Page:VCH London 1.djvu/53

 ROMANO-BRITISH LONDON inclosed in the Haydon Square sarcophagus lay with the head at the east end, which shows that east-and-west burials were not always carried out according to the rules of the Church.*^ Both these stone coffins contained leaden shells in which the body had been first deposited, so that in some cases stone and leaden coffins were evidently contemporary ; and at Shadwell an unprotected lead coffin apparently had the Christian orientation. While it may be taken for granted that incinerated burials were those of pagans, it is not justifiable to assume that all, or even the majority of, unburnt burials were those of Christian converts, especially as some seem to date from the days before Constantine, and no definitely Christian symbol has yet been detected on any of this group. Attention must next be directed to the remarkable sarcophagus (Fig. 3) of Oxfordshire oolite found on the northern side of Westminster Abbey (Plan A, 36), and now preserved in the vestibule of the Chapter House. It was dis- covered about 3 ft. deep in the North Green (adjoining the north aisle of the nave and the west side of the north transept) when the surface was lowered ' II 1I I I HIT ■.n.WlIllUllll,f„.... - ■I ■ ■ ^— WWW wwlWtMmi NTUb.V/.Vii. '-^-^■- ■ ^ _^-— ■ MEMORIAE -VALER-AMAN D I N I - VALER I-S VPERVE N T0R'ET-MARCELLVS'PATRI-FE(5F Fig. 3. — Sarcophagus found at Westminster Abbey in November 1869, the lid being 2 ft. 6 in. below the floor-level of the nave. It lay with the broader end to the west between 30 and 40 ft. from the buttresses both of the nave aisle and transept,*^ and about 30 ft. east of two chalk-graves,*" practically in the same direction. The ground at this point consisted of loose sand, which was found to extend 5 ft. below the coffin, thereafter becoming more consistent and clayey. There was certainly no trace of any foundation for the sarcophagus, nor of any niche to receive it, though such must have existed on the site of its original interment, for there can be little doubt that it had been brought from elsewhere to be buried in the Abbey precincts. The coffin is 6 ft. 10 in. long, and 2 ft. 5 in. wide at the head, tapering gradually till within 5 in. of the foot, where the slope becomes more abrupt, apparently to enable that end to be inserted in a recess. The height is i ft. 6 in. outside without the lid, which is 7 in. thick. The "Priests were sometimes buried with the head at the east end of the grave. " The plan furnished by the Abbey masons in Joum. Brit. Arch. Assoc, xxvi, pi. 7, does not accord with the text (p. 77), but shows the coffin was clear of the foundations in which other accounts say it was found (Proc. Soc. Antiq. [Set. 2], iv, 409 ; Arch. Journ. xxvii, 103). necessarily of Roman or Saxon origin. 13
 * ' Like some found to the north of St. Paul's by Wren {Parentdia [1750], 266) ; but they are not