Page:VCH Suffolk 1.djvu/426

 93 A HISTORY OF SUFFOLK a rough example of the type represented in the national collection by one fromGarrick Street, London,'' and in the Ashmolean Museum by another from Bossington, Hampshire.'" The bezel expands into an oval with its longer axis at right angles to the hoop, and in the present case is rudely ornamented with punched annulets, while the tapering ends are fastened by a slip-knot. This feature is seen on a gold ring from Ixworth (1849), published at the same time, but the hoop is of a different form of circular section, thickest at the point opposite the slip-knot or twist of the terminals. A similar ring of silver was found in a barrow on Breach Down, Kent," and another of gold from Suffolk was exhibited by Mr. Whincopp in 1846.'^ This weighed I2dwt. 14 gr. and was ' formed of silver round wires curiously twisted, like a rope tapering towards the extremities, which were united and formed a sort of loop to which a smaller ring or hook might be adjusted for suspen- sion from the ear.' In Ixworth churchyard were found ' a brass ring with the ends twisted in a facet,' and a 'finger- ring of bronze wire with pretty openwork pattern and the ends wound round the hoop,' both apparently of the Saxon period Another, found in 18 19 near some coins of East Anglian kings in Laxfield churchyard, had a cruciform pattern of concentric circles ; '* and Mr. Fenton has a bronze ring with overlapping ends and S scrolls in openwork between beaded borders, much like a gold specimen from Coggeshall in the neighbour- ing county of Essex. ** It was found either at Icklingham or Lakenheath. Four examples of the sword-knife, generally known as the scramasax, and rare in this country, are known from Suffolk, but unfortunately there is no record of any associated finds from which their precise date might be deduced. The longest is now in the British Museum, and was found deep in alluvial soil near the old ford at Little Bealings,"" between Woodbridge and the county town. It measures 32 in. in length (including the tang), and is well preserved, with a strip of damascening (in the true sense) down both sides of the blade. Another was found at Hoxne," with a total length of l4Jin., the hilt being 4 in. long, and as usual without its grip of bone or wood. The blade was i in. wide, and two grooves ran parallel and near to the back edge. A third specimen, § in. shorter, was found at Offton," with circular bands of bronze at the junction of the blade and hilt (no doubt to bind the grip). It is said to be in Ipswich Museum, but the only specimen there (now in Christchurch Mansion) is 11 '3 in. long with a blade of 9 in. It has no history, but was probably found in the county, and has one groove at the back inlaid with silver and brass. London has yielded a fair number of these weapons,'" which seem to date from the later Anglo-Saxon period, as they are not found in pagan burials ; but on the Continent they were com- monly carried, at a somewhat earlier period, by the Burgundians, Alemanni, and Franks. An exceptional relic of the later Anglo-Saxon period was found at Blythburgh on the property of Mr. Seymour Lucas, R.A., who presented it " r.C.H. Lend. 1, 157. " Joum. Brit. Arch. Assoc., 341. " Akerman, Arch. Index, pi. xviii, fig. 17. "* Proc. Soc. Antif. (ist ser.), i, 117; also a silver ear-ring found near Bury St. Edmunds. " Bury and W. Suff. Proc. ii, zl2 ; £. Angftan N. and Q. i (1864), 437. " Arch. Joum. xiv, 177 ; E. Anglian N. and Q. i, 347. '* f^.C.H Essex, i, 327, fig. 15 on coloured plate. ^ Proc. Soc.Antlg. x, 17. »' Ibid, viii, 80. '« Coll. Aniij. ii, 243, pi. Iviii, fig. 4. '» F.C.H. Lond. i, 152. 350