XX.—An Account of Excavations in an Anglo-Saxon Burial Ground at Harnham Hill, near Salisbury. By John Yonge Akerman, F.S.A. Secretary

John Yonge Akerman

doi:10.1017/S0261340900002848

XX.—An Account of Excavations in an Anglo-Saxon Burial Ground at Harnham Hill, near Salisbury. By John Yonge Akerman, F.S.A. Secretary

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 June 2012

John Yonge Akerman

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In the summer of the present year, a paragraph appeared in the newspapers stating that some ancient weapons had been discovered at Harnham Hill, in the neighbourhood of Salisbury, in a field in the occupation of William Fawcett, Esq. one of the borough magistrates. The description of these relics was sufficiently accurate to assure me that they were of the Anglo-Saxon period. I immediately wrote to Mr. Fawcett, who most promptly and kindly replied to my inquiries, and promised me the requisite facilities for a proper exploration of the site as soon as the crop which the field then bore should be carried. He further stated, that about eight years ago a carpenter, in digging a hole to receive a gate-post on the south side of the field, had turned up a spear-head and part of a human skull. This circumstance attracted no attention at the time, but in June last a further discovery was made by Robert Wallan, “the drowner,” or person in charge of the water meadows in the occupation of Mr. Fawcett, who, when employed in the field, perceived, about two yards from the gate-post, a spear-head protruding from the ground. This induced him to make further search, and in a short time he discovered the iron umbo of a shield and portions of a skeleton. Subsequently, an iron knife and a buckle were turned up with the remaining portions of the skeleton.

Type: Research Article
Information: Archaeologia , Volume 35 , Issue 2 , 1854 , pp. 259 - 278

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261340900002848 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1854

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^{page 259 note a} Cf. Codex Diplomaticus Ævi Saxonici, passim.

^{page 261 note a} Of a young person not exceeding twenty-eight years of age, according to Professor Owen.

^{page 262 note a} These are very like the same description of toilet implements discovered by Mr. Wylie at Fairford. Fairford Graves, Pl. ix. fig. 10.

^{page 263 note a} Not above fifty-five years of age, according to Professor Owen.

^{page 263 note b} These resemble very closely the fibulæ found in a tumulus on Chessell Down, in the Isle of Wight. See the Winchester Book of the B. A. Association, pl 3, fig. 2. But the workmanship is superior.

^{page 264 note a} Between the ages of twenty-eight and thirty-five, according to Professor Owen.

^{page 266 note a} Lib. Pœnit. Theodori Arch. Cant xxii. § 14; et Excerpt. Ecgberti Eborac. Archiep ex Can. Toletan.

^{page 266 note b} “Si quis corpus hominis mortui, antequam in terrain mittatur, per furtum expoliaverit, IVD den, qui faciunt solidi LXII. S. culpabilis judicetur.” Legis Salicœ, tit. lvii. cap. 1.—“Si quis hominem mortuum effoderit, et expoliaverit, sol. cc. culp. jud.” Ibid. tit. lxxx. epil. c. vi.; Cf. Legis Ripuariorum, tit. liv. c. 1, et tit. lxxxv. c. 1, 2; Legis Alamannorum, tit. 1. c. 1, 2, 3, 4; Legis Baiuvariorum, tit. xviii. c. 1; Legis Wisigothorurn, lib. xi tit. ii. c. 1.

^{page 266 note c} Archæologia, vol. XXVII. p. 301. Mr. Edward Hawkins, who communicated this account, cites another example of a fork engraved by C. M. Grivaud, in his “Antiquités Gauloises et Romaines recueillies dans le Jardins du Palais du Senat.” Paris, 1807.

^{page 267 note a} Recueil d'Antiquités, tome III. p. 312, pl. lxxxiv.

^{page 267 note b} So the Anglo-Saxon Gospels: “Fram fruman gesceafte, God hig geworhte wæpned and wyfman.” S. Mark, x. 6—The German jurisprudents still divide families into male and female by the titles of schwerdt-magen, sword-members, and spill or spindel-magen, spindle-members. The spears in these graves are as significant as the spindle-bead at the feet of the skeleton No. 40. Thus Alfred the Great, in his will, says: “Min yldra fæder hæfde gecweden his land on ða sperehealfe, næs on ða spinl healfe;” i. e. my grandfather hath given his land to the spear side, and not to the spindle side. In the preceding sentence he speaks of ða wæpned healfe. Codex Diplom. Ævi Saxonici, vol. i. p. 116.—Among the Ripuarian Franks, the choice of the spindle, or the sword, decided the fate of the free woman who had attached herself to a slave: “Quod si ingenua Ripuaria servum Eipuarium secuta fuerit, et parentes ejus hoc traducere voluerint, offeratur ei a Rege, seu a comite, spata et conucula. Quod si spatam acceperit, servum interficiat. Si autem conuculam, in servitio perseveret.”—Leg. Ripuar. tit. lviii. c. 18.

^{page 267 note c} Vol. iii. p 16

^{page 268 note a} Das Germanische Todtenlager bei Selzen. Mainz, 1848. 4°. Folding plate, fig. 10.

