Page:VCH Sussex 1.djvu/410

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Bronzl liiAD OF Faun, High Dow tius II, who reigned 337-361. the head of a Faun (see fig.). A HISTORY OF SUSSEX ment for a girdle (fig. 3), which is strangely unlike Saxon work and bears a close resemblance to a specimen from Bishopstone, Bucks. These were either imported from the Continent or were the work of some Romanized craftsmen, whose continued presence can hardly be inferred from the few articles of Roman character from the site. Besides the New Forest vase and iron brooches already mentioned, there were several melon-shaped beads, also single coins of Domitian (much worn and pierced), of Fausta (struck at Treves about 329 and also pierced for suspension), and of Constan- With this last was a barbaric copy of The coins only show that the burials were later than the middle of the 4th century, and that Roman coins had become rare enough to be made into pendent ornaments.^ A few square-headed brooches (fig. 5) were found in pairs, and can be readily assigned to a well-defined class common in Kent and the Isle of Wight, the cruciform design on the foot having no special sig- nificance but being a constant feature. Other brooches from High Down are difficult to classify, but the more elaborate are akin to a rare Kentish type of which the best known example is from Sarre, Kent, and is now in the British Museum. The square form (fig. 7) is alto- gether unusual, and the ornamentation has none of the Saxon characteristics. One example of the penannular brooch seems of somewhat later date, and be- longs to a small series found in various parts of England,WaIes, and Ireland, per- haps of the early Viking period. One without a pin was found in an Anglo- Saxon cemetery at Bifrons,^ near Canter- bury, and the pattern may be a remini- scence of the small penannular brooch of Roman times. In any case they appear out of place in south-east England, and were probably worn by the pirates who frequented St. George's Channel.* More than one problem arising from the discoveries at High Down must here be left unnoticed, but for our present purpose it is essential to remark » V.C.H. Bucks, i. 199. a Examples from East Shefford, Berks, are in the National Collection. 3 Arch. Cant. vol. x. p. 303.

  • Two in the British Museum are from Abingdon (^.C.//. 5^r*/, i.) and Dublin; other are

known from Derbyshire, Anglesey and Kent, as well as from the Roman site of Caerwent, Mon. 344 Ring-Brooch, High Down Cemetery. {)