ANGLO-SAXON REMAINS one piece with the body of the brooch, but furnished with split shanks into which fitted the sharpened edges of the head-plate. Originally these side-knobs served as terminals of the spiral coil of the spring, and were kept in place by it, but in Norway especially they soon ceased to be functional, and became an ornamental part of the head-plate. In Denmark and England they remained separate for some time longer, and are con- sequently often wanting on extant specimens. The result of casting knobs and head-plate together is seen in one of this group (top right), where the cruciform design is apparent. The two long brooches have lost their side- knobs, and two others have semicircular terminals to the foot that seem to have been derived from the Baltic provinces, and have been termed Prus- sian. There are also annular and penannular brooches, the latter being not far removed from the Roman prototype often found in Britain, while the other is evidently the common form of such exceptional specimens as that from Husbands Bosworth (coloured plate, fig. 4), or from Sarre, Kent. 3 Other simple examples have been found in the neighbouring counties of Lincoln 8S and Northants. 4 Only one urn was discovered on this site : it was well fired, had been turned on the lathe, and highly ornamented. Close to the urn lay an iron sword, and across the mouth an iron spear-head, distinguished from the rest by a narrow bronze ring round the socket. Other pottery was found of a distinct character, comprising several cups capable of containing about half a pint each, imperfectly baked and in crumbling con- dition. 4 * These may have been similar to those found elsewhere in the county, at Saxby and Rothley Temple. Of the objects illustrated from this site by Roach Smith, two call for special mention, being of rare occurrence in Anglo-Saxon graves. One is a metal fragment described as ' an article of brass supposed to have been attached to a sword-belt,' but its original breadth of 2i in. leaves little room for doubt that it was the chape of a sword-scabbard, the longitudinal ribs on both sides having clearly been attached to the leather sheath, which has perished. Whether this fragment originally belonged to the weapon found near the urn just mentioned is, perhaps, impossible to decide, but it is in itself a rare specimen, and is sufficient evidence that a sword was once deposited with it in the grave. The other piece of special interest is a circular brooch of bronze, from which the settings have disappeared. No detailed description is given, but the form is enough to refer it to a type common in the late Roman period, 1 V.C.H. Kent, . 3a Castle Bytham, Arch. Journ. x, 81. 4 Badby, Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc. i, 61.
- Roach Smith, Coll. Antiq. i, 41 and pi. xviii, 3 ; Proc. Sac. Antiq. iii, 55 ; Bloxam, Fragmenta
Sepulchralia, 52, 53, 57, and Monumental Archit. and Sculpture of Great Britain, 34, 44, 52. 223 CINERARY URN, FOUND NEAR BENSFORD BRIDGE
