Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 8.djvu/244

 176 KOTE OX KEMAINS OF THE AXGLO-SAXOX PERIOD. base than at the upper margin. The bronze hoops and handle of a situh of siraihir form were found in a Saxon tumuhis at Bourne Park, Kent, by Lord Londesborough, with an umbo, bridle-bit of iron, and a flat bowl of gilt metal. (Archaeol. Journal, vol. i., p. 255.) In other discoveries assigned to the Anglo-Saxon age, a sitida has been noticed, found with the iron umbo, axe-head, and other relics usually found in graves of that period. One of the best examples probably, although of small size, is that disco- vered in the burial place at Ash, near the high road thence to Canterbury, in 1771. It is represented in the Appendix to Boys' " History of Sand- wich," (p. 868,) and in Douglas' Xenia, (pi. 12, p. 51). It is described as a vessel in the shape of a pail, 8 inches in diam., and 7i in height. It had, as it is stated, a handle like a modern pail, and was formed of wood, either of the ash or plane tree, strengthened by upright plates, and three flat hoops ; to the upper hoop was attached a row of triangular plates of thin bronze, (their points downwards) with impressed markings, forming a Vandyked ornament around the pail. It must be stated, that no record was made of any bottom having been foimd, but it was supposed that it had been of wood, and had perished. A shallow basin and a patera of bronze, a touchstone, portions of a pair of scales, and some Roman coins, which had served as weights, were found with this deposit. The iron axe may appear to indicate that it was not the sepulture of a female. There were found also a stone celt and a crystal ball, with other objects. In the neighbourhood of Marlborough a remarkable SihJa, or drum-shaped vessel, employed for a sepulchral purpose, was found, as recorded by the late Sir Richard Colt Hoare (" Ancient Wilts," vol. ii., p. 34, pi. vi.). It was formed of substantial oak, plated with thin brass, ribbed with iron hoops, had two iron handles, one at each side, and a hollow bar of iron placed across the mouth, and affixed to two pieces projecting above the upper rim of the vessel. The surface was curiously ornamented with gro- tesque human heads, animals, <tc., embossed in the metal plating. The dimensions of this curious vessel were, height 21 inches, diam. 24 inches. The sides, like those of the hooped wooden vessel found in Cambridgeshire, were upright. It contained a deposit of burned human bones. Amongst some highly interesting remains of the Anglo-Saxon period, found at Northfleet, Kent, and described by Mr. Roach Smith in the Journal of the British Archaeological Association (vol. iii., p. 236), was found the remains of a wooden pail, with bronze hoops and a bi-cornute ornament of the same metal, riveted on, closely similar to those on the upright bands of the object from Little Wilbraham. With this deposit were also found an iron umbo, terminating in a flat button, and an iron spear, precisely similar to those found in Cambridgeshire, a spear-head of longer proportion, a long iron ferrule for the shaft of the spear, an iron sword, and pottery. The account of this remarkable discovery has been appended by Mr. Alfred Dunkin to his " Memoranda of Springhead " (p. 150). In a tumulus on Roundway Down, near Devizes, a collection of highly curious ornaments was brought to light about 1843, on the property of Mr. E. Colston. The corpse lay north and south, in a wooden chest, bound with iron. Near the neck were found several ornaments, composing a necklace ; garnets set in gold, in fashion like the Roman bulla, seemed to have been arranged alternately with barrel-shaped beads of gold wire. There were also two gold pins, set with garnets, united by a chain, in the centre of which was a circular ornament, bearing a cruciform device en- graved upon its setting. At the feet lay the remains of a bronze-bound