Anglo-Saxon Burials near The Lord of the Manor, Ramsgate. New Light on the Site of Ozengell?

ANGLO-SAXON BURIALS NEAR THE LORD OF THE MANOR, RAMSGATEl NEW LIGHT ON THE SITE OF OZENGELL1 By LOUISE MrLLARn, B.A., SHIRLEY J.A:RMAN, M.PmL., and SONIA. CHADWICK HAWKES, M.A., F.S.A. T􀃠 Lord of the Manor public house stands isolated on high ground more than a mile from the centre of Ramsgate and outside the present built-up area of the town. It occupies the south-east angle of the junction between the A253 road from Canterbury to Ram.agate and the A256 from Sandwich to Margate: in the opposite, north-west, corner of the cross-roads is a triangle of waste ground bounded on its third side by the Canterbury-Ramsgate railway line, and it was here, in May 1966, that the Anglo-Saxon burials came to light (Fig. I; N.G.R. TR 355651). They were discovered during the excavation of a pipe trench for the Thanet Water Board, and were reported to the Ramsgate Police, who in turn notified the Royal Museum, Canterbury. The Curator was on the scene in time to make a sketch section and plan of the trench before it was filled in, and to record and take charge of the finds. Of these, the bones are now in the Duckworth Laboratory, Cambridge, and the other objects in the Public Library, Ramsgate. The water pipe was laid out parallel to and about 30 ft. west of the A256, except that at the northern end it turned in at an oblique angle towards the road to cross the railway by the bridge. From this bend southwards for nearly 50 ft. the trench, 2 ft. wide by 4 ft. deep, sectioned seven graves: these, orientated west to east, lay in an irregularly spaced row from south to north. They were cut into the natural chalk to an average depth of 2 ft. 8 in., were all filled with chalk rubble mixed with earth, and were covered by about I ft. of topsoH. Their widths varied from 2 ft. 3 in. (Graves 3-5), 2 ft. 6 in. (Graves 2 and 6), to 3 ft. 8 in. (Grave 1). Since the graves were excavated by workmen, the majority of the finds were not properly recorded: some were recovered from the spoil heap, and others may possibly have been dispersed. Nothing is known of the contents of Graves 4-7, and the attribution of material to Graves 1-3 is based mainly on information from workmen and police. It may not be wholly reliable. L.M. 1 A preliminary note on this site was published by Peter Cullen, Kent Arohieological Research Groups' Council, Newsletter 6, November 1966, 18, 9 .ANGLO-SAXON BURIALS NEAR RAMSGATE RAMSGATE, THE LORD OF THE MANOR ANGLO- SAXON BURIALS SI) JOU ISO 100 FEET SC.4LB ===;;;;;;;;====:: O JO :Z0 30 60 J\ Z53 A r i L S , 6 . T r • n C h Ramsgatc -r THE LORD OP TIIE 1ANOR F10. 1. Sketch Plan of Anglo-Saxon Graves near The Lord of the Manor (?Ozengell), Ramsgate. TuE SKELETONS When they were recehred for examination, the human bones were still in the groups in which Miss Millard had packed them after collection from the site. Two labelled packages contained bones from Graves 2 and 3, apparently kept together by the workmen, while a third unlabelled group consisted of bones collected from several graves and probably derived in the main from the spoil heap. Since it was clear that this mixed group included material from Graves 2 and 3, and as it seemed desirable to preserve a record of the original groups while redisposing some of their contents, the group letters A, B and C a.re given in brackets after each item in the detailed report below. Group A (Grave 2) contained the skull and r-obust long bones of a large male skeleton:2 two further long bone fragments in Group C were found to match, and have been re-united with this skeleton. Group A contained no bones from any other individual. Group B (Grave 3) contained several postcranial bones; these were too eroded to allow measurement, but their general size indicated that they also belonged to a tall and robust male. The left tibia could be matched by a right tibia, from Group C. It is possible that the male skull in Group O also belongs to this skeleton, but with at least two more male burials in other graves there can be no positive identification. 11 Height was estimated from the regression equations given by M. Trotter and G. C. Gieser, Amer.J. Phys. Anthrop., x (1952), 463-514; xvi (1958), 79-123. 10 ANGLO-SAXON BURIALS NEAR RAMSGATE A right humerus amongst the Group B bones had definitely belonged to a different skeleton, either a secondary burial in the same grave or, more likely in view of the close proximity of Grave 4, the skeleton in the ne:x:t grave. Group O contained a· male skull, and postcranial bones from at least two males, as well as a skull and femoral fragment which probably came from a female skeleton. Thus, the seven graves near the Lord of the Manor had contained the burials of at least four men and probably a woman. Grave 2 An adult male, aged between 35 and 45 years ;s height 181 · 5 cm. (5f t. 11½ in.). The bones are robust and in fair condition. The skull has the base and occiput missing, but the mandible is complete. Suturesthe sphenoid wing is partially obliterated; the coronal, sagittal and lambdoid are completely obliterated; there is no metopic suture. The sphenoid articulation is normal. There are very slight tori mandibularis and paiativis present, but no tori auditivus or maxillaris. Dentitionthere are two pulp exposures and one occlusal carious cavity in twenty. eight teeth. It is unlikely that any teeth ,vere lost ante mortem. None of the teeth shows rotation from the line of the dental arch; there has been no periodontal resportion and no abscesses are to be seen. The teeth meet in an edge-to-edge bite; there is slight hypoplasia of the tooth enamel, and a small deposit of calculus on all the mandibular teeth and on right maxillary 6 5/. root only E _ / 1 6 5 4.3 2 1 112 3 4 5 6 ; ; 8765432111234 5678 oc. l1l Postcranial bones present: L. humerus (A), R. humeral shaft (C), L. femur (A), R. femoral shaft (0), L. and R. tibiae {A), one talus (A). Grave 3 An adult male: it is not possible to estimate age or height. The bones are in poor condition. Postcranial bones only are present: shafts of L. radius (B), R. ulna (B), L. and R. tibiae (Band C), L. femur (B); parts of the pelvis, including L. and R. acetabular regions (B). 3 The skeletons were aged on the basis of the pattern of molo.r wear, from a tentative classification of age in pre-medieval British skulls given by D. R. Brothwell in Di,gging Up Bones: London, Trustees of the British Museum, 1963. 