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No. 111.—This was six inches longer than No. 1, and
four feet deep, by three feet three inches wide. An iron spearhead lay
near the right shoulder, and the socket of the shaft by the right foot;
fragments of a sword were scattered about the grave. There were also four
silvered shield-studs. These three interments, as well as the fourth, were
all made nearly east and west.
No. IV.—This grave was carefully made, and exhibited more
attention paid to form than any interment found during the whole of these
excavations. In shape it much resembled a coffin, widened at the
shoulders, and narrowed towards the feet. It was of the unusual length of
ten feet; in depth, four feet six; in width, at the bottom, four feet.
The first indication of its valuable contents was a small
piece of gold braid, or flat wire, folded as if it had been woven into the
dress, or worked into some ornament on the arm,1 for it lay
just above the right
1. In a grave subsequently opened we found similar
fabric, resting on and around the skull. This, too, was a woman’s grave,
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contained
beads of amber and porcelain, and a small gold pendant.
[Much gold web, exactly like this fragment , was found on
the Saxon St. Cuthbert, when his body was discovered in 1827, and is
thus described by Mr. Raine, an eye-witness:-
"The Stole:—The groundwork of the whole is woven
exclusively with thread of gold. I do not mean by thread of gold the
silver-gilt wire frequently used in such matters, but real gold
thread, if I may so term it, not round but flat . This is the
character of the whole web, with the exception of the figures…. for
which, however surprising it may appear, vacant spaces have been left by
the loom, and they themselves afterwards inserted with the needle….
"A girdle and two bracelets of gold tissue were found….
Of the girdle, the portion which we were able to preserve measures
twenty-five inches, its breadth seven-eighths of an inch. It has
evidently proceeded from the loom, and its two component parts are a
flattish thread of pure gold and a thread of scarlet silk, which are not
combined in any particular pattern. . . . The bracelets are made of
precisely the same materials and workmanship. .. . They measure nine
inches in circumference, and are of the same breadth as the
girdle."
The stole and an accompanying maniple both bore the
inscription,—"PlO EPISCOPO FRIDESTANO AELFFLAED FIERI PRECEPIT,"
fixing the date |