This page needs to be proofread.

ANGLO-SAXON REMAINS in 1858, and a glass bead 88 of ring pattern, I in. in diameter, found in a field in 1856. An almost identical bead, of translucent yellow glass with a thread of bright yellow within the ring, is exhibited with it at Sheffield, and came from Kirkham's land, Middleton Moor (by Youlgreave), Derbyshire. The Anglo-Saxon origin of a find on Readon (Wredon) Hill, one mile north of Ramshorn, is open to question. On 4 September, 1848, a barrow 1 9 yds. in diameter and 3ft. high was opened and found to contain two skeletons extended near the centre, with no protection but a few stones in contact with one of the bodies, which was possibly interred later than the other. It was not more than 2 ft. from the surface, while the other lay on the natural level at least 3 ft. from the turf covering the mound. Of the former, the skull, which was that of a young man with a longitudinal index of 76, remained in perfect preservation with some of the hair, and a small pebble was found at the right hand. The lower skeleton was covered with a layer of charcoal, and the skull belonged to a middle-aged man. An iron spear-head lay at least two yards from the upper, and further from the lower burial, and measures I 3 in., with part of the shaft still preserved by rust in the socket. With it was a narrow war knife 8 in. long, and their association points to an Anglo - Saxon burial ; but they do not seem to have belonged to either of the bodies found. The microscope revealed the fact that the shaft of the spear was of ash, and the sur- face of the weapon and knife shows traces of grass and the larvae of insects with which they had been in contact. 8 There are reasons for classing with those in the north (the nearest of which is 12 miles distant) an isolated burial in the Trent valley, but nearly 30 miles above Wichnor, and separated by the whole width of Needwood Forest. This remarkable discovery was made in 1850 on the estate of the late Mr. Francis Wedgwood, at Barlaston, some twenty years before it was first published by Llewellyn Jewitt. 30 It has since been included in a paper on bronze bowls with enamel mounts, by the late Mr. Romilly Allen, 31 and an illustrated account was presented to the local society by Mr. Lawrence Wedgwood in 1905. On a slope of red sandstone a grave (fig. 8) 7 ft. long and 2 ft. wide was found cut into the solid rock when the gravel-pit hill to the east of the house was dug over for the planting of trees. It was evidently an isolated burial, and >8 Sheffield Mus. Cat. 227. " Diggings, 122-3 ; SheffieUMus. Cat. 162 (skull), 235. 80 Grave-mounds and their Contents (1870), 258, figs. 434, 435 ; Lawrence Wedgwood, 'Notes on Celtic Remains found at the Upper House, Barlaston,' Trans. N. Staffs. Field Club, xl (1906), 148. " Arch. Ivi, 44. I 209 27 SECTION OF THE GRAVE FIG. 8. GRAVE AT BARLASTOJ (PLAN AND SECT.-ON) 29