11 ANGLO-SAXON BURIALS NEAR RAMSGATE UNASSOOIATED BONES A male skull (C), represented by a major pa.rt of the vault and six teeth: tentative age2 5 to3 5 years. ? Male postcranial bones: L. and R. femora (C), L. and R. tibiae and a tibia! fragment (C), L. and R. humeri (0 and B), two L. ulnae (C), two R. radii (C), fragments of ribs, vertebrae and pelvis (C). ? Female skull (C), represented by part of L. and R. parietal bones, L. and R. auditory areas, and a mandible: age is about2 5 years. Dentition: there are no caries in the twelve teeth present, which show slight hypoplasia of the enamel. 876/432III234 5X-- ? Female postcranial bones: femoral fragment (C). Symbols used in the dental charts: x = tooth lost ante mortem. / = tooth lost poat mortem. E = exposure of tooth root. oo. = ooolusal oaries. - = this part of dental aroh missing. The teeth are charted as one looks at the skull, so that those from the right side of the dental arch appear on the left side of the chart. S.J. THE GRAVE-GOODS: AUTHENTIOATION By the time qualified assistance was summoned to the site, workmen had already investigated the graves in an unscientific fashion. As a result, half the grave-goods have no associations, and though for the rest Miss Millard was able to obtain a consensus of opinion about provenience from the excavators, · their inexpert testimony must be treated with reservation. As we shall see, this is important in the case of Grave 2. The inventory, based on Miss Millard's notes, is as follows: Grave l - Spearhead (Fig.2 , 1). Grave 2 - Weaving sword {Fig.2 ,4 ). - Fragments of bronze and ivory (Fig.3 ,I ). Grave 3 - Spearhead (Fig.2 ,2 ). Unassociate,d - Spearhead (Fig.2 ,3 ). - Shield-boss (Fig.2 , 5). - Shield-grip (Fig.2 , 6). - Rim of drinking vessel (Fig.3 ,2 ). The obvious difficulty about the contents of Grave 2 is that the iron object which the workmen mistook for a man's sword is in fact a piece of weaving equipment (known as a weaving sword, beater, or batten) which has hitherto been found exclusively in the graves of 12 4 ANGLO-SAXON BURIALS NEAR RAMSGATE " ' \ 1 ems F10. 2, Iron Objects from Anglo-Saxon Graves near The Lord of the Manor (? Ozengell), Ramsgate. 1-3, Spearheads (1, Grove I; 2, Grave 3); 4, Weaving Sword(? Grave2); 5-6, Shield-Boss and Grip. Scale¼. (Drawingaby Mra.M.E,Oox.) 1-1 ANGLO-SAXON BURIALS NEAR RAMSG.ATE women. Moreover, if I am correct in thinking the bronze and ivory object to have been part of a purse-ring, then this, too, is more likely to have been found in a woman's grave than a. man's. Yet the bones recorded as coming from this grave are without question masculine. When consulted about the possibility of incorrect attribution, Miss Millard replied:4 'As for as the association of the man's skull with the weaving batten goes, I should be inclined to accept it, if not impossible for archreological reasons, as these were the two finds people were most interested in and everyone was quite certain that they came from the same grave . . . The only alternative that suggests itself is that there were perhaps two graves virtually on top of each other, and that the skull came from one and the weaving batten from the other.' The suggestion that Grave 2 may have contained a second burial cannot be ruled out entirely, but the fact that the only bones recovered were those of the tall man reported on above (p. 11) renders it unlikely. Further, there were no immediately adjacent graves to confuse the associations: Grave 2 was separated by a distance of 10 ft. from its nearest neighbours. These, Graves 1 and 3, seem in any case to have contained male burials too, if the attribution of a male skeleton to the latter and spearheads to both is at all reliable. So the question-mark against the finds from Grave 2 must remain. The burial of a woman's weaving beater in a man's grave might possibly be explained, with considerable ingenuity, in terms of a sword substitute, but so far as I know this would be a unique case. The circumstances of the discovery being what they were, it is probably safer on the whole to relegate the weaving sword and the bronze and ivory fragment into the category of finds without grave numbers. There were four other graves in the group a.bout which we know nothing beyond the testimony of the bone report that one at least had probably contained the burial of a woman. Whichever this was, it is the most likely source for the weaving sword. THE GR.A VE-Goons: DESORIPTION AND D1soussION Grave 1 (Fig. 2, 1) Iron spearltead, length 10 • 9 in. The blade, long in proportion to its socket, is nearly straight-sided but with a slight t-aper towards the point, and has angular shoulders sloping into the short split socket. This cont.ains oxidized remnants of the wooden shaft. This is a. small example of a common Kentish type which seems to hti-ve come into general favour mainly during the later sixth and seventh centuries. Bifrons, a cemetery which appears from its excavated ' By letter, 27th July, 1967. 14 ANGLO-SAXON BURIALS NEAR RAMSGATE graves not to have outlasted the sixth century by more than a decade at most, has yielded at least two similar but larger speoimens.6 Sarre produced several examples, most probably of the seventh century like that from grave 156, dated by its association with a wheel-made pottery bottle, and short sword (shield-boss unfortunately unidentifiable). o Also of the seventh century are two from the more recently excavated 'fate' cemetery at Holborough; from Grave 3, associated with a shield-boss with narrow flange and knob-headed rivets; and from Grave 7, associated with a similar boss, a sword with boat-shaped iron pommel and, amongst other things, a buckle with Style II eaglehead decoration.7 There are other parallels, of course, but these should be sufficient to indicate the possible date range of the spearhead from the Lord of the Manor. Grave 3 (Fig. 2, 2) Iron spearhead, length 16·2 in.; point broken. The blade has sloping and markedly peaked shoulders, with edges that make first a concave and then a convex curve into the point. The split socket contains oxidized remains of the wooden shaft. Unassociated (Fig. 2, 3) Iron spearhead, length 19·6 in.; end of socket snapped off and only half survives. In form a large version of the last. Wood remains in socket. The basic form of these two spearheads is one very widespread throughout southern England and the Midlands during the sixth century. The small version of it, particularly common and of early origin in Saxon areas, is rare in Kent: here elongated forms predominate. But such is the state of affairs in Kentish Anglo-Saxon arohreology at present, that it is difficult to find many closely-dated contexts for their earliest appearance. An inlaid example, 12 in. or more in length, from Grave 4 at Lyminge, may perhaps date from the early sixth century, but the relatively early date suggested by the use of the inlay technique is unsupported in this case because the associated finds are inconclusive. 