Page:VCH Warwickshire 1.djvu/317

 ANGLO-SAXON REMAINS also the bodies appeared to have been buried regardless of position, and the personal ornaments were in many respects almost identical. For instance, some iron rings of various sizes found with female skeletons at Holdenby correspond with bronze examples at Longbridge, which may thus be considered part of a woman's costume at the time. Signs of wear on the inside go to show that the ring was firmly attached to the clothing to hold something that hung from the waist. Again, some of the brooches are strikingly similar, and are all represented in the Holdenby find, as are also the key, commonly known as a girdle hanger, and the small brooch of horseshoe form (fig. 4). The sword and bronze-mounted buckets from Longbridge find no parallel in the Northants cemetery already referred to, but are not of unusual occurrence in that and other counties of England. The view that swords were carried exclusively by the thane while the spear marked the ceorl who fought on foot has never been disproved, and is in fact supported by documentary evidence as well as by the comparative rarity and magnificence of graves containing the sword. In this particular case the weapon retained traces of the wooden scabbard and its orna- mentation, and while at Bransford Bridge the bronze chape alone remained, here the remains were sufficient to show the original form of the handle and scabbard. The total length was 2 feet 10 inches, and the blade was a| inches broad from the guard almost to the point. The pommel seems to have consisted of two parts : a wooden bar surmounted by a square piece of bronze brought to a point. Such pyramidal buttons are rarely met with but are uniform in size and construction, and a notable example may be seen in the British Museum from a grave at Broomfield, Essex. The hilt and guard had decayed, but the narrow bands of bronze at the mouth of the scabbard still remained in position, as on specimens from Kempston, Beds, and the Isle of Wight in the national collection. The buckets, which are generally supposed to have contained food or drink for the benefit of the dead, had certain peculiarities. In one the ordinary staves of wood were replaced by bronze, ornamented on both sides with beading and held in position by three hoops of the same metal. Of the other two buckets, the larger one was j inches high : its five hoops of bronze were fastened to the upright strips of plain bronze by square-headed rivets, producing a chequered appearance, and inside a piece of linen about an inch square was fastened to one of the staves. The fabric was of excellent thread finely woven, and adhered firmly to the wood, which was also in good condition and appeared to be yew. Vessels of this kind are found either at the head or feet of the dead, and are most frequent in the central parts of the country, from Fairford to Peterborough and from Warwick to Devizes. Little how- ever can be deduced from their geographical distribution, and it may be that some future explanation of the linen patches will decide the ceremonial significance of the buckets themselves. The brooches however seem to furnish more exact indications of 261