^{page 268 note b} “Ceux qui n'observent pas les ceremonies de Christianisme, enterrent avec le corps du defunt sa hache, un caillou, et un morceau d'acier pour faire du feu.”—Histoire de la Laponie, p. 292. Paris, 1678. 4°. “Lappones hodieque cum mortuis sepeliunt arcum, sagittas, securim, silicem et chalybem, quorum usus esset, turn in vita futura turn via ad eam patefacienda.”—Keysler, Antiquitates Septent. p. 173.

^{page 268 note c} See the Winchester Book of the Brit. Archæol. Association, pl. iii. fig. 4.

^{page 268 note d} The tali of Tiberius were of gold. They were used sometimes in divinations.—Suetonius in Tiberio, c. 14. See the work of Francesco de' Ficoroni: “I tali ed altri Strumenti Lusori degli Antichi Romani.” Roma, 1734. 4to.

^{page 268 note e} Museum Schoepflini. Argent. 1773. 4to. Tab. xv. fig. 14.

^{page 269 note a} The number of skeletons exhumed may be divided into four classes, thus:— Of course this table is only given approximately; but the proportions appear to be about the same as those of the Frank cemeteries, according to the Abbé Cochet.

^{page 270 note a} Beda, Hist. Eccl. lib. iii. c. 7.

^{page 270 note b} Ibid, loco citato.

^{page 270 note c} Priests are enjoyned not to attend funerals uninvited, but if invited, they are to forbid such pagan practice: “Forbeode ge þa hæðenan sangas þæera læwedra manna. heora hludan cheahchetunga.”—Canons of Ælfric, xxxv. The same injunction occurs in the Capitularies of Charlemagne and Ludovicus, lib. vi. c. 197, as noticed below.

^{page 270 note d} This coin is much corroded; but the letters CONST are legible on the obverse. The reverse appears to bear the device of two figures of Victory supporting a shield, a very common type of the family of Constantine the Great. It is most probably a small brass coin of Constantine his son.

^{page 270 note e} Indiculus Superstitionum et Paganiarum:—

1.
1. De Sacrilegio ad sepulchra Mortuorum.
2.
2. De Sacrilegio super Defunctos, id est Dadsisas.

^{page 270 note f} “Admoneantur fideles ut ad suos mortuos non agant ea quæ de paganorum ritu remansuerunt. Et quando eos ad sepulturam portaverint, illum ululatum excelsum non faciant ….. et super eorum tumulos nec manducare nec bibere presumant.” Capitularium Karoli Magni et Ludovici Pii, lib. vi. c. 197.

^{page 270 note g} “Omnia autem sacrificia et auguria paganorum, sacrilegia sunt, quemadmodum sunt sacrificia mortuorum super defuncta corpora, vel super sepulchra illorum.”—S. Bonif. Sermo vi.

^{page 271 note a} “Pro sacrilegis itaque presbyteris, ut scripsisti, qui tauros et hircos diis paganorum immolabant, manducantes sacrificia mortuorum, habentes et pollutum ministerium, ipsique adulteri esse inventi sunt, et defuncti.”—Epist. 71.

^{page 271 note b} Besides these, several teeth were found in one spot, which we are informed by Professor Owen are those of a very large dog.

^{page 271 note c} Codex Dipl. Ævi Saxonici, No. DCCCLXXXV.

^{page 271 note d} My best acknowledgments are due to Sir Frederic Madden for the kindness with which, at my request, he has compared these charters, now preserved in the British Museum.

^{page 272 note a} The charter of Ecgberht has from this word the following variation:—“On the Great Dyke,—so to the Chalk Boundary—thence to Woodbury Hill—so to Ebbesbourne—thence on Beordown—so to the Hawkslinch— so on to the rugged Hill—thence along the military way on the land boundary to Britford—from the military way, eft on Stratford.”

^{page 272 note b} Here the charter of Æthelstan inserts “on Stratford,” which may be an error of the scribe.

^{page 272 note c} There is a part of the Down, near Ebbesbourne, known at this day as Bare or Bear Patch.

^{page 272 note d} Cod. Dipl. vol. iii. p. 21.

^{page 272 note e} Stoke Verdon seems rather a provincial form of the name.

^{page 273 note a} In many of the northern counties we find Carlton.

^{page 274 note a} Remains of Pagan Saxondom, p. 13.

^{page 274 note b} Quæ tamen tellus duobus in locis est dirempta, L^a scilicet ac V^e in ipsa supradicta villa continens mansas per ripas amnis Avenæ nuncupatæ, quæ circa eandem villam decurrit, adjacentes XL^a vero et V^e in altera inde non longe et Ebblesburnan appellatur secus decursus ejusdem torrentis extensas. (Cod. Dipl. Ævi Sax. vol. iii. p. 301.)

^{page 277 note a} Ed. Müller, Hauniæ, 8vo. 1839.

^{page 277 note b} All iron-work was supposed to be equally efficacious; an axe, key, knife, needle, &c. were held to possess the same power. See W. Müller's Geschichte und System der Altdeutschen Religion.” Göttingen, 1844, 8vo.

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XX.—An Account of Excavations in an Anglo-Saxon Burial Ground at Harnham Hill, near Salisbury. By John Yonge Akerman, F.S.A. Secretary

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