8 Of the two similar spears from Lyminge, that from Grave 5, fully 16 in. long and with the broad tongue-shaped blade characteristic of the Lord of the Ma.nor spears, is without significant association;9 5 Maidstone Museum. From the Conyngham Collection (Tomlinson Bequest), a group of unassociated finds of the fifth and sixth centuries. ' A,-ch. Cant., vi (1866), 179, and vii (1868}, pL xiii. 7 Vera. I. Evison, '.An .Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Holborough, Kent', .,frch. Cant., In:: (1956), 94 ff., 118 ff., figs. 14-16. • Alan Warhurst, 'The Jutish cemetery at Lyminge', .,frch. Oant., hix (1955), 8 f., 32 f., fig. 3, 5; Vera I. Evison, 'Early .Anglo-Saxon inla.id metalwork', Antiq. Joum., :a:xv (1955}, 4'1, fig. 2. • Warhurst (1955), 9, fig. 3, 5. 15 ANGLO-SAXON BURIALS NEAR RAL\!SGATE while that from Grave 1, broken and with a more slender blade, was found with a shie]d.boss with long grip, a broad-edged axe, and a silver-plated buckle with K.entish Style I pJate, the latter suggesting a date towards the middle of the sixth century.1° A spear of our type only 10 · 5 in. long was found at Strood, together with a sword, a shieldboss with fragment of long grip, and the famous late Gallo-Roman drinking cup mount with Christian :figural ornament.11 Miss Evison's opinion that the grave dates from the fifth century should be disregarded: first-hand examination has shown that the mount was far from new when buried, and had been crudely re-furbished for secondary use, probably on a drinking horn. What dates the burial is the shoe-shaped rivet and massive buckle with shield-on-tongue also found with it: the buckle is a Franko-Kentish type which makes only rare appearances in the early sixth century and reaches its greatest vogue around 550 and after.12 A variant form of this kind of buckle occurred in Grave 39/1 at Sarre, with a broad-edged axe similar to that from Lyminge Grave 1, an iron spud, a sword, a shield with long grip, a scramasax and knife, and a bronze-bound wooden bucket. One of the spears found with this, or with the upper burial in the same grave, is very similar in form and size to our two from the Lord of the Manor.13 Another close parallel, 21 in. long, comes from Dover Grave C, in association with a sword with worn hilt fitted with a ring, bronze scales and weights, a long shield-grip, and one of two bosses, the most intact of which looks, from its tall form, to be seventh-century in date. The grave was excavated by workmen, and one of the bosses, and perhaps also a shoeshaped rivet and a buckle with shield-on-tongue, do not belong.14 It is practically undatable, therefore, though it is more likely to be sixth than seventh. The type of spear under discussion seems to have gone out of fashion in the seventh century. In the sixth, the elongated form favoured in Kent is not well attested at present before the middle and later years of the century. (Fig. 2, 5) Iron sliield-boss, diameter 6·3 in., height 2·8 in., but upper knob missing. Low convex dome with marked carination above sloping waist, and flange O • 8 in. wide with- remains of five disc-headed rivets, diameter, 0 · 8 in. Flange much damaged. (Fig. 2, 6) Iron, sliield-grip, in two pieces and incomplete. Originally 10 Ibid., 6 f., fig. 3, 1-4, pl. ix,l. 11 C. Roach Smith, Colleclanea Antigua, ii (1852), pl. :=xvi, and fig. opp.; Vero. I. Evison, The Fifth-Century Invasions South of the Thames (1965), 34, 107, fig. 14. 1ll K. Bolmer, Die Friinld.sche Altertilmer des Trierer Landes (Germanische Denkmii.ler der Volkerwanderungszeit, ser. B, vol. I, 1958), i, 182-3. n Arcll. Cant., vi (1866), 165-6, and vii (1868), pl. xiv. a Vero. I. Evison, 'The Dover ring-sword a.nd other sword.rings and beads', Archcwl-Ogia, oi (1967), 69, 73, figs. 4-6. 1􀀂 ANGLO-SAXON BURIALS NEAR RAMSGATE of the long variety made to span the shield-board. The hand grip, which has curving upturned sides, shows traces of the wooden handle in the form of oxidized remains with the grain running lengthwise: at either end of this are the e>..'J)anded lobes which formed the seatings for the rivets that fastened the grip to the shield-board, and here the wood grain runs crosswise. Of the long braces, which were forged as an extension of the grip, only one part remains, the other side having snapped off. The probability is that boss and grip belonged together: certainly both are sixth-century types. By the seventh century, and probably already by the latter part of the sixth, the shield-boss had become smaller in diameter in proportion to its height, and its flange narrower, while the long grip ha-d gone out of fashion in favour of the short strap variety.11> Bosses and grips similar to these from the Lord of the Manor are by no means confined to Kent, but it would be laborious to reach further afield for comparisons. Amongst Kentish parallels, one of the closest comes from the recently excavated Grave 204 at Finglesham, where just such a boss and grip were found associated with an early ring-sword, a spear, a glass claw-beaker, a Frankish bossed-rim bowl, and a cloisonne silver buckle with oval loop and kidney-shaped plate set with garnets and green glass.lo The latter dates the grave to not long after 500, and this must be one of the earliest dated contexts. The majority seem somewhat later, as for example Finglesham Grave G.2 where another such boss and grip were found together with a sword, a spear with inlaid bands on the socket and a heavy buckle with shield-on-tongue similar to that from Strood.17 The boss and grip from Strood seem to h􀃓ve been of the same kind, and, as we have already noticed, others among the grave-groups containing parallels for the two sixth-century spears from the Lord of the Manor also contained bosses with long grips. In view of this, it is very likely that the shield fittings from our site originally came either from Grave 3 or from the unlmown grave which yielded the spear of Fig. 2, 3. (Fig. 2, 4) Iron weaving sword, length 21 ·7 in. The blade, l ·75 in. wide, tapers into the tip to end in a blunt tongue-shaped projection. At the other end the tang still bears traces of a wooden handle. Textile remains adhering to one face of the blade. This, the most interesting and important find from the Lord of u Vera I. Evison, 'Sugar-loe.f shield-bosses', Antiq. Journ., xliii (1963), 39 f., fig. 1, c-d. 11 Exca.va.ted by S.C.H. in June, 1967, for the l\Iini.stry of Public Building and Works. 17 Sonia. E. Chadwick, 'The .Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Finglesham, Kent: a reconsideration', l',fedieval Archreology, ii (1958}, 21 f., figa. 14 and 6, b. 17 ANGLO-SAXON BURIALS NEAR RAMSGATE the Manor, brings the known total of iron sword-shaped beaters from southern England up to sixteen. When I last had occasion to write on this subject,18 I knew of nine examples only; from Holywell Row, Suffolk, Grave 11; Luton, Beds.; Mitcham, Surrey, Grave 49;19 Chessell Down, Isle of Wight, Grave 15; and from Kent, Bifrons, Ozengell, Sarre 1860, Sarre Grave 4, and Finglesham Grave D.3. Since then, the number of Kentish finds, already proportionately high, has been increased by a further five in addition to our new find from Ramsgate. Another battered example has been identified amongst the material from Bifrons;20 no less than three are now known to have come from Dover (Buckland), Graves 20, 38 and 46;21 and the most recent find of all comes from Finglesham Grave 203.22 The sword-shaped beater was a specialized tool used in northern and western Europe only with the upright warp-weighted loom, on which the weaving began at the top and proceeded downwards. Finds of loom-weights from settlement-sites suggest that this type of loom, known already in prehistoric Europe, was the one still in common use during the early Anglo-Saxon period, in England, in Germanic Europe and in Scandinavia. During the course of the Middle Ages it was superseded throughout most of Europe by the horizontal loom, but in Iceland and the Faroes it was still used as late as the nineteenth century, and in parts of Norway it survived for the weaving of blankets until very recently.28 Where the looms survived, the weaving swords tended to remain in use with them,24 very little changed in form from those, up to 3 ft. long, that came into fashion in Viking times.25 They could be made of wood, whalebone, or iron with a wooden handle fitted into a socket, and they were used two-handed for beating up the weft at regular intervals as the weaving progressed.26 Except for a bone example hopefully dated to the late Bronze Age,Z7 the earliest weaving beaters preserved in northern and western Europe date from the end of the Roman Iron Age and the Migration period. They are mostly made of iron. Whalebone seems to have been rare before the Viking period, but wood may have been used extensively 1s Chadwick (1958), 30 ff. 10 Since republished in H. F. Bidder and John Morris, 'The .Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Mitcham', Sy. Arch. OoU., lvi (1959), 63, 117, pl. xxi, 49. 2o Maidstone Museum. Conyngham Collection (Tomlinson Bequest). 21 Excavated by Miss Evison for the Ministry of Publio Building and Works, 1951-52. u Excavated by S.C.H. for the Ministry of Public Building and Works in 1967. 23 Marta Hoffmann, The Warp-Weighted Loom (Studio Norvegica, xiv, 1964). " Ibid., figs. 5, 53-55, 60, 62, 66, 113-14. 26 Jan Petersen, Vikingetidens Redakaper (1951), 285 ff., 622, figs. 155-8. 28 Hoffmann (1964), 44, 136 f., fig. 14. 17 J, Br0ndsted, N ordiache Vorzeit, ii ( 1962), 121. From Randersfjord, Denmark. 18 ANGLO-SAXON BURIALS NEAR RAMSGATE in the manufacture of such domestic equipment. Unfortunately, wood is perishable stuff, and though some weaving beaters made of it have survived, they have come only from settlement sites where conditions favoured their preservation,28 and not as yet from graves. So we do not know for sure whether it was customary to bury wooden ones as grave-goods: we have only probability, and the incidence of so many bone examples from Viking graves, to suggest that the rite wa.s not confined to iron. The earliest iron weaving swords all come from graves in Norway and Sweden, and are dated there to the fourth, fifth and early sixth centuries.29 They resemble our English examples in having both the tang for hafting the handle and also the odd little tongueshaped formation of the tip, but they are normally of smaller size. During the later sixth, seventh and eighth centuries they become longer, but they lose the tongue-shaped tip,so and it is this plain blade which continues into the Viking period when the socket begins to replace the tang as the favoured type of handle attachment. In the English series, we have only the example from Luton which is as small (length 9•5 in. = 24 cm.) as the early weaving swords from Scandinavia, and since, most unfortunately, its grave associations are unknown, we cannot now tell whether this resemblance is chronologically significant. Had it been datable it might have helped us to understand the origins of the remainder of the insular group, which, from its distribution, seems to have been primarily a Kentish development. It is well known that throughout the pagan period the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Kent maintained cultural connections with south Scandinavia. In some of the. richest graves of the Kentish aristocracy in the sixth century, iron weaving beaters have been found buried together with Danish gold bracteates and examples of south Scandinavian Style I animal ornament (Finglesham Graves D.3 and 203, Sarre Grave 4), and there is just a possibility that the form of these weaving beaters and the custom of burying them as grave-goods also originated in northern Europe. If the link is regarded as a direct one, then we have yet to find the earliest phase of the development here, for, though they retain the primeval tongue-shaped tip, the ma.jority of the English weaving 28 A charred example dating from the late Roman Iron Age wa.s found amongst the burnt debris of a house at Freds0, Mora, N. Jutland; of. Br0ndsted, op. cit., iii (1963), 182 and fig. Further examples, this time preserved in water-logged conditions, are known from several of the Frisian terpen; of. H. Arntz and H. Zeiss, Die BinheimiBehen Bunendenkmiiler des Festlandes (1939), 106 ff., 382 ff., pls. 6 and 34; R. W. V. Elliott, Bunes: an introducti<>n (1959), pls. iv, 9, and viii, 23: for the rune-inscribed weaving swords from Arum and Westeremden. For another see P. C. J. A, Boeles, J!'riesland tot de elfde 1iJeduw (2nd ed. 1951), 421, pl. lii, 1. 20 Hoffmann (1964), 379, note 4; Charlotte Blindheim, 'En Tr0ndersk Jemaldergrav med tekstilen', Viking, x (1946), 1.87 f., note 15; H. Sohetelig, Vestlandske Graver Jra Jernalderen (1912), figs. 220, 276, 876. 80 Sohetelig (1912), figs. 359, 402, 445. 