Reviews

REVIEWS A ngk>-Saxon Jewellery. By Ronald Jessup. 8¼ X 5¾ in. Pp. 96, including 33 plates. Shire Publications Ltd., Princes Risborough, 1974. £2.25. This is Mr. Jessup's second book on this subject: an abbreviated and partly updated version of an identically titled work first published in 1950 and now, alas, virtually unobtainable. Comparing the two, while most objects described and illustrated in the new book are old friends, one notes with pleasure the inclusion of the Late Saxon Strickland and Fuller disc brooches and the addition of several outstanding recent finds; the fifth-century belt-set in 'quoit brooch style' from Mucking, Essex, and two splendid seventh-century pieces from Kent, the 'Finglesham Man' buckle and the composite jewelled disc from Monk.ton. A sad omission is the austerely beautiful little gold cross from Thurnham, also in Kent, which was found in 1967 and never adequately published before it was tragically lost to view in a private collection: a good photograph of this would have enhanced the value of the book. Compensation is at hand, however, in the form of another seventhcentury cross and jewelled disc from Winster, in Derbyshire: here is the best and most accessible reproduction of them since they were found over two centuries ago. Most of the new photographs are good but some ol􀃄 prints (e.g. the bracteates, Pl. 5) should never have been reused and some grotesque contrasts in scale should have been avoided (Pl. 3). Th.e quality of the photographs is thus very uneven and the visual impa􀃅t of the book is further reduced by the lack of colour reproduction· of any of the finer polychrome jewels. Though each illustrated obje..ct is fully and generally well described, one misses the individual htbliographies which made the earlier book such a handy work of ref􀃆􀃇nce and one regrets the perpetuation of old errors. For example, the ll􀃈le silver 'safety-pin' brooches, found with the famous composite br􀃉ch from Kingston, are not survivals from the Early Iron Age (p. 74) b􀃊 variants of a tYPe of miniature brooch known from other Anglo-Saxon •􀃋aves of the seventh century (Uncleby, Yorks.; Shudy Camps, Cam􀃌s.; Swallowcliffe Down, Wilts.). Mr. Jessup is the acknow􀃍edged master of British archaeology's antiquarian literature and, whe:Q. citing such sources, is scrupulously correct and brilliantly in his el􀃎ent. With the course of modern research he is less at home, however, and there are omissions in his published bibliography which go far to explain some outdated statements and a general unawareness of recent developments on the Continent. Kent's earliest square-headed brooches are now known to have 227 REVIEWS come not from the Rhineland (p. 39) but from Denmark (Egil Ba.kka, On the Beginnings of Salin's Styl,e I in England, Bergen, 1958; and the reviewer in Medieval ArchaeoUJfJY, ii (1958), 45-57), and our knowledge of the techniques used in their production, particularly the casting processes (p. 23), has been rendered less speculative since the discovery of a large sixth/seventh century workshop site in Sweden (W .. Holmqvist and others, Excavations at Helgo IV, Stockholm, 1972). There square-headed brooches and other dress-fasteners were being massproduced, complete with their so-called 'chip-carved' ornament, in bi- or multipartite moulds of fine clay, which were remade for each casting from existing bronze models. Probably only the jewellers' models, examples of which are known from goldsmiths' graves from various parts of Europe (J. Werner, Early Medieval Studies, i, Stockholm, 1970), were ma.de by the more laborious lost-wax process. The mass production of Kentish disc or Anglian cruciform brooches must have been carried out in similar workshops by virtually identical methods. The author tells us that it was his intention in this book to 'interest the many, not to inform the select few', but that is begging the question. In these enlightened days an attractively low-priced book that happens to be the only work in print about such a fascinating topic as AngloSaxon jewellery is bound to enjoy a large sale to all manner of people seriously interested in archaeology. No matter who they are, they deserve of the best. It is the unhappy duty of this reviewer to point out that the manifold virtues of this little book are disfigured by too many avoidable errors of omission and commission. So out with the paste and scissors again, Mr. Jessup, and let us have a third edition, up to date and up to scratch, which will measure up both to the subject matter and to all our expectations and requirements. SONIA CHADWICK HAWKES A History of Kent. By Frank W. Jessup. 