiquaries of London " a set of bronze toilet implements (for the ears and teeth) strung on a small bronze ring and found in one of the urns from Eye. Other relics mentioned are small shears of iron, a fragment possibly of gold 2 in. long, and two ivory buttons i in. in diameter, which from the description appear to be draughtsmen with two holes in the flat side for the prong-centre cf the lathe. "* Information from Mr. C. W. Low, of Stowmarket. " Bury and JV. Suff. Proc. ii, 89. " jirch Jount. ix, 107 ; for similar see Akerman, Pagan Saxendom, pi. xi, fig. 3 (Chartham); Inventorium Sepukhrak, pi. iv, fig. 23 (Gilton). " Proceedings, li, 117; Gent. Mag. 1 8 1 8, ii, 1 3 1 ; the burial-ground found at Stoke Ash in 1851 evidently belonged to the late Bronze Age (Bury and W. Suff. Proc. ii, loi). '^ Proc. Sec. Antiq. (ist ser.), iii, 186, with fig.; for Kemble's opinion, see p 215. 334