19 6 ANGLO-SAXON BURIALS NEAR RAMSGATE swords are larger in size than their Scandinavian prototypes (18 · 5 in. = 47 cm. to 22·4 in. = 57 cm.). They are also later in date: none can confidently be dated much before 550, and at least one (now lost, so form unknown) was buried during the first half of the seventh century.81 Since the second half of the sixth century was the time when in Scandinavia the weaving sword began to evolve a plain blade without a tongue-tip, its retention in Kent looks like an archaism arising from independent development in isolation . .Alternatively, so far from being a development from earlier Scandinavian models, the Kentish weaving swords may have been one of the many sixth-century adoptions resulting from Kent's other main European connection with the Merovingian world. BehrensS2 and, more recently, Werner,sa have drawn attention to a goodly number of iron sword beaters from women's graves in central Europe. These resemble ours closely in form, come near ours in size, and, like ours also, were buried mainly during the second half of the sixth century with occasional survivals into the early seventh. The chief problem from our point of view is their distribution. They were most common amongst the .Alamanni of southern Germany, the middle German peoples of Thuringia and Bohemia, and the Lombards, who had them first in Lower Austria and west Hungary before carrying them over the .Alps into northern Italy. They were rare in nodal Frankish territories, only three having been found in the middle Rhine district and two in the Moselle valley in eastern France. The single example from western France comes from Herpes-en-Oharente, and, like so many other objects from this cemetery, is probably to be regarded as a Kentish export. Amongst the Franks of northern France and the lower Rhine valley, the people who seem to have supplied Kent with most of its foreign imports in the sixth century, iron weaving swords are conspicuous by their absence. What this means-whether these inhabitants of the more Romanized parts of the Merovingian dominions used a different type of loom, e.g. the two-beam vertical loom with which it was normal to use a comb-beater,84 or whether, quite simply, the burial custom with regard to sword-beaters was different in these parts-it is impossible to say at present. The fact remains that the distribution of weaving swords from Continental graves is predominantly east of the Rhine, and there is no evidence to suggest that the Mero- 31 Sarra, 1860, dated numistnatically to c. 620 at earliest. :S:olywell Row Grave 11, which I previously dated to the seventh century (in 1958), can safely be placed in the second half of the sixth. 􀀄2 G. Behrens, 'Eiserne Webschwerter der Merovingerzeit', Mainzer Zeitschrift, xli-xliii (1946-8), 138 ff. 88 J. Werner, Die Langobarden in Pannonien (1962), 34 f., 164 f. (list), pl. lxviii, 2 (map). . H Hoffmann (1964), 321 ff. 20 ANGLO-S.A...'l{ON BURIALS NEAR RAMSGATE vingian kingdoms of Neustria, and Austrasia were responsible for their appearance in Kent. Nor is there much evidence to suggest that the people of Kent in the sixth century were in direct independent contact with the Alamanni, the nearest of the Continental Germanic peoples amongst whom the burial of weaving swords was prevalent. There are a few middle German brooches amongst the Kentish cemetery material which suggest some contact with the Thuringians,ao but it is doubtful whether this connection was sufficiently dynamic to influence Kentish burial custom. Thus, despite the striking similarities between them, it looks as if Kentish and Continental customs in the making and burying of iron weaving swords were not directly related after all, but were evolved independently, perhaps under common influence from a third source. This, on chronological grounds, is likely to have been Scandinavian. Modern experience of weaving on the warp-weighted loom has shmvn that, despite its slightly greater efficiency through extra weight, the iron beater is not strictly necessary: even the weft of a thick woollen blanket can be beaten up quite successfully with a heavy blade of wood. During the period which concerns us, no doubt most wooden beaters were made inexpensively at home by the man of the house, whereas their iron counterparts would have to be forged by a professional smith. The iron weaving sword is likely to have been a luxury, therefore, and it is tempting to think it was used only in households important enough to employ a smith of their own. It has been suggested before that the possession of, and right of burial with, a weaving beater of iron may have been a privilege of high social status appropriate only to the mistress of a great aristocratic house. 86 The master of such a household would have worn, as the weapon appropriate to his rank, a sword with blade pattern-welded in the best workshop manner of the day; and it is interesting to recall that it was from just such blades, no doubt after damage in use, that at least two of the women's weaving swords were fashioned. 87 These indications of social pre-eminence are well supported by evidence from the graves of the women buried with such objects. That they were normally members of the leading family in their community is made abundantly clear by the fact that their 85 There a,re five Thuringian brooches from Bifrons, Graves 76, 77, and Conyngham Collection, of. G. Baldwin Brown, The, Arts in Early England, iii (1915), pl. xxxv, 2 and 8, for. two of them. Maidstone Museum. For parallels see B. Schmidt, Die spate Volkerwanderungszeit in Mitteldeutsohland (1961), fig. 7, B, e (pair in Bifrons Grave 77), pls. xxxvi, o-v, xxxvii, ar-d (Bifrons Grave 76), pls. xxxi, e, xxxii, k, xii, b-c, lxviii, g, lxxiii, middle right (Bifrons, Conyngham 8 collection, two miniature brooches). ° Chadwick (1968), 35; Werner (1962), 34 f. 37 Those from Villey-St. Etienne (Meurthe-et-Moselle, France), and Finglesham 􀃲rave D.S. The technique is easily detected by radiography, but unfortunately lt has so far been impossible to examine the ironwork of the Lord of the Manor site by this method. 