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 A HISTORY OF LONDON from I J in. to 2 J in. in diameter, and are ornamented with incised rings and mouldings on one face only. Another London relic in the collection of Mr. Hilton Price is here figured by permission (fig. 29). It is a bridle-bit of four links in excellent preserva- tion, found in May 1906 at the back of St. Anne and St. Agnes' Churchy Fig. 28. — Three Bone Draughtsmen, City of London (Hilton Price Collection) (J) Noble Street, near the General Post OfEce, at a depth of 1 6 ft. from the surface.'* The material is iron, and the smaller links, which are 2iin. long, as well as the bar of two links, together 6| in. long, retain traces of so-called damascening in a lattice pattern. The inlaid metal, which has mostly fallen out of the grooves and disappeared, may have been gold, silver, or brass, such as occur on some of the swords and spear-heads already described ; and there can be little hesitation in assigning it, on this ground, to the Viking period. Further evidence of date and origin may be derived from Scandinavia, where the same type of bridle-bit has been found in circumstances that admit of no dispute, but this is at present the only known example from the British Isles. One was found at Berg, Loiten, Hedemarken (S.E. Norway),''' and another in a sepulchral chamber measuring 30 ft. by 9ft. within a barrow at SoUested, near Assens, in the Danish island of Fiinen.'* The mound had evidently been raised over the remains of some person of importance, and it was noticed that, though there was a border of stones, the walls of the chamber were constructed entirely of clay. Everything within had disappeared except portions of the harness for two horses. On the clay floor lay two iron bridle-bits ornamented with silver, two iron chains, with loops to fit on a chariot pole, buckles, mounts, and studs of silvered iron. The illustration of a bridle-bit shows cheek-pieces passing through the loops at either end of the bar, and it is probable that the London specimen was originally provided with cross-bars of the same kind. Among remains of the latest Viking period in England, the bronze here illustrated (fig. 30) deserves special description. It was dredged from the Thames near Westminster Bridge in 1866, and was exhibited to the British Archaeological Association " two years later by Mr. Thomas Gunston, who subsequently presented it to the British Museum. Some remarks on the '' Proc. Soc. Antiq. xxi, 402-3. '^ Gustafson, Norges Oldtid, fig. 430. '° Memoires de la Societe des Antiquaires dttNord,ii66-j,Tp. 128, fig. 5. ^~ Journ. xxiv, 179, pi. xiii, fig. i. 166