9J x7¼. Pp. 168, 57 plates (3 in colour), 16 maps and numerous line-drawings. Phillimore & Co. Ltd., London and Chichester, 1974. £3.75. This handsome volume, by one of our vice-presidents and part of the publishers' Darwen Oounty History Series, is a second edition of a well-known book long out of print and something of a veritable tour de force. In twenty chapters, the author traces the history of the County from 'before the Romans' to 'industrial development in the ninteenth (sic) and twentieth centuries'. Mr. Jessup is well aware of the horns of the dilemma almost certa.in to ensna.re any author attempting to compile the history of a county so rich in material as ours and he has aptly 228 REVIEWS dubbed them Scylla and Charybdis in the preface to his first edition; yet, his readers ought to be grateful that he did not consider the prospect too daunting but rewarding enough to complete his self. imposed Herculean labour of love-nor, in the opinion of this reviewer, does he need to offer as an alibi for the shortcomings and omissions he readily admits to (p. 13) that he was 'influenced by his own personal interests'. For it is just this personal approach that is one of the main strengths of his book and a witness to the breadth of Mr. Jessup's learning. Certainly, specialists in the various periods of the County's history may find areas where their own personal and narrower interests would stress points which the author found perhaps less close to his heart; but to do this would surely mean a book of this size for each one of these specialised fields. Clearly, what Mr. Jessup set out to do was to write, as he himself says (p. 13), 'a series of accounts of the most important periods and topics', to set out before his readers' eyes the broad canvas with as much detail as would render his personal approach intelligible to them and to urge them onto the path of the detailed accounts which fall outside his conspect; in this aim, the author succeeds admirably. Mr. Jessup is justly proud of 'the wealth of illustrative material' (p. 14) which enhances the value of his history and makes it come alive with this profusion of well-chosen and reproduced plates and distribution maps (specialists, again, may raise an eyebrow or two over some of the latter, but Mr. Jessup has already disarmed them for his treading on such tender toes!)-not least valuable are the delightful line-drawings which grace the generous margins of this book, the comprehensive index and adequate bibliography. All in all, this is a history worthy of our County and an indispensable addition to members' bookshelves before its deserved success adds this volume, too, to the long Jist of unobtainable Kent books and forces Mr. Jessup to embark upon its third edition. A. P. DETSICAS Through This Door. By M. Lawrence. 8½ x 5½ in. Pp. 28, 6 pls., 4 line drawings and a map. 50p. St. Michael's Church, East Peckham, was declared redundant in 1972 after at least eight centuries of uninterrupted use as a place of Christian worship. Mrs. Margaret Lawrence has marked the occasion by compiling an informative and at the same time entertaining booklet about some of the people who must in former times have passed through the door of their parish ohurch. It is a work of predominantly human interest, and there is nothing about the architecture or the monuments, as they have been dealt with elsewhere by other writers. Her 1ist of references indicates the extent of the research undertaken to obtain 229 15 REVIEWS the facts on which this account is based, and the thumbnail sketches interspersed in the text convey a lightness of touch which characterises the presentation without in the least detracting from its value as serious historical writing. The numerous personalities who form the subject-matter are treated under such headings as The Homecomer, the Anabaptist, The Linen Lady, The Foundlings, The Commentator, The Heroes and The Finalists. Some were notables like Sir Roger Twysden, while others were orphan children fostered by local families who received them from Thomas Coram's Foundling Hospital. John Day, the excommunicated Anabaptist, had to be buried outside the churchyard 'between the gate and the walnut tree', and we learn that Isabella Twysden was buried in linen in 1681 despite the Act which insisted that nothing except wool should be used for such purposes. Mary Nichol was baptised here in 1833, her parents passing through the parish at that time, the Curate commenting of her mother: 'This woman I learn has been over the country with the same child and has again and a.gain baptised the brat pretending destitution and currying favour with the clergy'. Captain John Norwood, whose family had farmed in the parish for six generations, won the Victoria Cross at Ladysmith in the Boer War, and the last bridegroom to walk through the door of the church in 1970 was Frederick Cheesman whose ancestors were in East Peckham before the registers began in the sixteenth century. The fact that this remotely-situated church has now ceased to fulfil its former purpose is a matter ofregret. That the final closing of its door has prompted Mrs. Lawrence to write so engagingly about those to whom it was once a spiritual home is a measure of compensation, as all who read her account will readily appreciate. Copies may be obtained from 'Barnfield', Church Lane, East Peckham, and all proceeds go to the restoration of Holy Trinity Church, the Victorianauccessor ofSt. Michael's. P. J. TESTER Cat,alogue of Est,ate Maps, 1690-1840, in the Kent C