21 ANGLO-SAXON BURIALS NEAR RAMSGATE buria,ls a,re usually the most richly endowed with grave-goods in the whole cemetery. This is very much the case in England. To the outstanding wea.lth of the associated finds in Holywell Row Grave 11, Chessell Down 15, Sarre 1860 and Sarre 4, stressed already in 1958, we now have three more comparable grave-groups to fill out the picture. Finglesham Grave 203 contained a glass claw-beaker, a Frankish bossed-rim bowl, three silver-gilt square-headed brooches, a garnetset Frankish silver disc brooch, two silver pins, two Scandinavian gold D bracteates, two jewelled gold pendants, jewelled gold and silver beads, garnet-set gilt-bronze buckle and studs, strap-tags and other belt-ornaments. Dover Grave 20 was similarly equipped, with a glass claw-beaker, a bronze bowl, two square-headed brooches, a disc brooch, a silver pin, beads and gold pendant, bracelet, bronze buckle and studs. Dover Grave 38 was only slightly less rich with a glass cone beaker, a gold finger ring, beads and silver pendant, a disc brooch, a bronze pin and a silver buckle.as To return now to the finds from the Lord of the Manor, it will be noticed that, except for the fragments of bronze and ivory, and perhaps the cup mount, there is nothing else in the group that could have come from a woman's grave. The only poorly furnished graves to have yielded iron weaving swords elsewhere in England are Mitcham Grave 49, with just a pot and the components of a chatelaine, and Dover Grave 46, with knife and beads (and in the latter case only the long-awaited publication will show whether this poverty was original, or merely the result of robbery ancient or modern). Thus, although our Ramsgate sword beater may have come from an ill-furnished grave, the statistics are against this. One is therefore left with the suspicion that some jewellery may have been dispersed before the police or Miss Millard reached the site. (Fig. 3, I) Bronze-sheathed fragment of ivory, maximum length 0·7 in., width 0·75 in. The ivory is very decayed and has been preserved only through impregnation by copper salts from the bronze sheet which encloses it. The condition of its exposed ends shows that originally it must have formed part of a larger object, which, from its oval cross-section, is likely to have been a sizeable ring. The surviving piece is . cracked clean across, and the bronze additions look' like an original repair: a now fragmentary sheetmetal collar, 0·55 in. wide, gripped the broken ends together and was affixed on either side of the crack by a pair of bronze rivets. Ivory, whether from the arctic walrus or the oriental elephant,so 38 Information about the Dover grave-groups has been taken from the handlist deposited by Miss Evison with the finds in the British Museum. 89 The ivory from early Anglo-Saxon graves stands in urgent need of expert identification. Unfortunately it was not poesible to get the object from Ramsgate examined for the purposes of this report. 22 ANGLO-SAXON BURIALS NEAR RAMSGATE was obviously an import into Anglo-Saxon England, and as might be expected, has mainly been found in well-furnished graves. It has appeared most commonly in association with female burials, generally in the form of rings up to about 5 in. in diameter. These have been variously interpreted as bag-handles, girdle-attachments, or bracelets, but, as the majority are too large to have been simple arm-rings, the view that in most cases they served as handles to reticules containing feminine trinkets, utensils, and amulets, is probably the correct one.40 Perhaps the best recorded example of such a bag and its contents is that from Purwell Farm, Cassington, Oxon., Grave II, where the ring fastener, 4· 5 in. in diameter, was made of iron.41 That the more luxurious ivory rings fulfilled the same function can be inferred from Brighthampton, Oxon., Grave 49, where a 5-in. ring of this material enclosed a collection of bronze, stone and iron objects that can only have been contained in a bag.42 Similar ivory rings_from Brighthampton Grave 22,43 .Alfriston, Sussex, Graves 14A and 68,44 Nassington, Northants, Graves 31 and 46,46 to quote only a few, were probably bag-fasteners too. From their position in the graves the rings seem usually to have been attached to the girdle, but occasional examples found on the wrist suggest the bags may also have been carried on the arm or in the hand. All parallels cited so far date from the sixth century, but large rings continued to be used, doubtless for the same purpose, until an advanced date in the seventh. An e:xample from Kingston Down, Kent, Grave 142, had been buried in a box, together with an assortment of domestic utensils, ornaments and objects of prophylactic significance, some of which may have been contained in a bag placed inside the box. This example is dated by the jewellery from the grave-two die-stamped Christian crosses, two kite-shaped garnet-set pendants, amethyst beads and silver wire rings-to the second half of the seventh oentury.46 An even larger ivory ring from a barrow at Woodyates in Dorset, found amongst other things with a biconioal gold-wire bead and millefiori-glass and gold pendant, must have been buried at an equally late date.47 So though, if really found with the weaving beater, the 40 Baldwin Brown, iv (1915), 400 f., 458 f. 41 E.T. Leeds and Marjorie Riley, 'Two early Saxon cemeteries at Ca.ssington, Oxon', Oxonien.sia, vii (1942), 69, fig. 15. " J. Y. Akerman, 'Second report of researches in a cemetery of the AngloSaxon period at Brighthampton, O:x:on.', Archreologia, :x:xxviii (1860), 89. u Ibid., 86. " A. F. Grifilth and L. F. Salzman, 'An Anglo-Sa.:x:on cemetery at .Alfriston, Suasex', Sx. Arch. OolL., lvi (1914), 32, 46 f. '6 E. T. Leeds a.nd R. J. 0. Atkinson, 'An Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Nassington, Northants', Antiq. Journ., xxiv (1944), 110, 112. '0 Bryan Fauasett, lnventorium Sepvlohrale (ed. 0. Roa.oh Smith, 1856), 66 ff. 47 Sir Richard Colt Hoare, The Ancient History of South Wiltahire (1812), 285, pl. xxxii. 23 ANGLO-SAXON BURIALS NEAR RAMSGATE 1 FIG. 3. Objects from Anglo-Saxon Graves near TheLordoftheManor (? Ozengell), Ramsgate. I, Fragment of Ivory Ring with Sheet Bronze Sheathing; 2, Bronze Cup-Rim. Scale 1/1. (Drawings by Mrs. M. FJ. Oo:li.) ivory fragment from Ramsgate is likely to have been buried during the sixth century, there remains the possibility that it came from a seventh-century grave. (Fig. 3, 2) Bronze cup-rim, diameter 1·75 in. The sheet bronze rim, in cross-section an inverted 'U', was originally fitted to the mouth of a drinking vessel of perishable substance and held in position by three decoratively channelled clips-metal strips bent over the rim and affixed to the neck of the vessel by two rivets. Rims of this basic type, with or without extra, metal ornaments attached below, were used during the early Anglo-Saxon period on three main types of drinking vessel: horns, buckets and cups. This specimen 24 ANGLO-SAXON BURIALS NEAR RAMSGATE is rather small to have come from a drinking horn, though it should be remembered that on the slender leather horn from the grave of the 'Princess' under Cologne Cathedral a very similar silver rim measured only 2·55 in. across.48 It is certainly too small to have come from a conventional drinking-bucket, but it is just conceivable that it ea.me from a small barrel-shaped cup of the type met