Page:VCH Leicestershire 1.djvu/306

 A HISTORY OF LEICESTERSHIRE In the winter of 1844 an interment, evidently of a woman, was found during drainage operations 2 J ft. below the surface in a field known as ' The Gorse Close,' fifty yards from the highway, in the parish of Beeby.** Only a few teeth remained of the skeleton, but the grave-goods comprised seventy- one beads of various shapes and materials, including amber and glass, the latter of translucent blue and opaque colours, while at the centre of the necklace was a large faceted bead of crystal, of the kind often found in graves of this period, as at Glen Parva, in the same county, and St. Nicholas, Warwick. 44 Found apart, this would naturally be taken for a spindle-whorl, more for ornament than use, but specimens of similar dimensions are known to have belonged to necklaces, and have the perforation worn by friction with the thread. The grave further contained three hooks-and-eyes of stout silver wire, evidently for fastening the dress, as at Twyford. But the chief feature of the grave was a trio of brooches, all of the same Scandinavian type, but with minor differences of outline and ornament. Of these the central specimen is the purest in style and corresponds best of all to the Norwegian pattern, while the other two, which constitute a pair, but are in part defec- tive, show insular workmanship. One of the knobs still remains in position on the square head-plate, and, as on the majority of English specimens, was fastened by clasping the thin edge of the plate. The side pair as well as all those on the other brooch are wanting but were evidently affixed in the same way, serving originally to hold the ends of the spiral spring-coil of the pin behind the head. The third specimen shows the method common at the time in Norway and Sweden, as opposed to Denmark and England, whereby the knobs were reduced to a purely ornamental feature and cast in one piece with the head. The extravagant development of the so-called horse's head at the foot probably marks a stage beyond any represented in Scandinavia, where this type of brooch (there known as cruciform) went out of fashion in the latter part of the sixth century. The Beeby burial may therefore date from the last quarter of that century, but in view of further developments in this part of the country, the type probably did not survive into the succeeding century. The Ingarsby brooch 45 (coloured plate, fig. i) has been well published and is remarkable not only for its unusual size but also for its settings of garnets and blue glass. When perfect it must have been about 6J in. in length and the width of the head is 3*8 in. It belongs to the square-headed type common to this country, Scandinavia, and South Germany, but bears unmistakable signs of English manufacture. The appearance of jewels on this kind of brooch is itself an indication of a comparatively late date, and while the Billesdon specimen (coloured plate, fig. 2) presents the type in an early and almost pure form, the brooch under discussion must mark an advanced stage of decadence, and dates probably from the early part of the seventh century. The animal forms characteristic of Teutonic art in the sixth century are barely represented on the earlier brooch, while on the Ingarsby fragment they are so dismembered and distorted as to be beyond recognition, and mark a time when mere hugeness of form had become the aim of the bronze-worker in place of 43 Anastatic Society's vol. for 1858, p. 10, pi. lii ; Leic. Trans. , 42, 64. 44 V.C.U. Warw. i, 258. 45 Akerman, Pag. Sax. pi. xvi ; Coll. Antlq. ii, 1 68, pi. xliii.