Page:VCH Kent 1.djvu/469

 ANGLO-SAXON REMAINS north and east of the county Teutonic types are said to preponderate, as in the heart of Thanet and near Sandwich ; and Frisian characteristics have been noticed in the north and sporadically in the interior, while the south shows more affinity to the opposite Gaulish coast, and Romney Marsh and the Weald preserve a purer British strain. All this sounds probable enough, but further precision seems hopeless. The bulk of the antiquities hitherto noticed from Kent belong to the sixth century of our era, but a few notable pieces serve as specimens of the artistic work executed by native craftsmen in the century that began with the mission of St. Augustine. There are still a few relics of a later age, when Christianity was fully established in Kent, to show the gradual transformation of style under foreign influences. The remaining series may be introduced by a find that can be dated precisely by associated coins. In 1838 a remarkable silver cross^ was dug up at Gravesend between Perry Street and the cemetery with a quantity of coins that fix its date. It is now in the national collection, and is of Greek form with equal arms. At the top is a loop for suspension, and in the centre a glass dome, evidently part of a bead, with blue and white markings in a gold mount of rope pattern. As on the Canterbury brooch, there are interlacings at the ex- tremities, and in this instance they seem to be mere sketches, roughly executed with a sharp-pointed instrument, perhaps with a view to filigree ornament. As many as 552 coins were found in association, and the following are the monarchs represented : Fig. 25. Pendent Cross of Silver, Gravesend (|). Louis, of France (i). . . . 814-840 Ceolnoth, Abp. of Canterbury (3) 830-870 Ethelwulf (3) 837-857 Burgred, of Mercia (429). . 842-874 Ethelweard, E. Anglia (5). . 855 Edmund, E. Anglia (50). Ethelred (57) .... Alfred (i) Ceolwulf II. of Mercia (i) Athelstan I., E. Anglia (2) 855-870 867-872 872-901 874 828-837 In spite of a wrong attribution to Athelstan II. (Guthrum), Mr. Hawkins concluded, on various grounds, that the deposit was made about 874-5, a date that closely corresponds to that of the Trewhiddle hoard.' Burial of treasure just at that time may well be explained by the activity of the Danes on our coasts. Of the same general form is the bronze cross (fig. 26) found in St. George's Street, Canterbury, about i860.' It has been used as a » Numismatic Chronicle, iii. (1840), p. 14, fig. p. 34 ; see also new ser. viii. 150 (other hoards com- pared). "- V.C.H. Cornwall, i. 376. 3 So Proc. Soc. Antiq. 2nd ser. i. (1861), 287; see also John Brent, Canterbury in the Olden Time, 2nd ed. pi. xvii. fig. I, p. 47.