with in seventh-century graves at Taplow, Bucks., and .Farthingdown, Surrey.49 Much more likely, however, is that it came from one of those little cups with swelling body and narrow neck and mouth, which are best illustrated by the burr-wood cups from the Sutton Hoo Ship-Burial. The rims of these, though more elaborate, are similar to ours both in form and size.50 There are further parallels without additional ornaments on the pair of cups, said to have been lathe-turned in wood with rims 2 in. in diameter, from the barrow-burial at Broomfield, Essex,51 and from Chartham Down, Kent, Grave 48, we have another such rim, diameter 2·25 in., which, from the curvature of its pendant ornaments, must have come from a cup of similar shape.52 .All these examples, together with the squat jars which repeat the basic form in glass,5s come from graves of the seventh century. This then is the most likely date for the Ramsgate cup-mount. If originally it was buried with any of the other objects preserved from the graves near the Lord of the Manor, the most suitable candidate is the spear from Grave I (Fig. 2, 1), which is probably also of seventh-century date. Drinking cups of the kind under discussion here have been found almost invariably in men's graves. THE SITE It will be obvious from the plan of the site (Fig. I) that these seven burials must have formed part of a larger cemetery of which the pipe trench found only the southern boundary. Doubtless there are more burials both to the west and the east, and it is a virtual certainty that part of the cemetery was destroyed during the construction of the railway in the 1840s. The only records we have of Anglo-Saxon remains •e Otto Doppelfeld, 'Das Fra.uengra.b unter dem Ohor des Koiner Domes', Germania, xxxvlli (1960), 105, reproducing illustration from Kolner Domblatt (1959), pl. ix. 49 E.T. Leeds, Early Anglo-Saxon Art and Archooology (1936), fig.1 5. 58 R. L. S. Bruoe-Mitford, The Sutton Hoo Ship Burial: a Handbook (British Museum, 1968), pl. x, b-d. 61 C. H. Read, P.S.A.L., 2nd s., xv (1893-95), 252. 62 Fauaaett (1856), 174, pl. xvi, 7. The published drawing does not render the she.pa accurately. 68 D. B. Harden, 'Glass vessels in Britain ... ', Dark Age Britain: Studies Presented to E. T. Leeds (ed. Harden, 1956), 141 f., fig. 25, viii. 25 ANGLO-SAXON BURIALS NEAR RAMSGATE discovered in the vicinity at that time relate to the important cemetery known as Ozengell. Ozengell Grange itself is barely a quarter-mile north-north-east of the Lord of the Manor, and about the same distance west-north-west of the area which the Ordnance Survey marks as the site of the nineteenth-century finds (Fig. 4, inset, no. 2: N.G.R. TR 361654). This is less than half a mile north-east of our site (no. 1). Two different cemeteries so close together on the railway line seem almost too coincidental, and one is tempted to ask whether the new graves are not in fact part of the old Ozengell cemetery: this was a large burial ground, and some graves must have escaped both the looting by the railway workers and the subsequent excavations by William Rolfe.64 It is impossible for a single cemetery to have extended over such a large tract of downland, of course, and to seek to connect the two sites is to question the accuracy of the Ordnance Survey's siting. I am therefore very grateful to Mr. G. Stanhope-Lovell of the Archreology Division for looking into the matter and reporting as follows: 'We cannot, I am afraid, guarantee the published siting. Its first appearance was on the 2nd edition 6-inch of 1899, over 50 years after discovery. It would then have been pointed out to the surveyor by some local authority, but we cannot say who he was or ,vhat grounds he had because the Object Name Book which recorded such matters was destroyed during the war.'05 The description given by Roach Smith shortly after the finds were made remains the primary source of information, therefore: unfortunately it is not very detailed . 'It is an open tract of chalk downs ·crossed by the Canterbury Road and by the Ramsgate and Deal railway, and bounded on the west by low ground called Holland Bottom.06The Ramsgate and Sandwich high road winds below at a distance of about a quarter of a mile or less from the spot where most of the remains were found.07 This part of the downland was once called "the Butts", and within the memory of men was a sheep-walk, and covered with hillocks. These hillocks were no doubt the mounds above the graves, which were levelled when the pasturage was converted into arable land.'08 The first part of Roach Smith's account is so general that the cemetery could have been anywhere along the line of the railway between the Ordnance Survey site and u C. Roach Smith, 'Anglo-Saxon remains discovered at Ozingell, Kent', Oollectanea Antigua, iii (1854), 1-18. See also J.B.A.A., i (1846), 242--3. 1.6 By letter, 1st June, 1966. 58 Presumably the coombe now called Rollin's Bottom (Fig. 4, inset). 67 The old high road from Ra.msgate to Sandwich clearly followed lower ground along the relevant portion of its length than the present route, which follows the A253 up to the Lord of the Ma.nor before branching south. 68 Roach Smith (1854), l ff, 26 ANGLO-SAXON BURIALS NEAR RAMSGATE 0 0 l/4 J,4 MILE I ... _ -􀀂 .... -- ........ , ✓ Ear\y Anglo Saxon:- e Cemetery • Sinyc Durial Sea :)i: Sand & Shingle Alluvium Ee Rocks + Monastic Site --- 25ft Contours 0., •:::::1:::􀀕::2:::::3􀀖:::::-,::::::s::::::6 :::::7::::::-8 KM S S . CALE 0 1 2 3 4 S MILES (Based on the O.S. Maps with the Sanction of the Oontroller of H.M. Staii<>nery Office. Orown Oopyright reserved.) Fxo. 4, 1, Ramegate, The Lord of the Manor (? Ozengell); 2, the O.S. Siting of Ozengell; 3, Ramsgate, St. Lawrence, Netheroourt Farm; 4, Ramsgate, West Cliff; 5, Ramsgate, Station Approach; 6, Broadetairs, Dumpton Park (Valetta House); 7, Broadstaira, Lindenthorpe Road; 8, Margate, Northdown; 9, Margate, Dane Hill; 10, Margate, Dene Chapel; 11, Minster, Plumpton Road; 12, Minster, Churchyard. 