Barfrestone Grave 10

Large tumulus. The bones were pretty perfect, and very large. No appearance of a coffin. On the right side of the skull was the head of a pilum; near the hips was a small silver buckle and shank [M 6578]; and at the feet was a narrow-necked urn of coarse earth [M 6579], and of a blackish colour, capable of containing about two quarts; among the lines and ornaments on the belly are several figures, a monogram of the name of Christ, which is a plain proof that the person here deposited was a Christian[1]. The grave was full three feet deep.[1]Had this ornament really been the monogram of Christ, it could not be accepted as proving the faith of the person with whose body it was buried. But it so happens, as reference to-the engraving will show, that the supposed monogram is merely a circular ornament formed of small wedge-shaped indentations, common on earthen vessels of the Anglo-Saxon period.- C.R.S.