27 ANGLO-SAXON BURIALS NEAR RAMSGATE the Lord of the Manor. His reference to 'the Butts' is the only precise indicator, and, unfortunately, attempts to trace this name on largescale maps of the period have so far drawn a complete blank.09 The only detailed location we have occurs in the parish history published by Charles Cotton fifty years after the event, which places the find. spot 'south of the farmhouse {i.e. Ozengell Grange) and close to where what is called the spoilbank ends'.60 The 'spoilbank' in question is that heaped up on either side of the stretch of railway line which interests us here. If Cotton's information was correct, the Ordnance Survey's site, which is at the eastern end, must be mistaken. It is the western end of the spoilbank which is south of Ozengell Grange, and this end, where Cotton says the graves were found in the last century, is barely 200 yards from the newly-found graves at the Lord of the Manor. To sum up then, there seems to be a real possibility that the graves from the Lord of the Manor and Ozengell belonged to one and the same cemetery. We have Roach Smith's testimony that Ozengell was a large burial ground, and the finds he published,61 still partially preserved in Liverpool City Museum, show it to have been in use from the fifth into at least the early eighth century by an Anglo-Saxon community of considerable wealth and importance. The Lord of the Manor is situated just above the 100 ft. contour at the top and a little to the east of the shallow valley known as Rollin's Bottom, and, as Roach Smith observed in the case of the Ozengell site, it commands a fair prospect across Pegwell Bay to the south ( F ig. 4). Today this bay is choked with mud and sand which is water-covered only at high tide {the legacy of the longshore drift and silting that ha.a been taking place more or less continuously throughout the last millennium). In Anglo-Saxon times, however, it was the entrance into the Wantsum strait, a sea-channel some three furlongs broad, which separated Thanet from mainland Kent and served as an inner road for ships plying between the Channel ports, Canterbury and London. In the eighth and ninth centuries, for example, the nunnery at Minster-on-Thanet is known to have been operating at least two trading vessels from its own harbour inside the east mouth of the Wantsum, and these habitually put in at the royal ports of Sarre (a.Iso on the Wantsum.), Fordwich (the port of Canterbury on the Great 60 I am indebted to Dr. Felix Hull, the County Archivist, Dr. William Ur'cy, former Canterbury Cathedral Librarian, and Mr. David Kelly, Maidstone Museum, for their researches into this matter. eo Charles Cotton, The II.iswry and Antiquitie8 of the Ohitrch and Parish of St. Lawrence, Thanet (1895), 266. Reference from Mr. Kelly. 01 Roach Smith (1854), pls. i-vii. 28 ANGLO-SAXON BURIALS NEAR RAMSGATE Stour), and London.62 lf the Wantsum Channel was open to shipping at this time, then certainly Pegwell Bay must have been considerably deeper than it is now, and it must have provided a sheltered anchorage. Ebbsfieet, where in the fifth century the semi-legendary ancestors of the Kentish royal dynasty are supposed to have made their first landfall with three ships, is on the western shore of the bay, and the most likely site for the settlement associated with the Lord of the Manor/ Ozengell cemetery is only 2 miles to the north-west, close to the coast at the foot of Rollin's Bottom. The modem place-name, Little Cliffsend, is self-explanatory, and in early Anglo-Saxon times the place must have been a natural harbour. For a still maritime people the advantages of supplementing an agricultural economy by the profits of trading ventures and fishing must have made the control of suitable harbours a prime consideration in the choice of land for settlement, and this preference is nowhere better illustrated than in east Thanet, where most of the known Anglo-Saxon cemeteries are situated in significant proximity to coastal bays and inlets. There are at least two cemeteries close to Minster, which must represent secular settlements antedating the foundation of the nunnery (Fig. 4, nos. 11 and 12);63 two on the downs above Margate harbour, on Dane Hill (no. 9),64 and near Dene Chapel (no. 10);66 one near Broadstairs on the downs above North Cliff (no. 7),60 and another on the South Cliff close to Dumpton Gap (no. 6);67 one a little inland from the harbour at Ramsgate (no. 5),08 and another on the West Cliff which may have been sited in relation to a small beach west of the main harbour (no. 4). oo The nearest neighbour (excepting Ozengell) to the Lord of the Manor cemetery is that represented by a few burials found during the construction of the Nethercourt Farm estate (Fig. 4, inset, no. 3).70 This cemetery, which doubtless belonged to Anglo-Saxon Chilton (an OE name), is situated, 62 Information a.bout post-Saxon coastal changes in north-west Kent is summarized in Sonia. Chadwick Hawkes, 'Richborough-The Physical Geography', Fifth Report on the Excavations of the Roman Fort at Richborough, Kent (Reports of the Research Committee of the Society of Antiquaries of London, xxili, ed. B. W. Cunliffe, 1968), 224-31. For the maritime activities of the nunnery a.t Minster see W. de G. Birch, Oartularium Sax- onicum, i (1885), nos. 149, 150, 177, 188, 189. 03 No. 11: Arch. Journ., iv (1847), 253 f. No. 12: ArclW3ologia, viii (1786), 449; Ja.mes Douglas, Nenia Britannica (1793), 52, 71, pl. xvii, 4. M Isle of Thanet Gazette and 'l'hanet Times (20th January, 1923), 8. eG Idem; also C. D. Dixon, The New Historical Guide to the Isle of Thanet, (1848), 88. 00 Letter of H. Hurd to Ordnance Survey (19th October, 1932). 67 P.S.A.L., 2nd ser., xxiii (1909-11), 272-81; H. Hurd, Some Notes on Recent Arohawlogical Discoveries at B1'0adstai1•s (1913), 12-27; Bi'it. Numismatic Journ., XXX (1960), 46. 68 Aroh. Oant., xlv (1933), 283 f. 00 J.B.A.A., ii (1847), 281; .Arch. Oant., xii (1878), 17. 70 Arch. Oant., )xiv (1951), 152, and lxix (1955), 202, pl. 1. 29 ANGLO-SAXON BURIALS NEAR RAMSGATE like·the Lord of the Manor, on the upper eastern slope of a coombe leading down to the sea, where a gap in the rocks suggests a possible place for beaching ships. The similarity in situation is increased by the fa.et that both at Chilton and at Little Cliffsend the valley bottom contains deposits of brickearth, a subsoil which makes for especially fertile agricultural land compared with the thin chalk soils which cover most of the Isle of Thanet. There are other small areas of brickearth and the equally good Thanet sand, in the vicinity of Ramsgate, Broadstairs and Margate, and as the Anglo-Saxon cemeteries tend to turn up near them, clearly they were another important factor governing choice of land for settlement. There is a great tract of these loam soils around Minster, for example, so it is likely that such good arable land was as influential as the harbour there in deciding the site of the nunnery. H we return now for the last time to the Anglo-Saxon community which buried its dead at the Lord of the Manor/Ozengell and lived somewhere near Little Cliffsend, it should be evident that its geographical position, if not quite so good as that at Minster, was nevertheless extremely advantageous. S.C.H. 30