Sibertswold Downs Grave 177

No tumulus; grave, two feet and a half deep; bones almost gone; no appearance of a coffin. Near the skull was a small brass ringle; about the middle of the grave was a very large conical iron umbo of a shield [M 6537]; an iron cross-piece, as before; the blade of a knife; a small iron buckle and shank; a short sword, or dagger [M 6305], with a very curious brass pommel [M 6532];[1] some bits of leather; a piece of doubled brass; and some narrow, small, and thin plates of brass, all of which may be supposed to have belonged to the scabbard.[1]It is extremely rare to meet with the pommels of Saxon swords and daggers. The dimensions of this example are given by Mr. Faussett as follows: whole length of the strig, five inches and three-quarters; breadth of the shoulder next the blade, three-quarters of an inch; blade, thirteen inches and a quarter long; breadth near the strig, one inch and three-eighths. Of the richer kinds of Saxon sword handles I have published two examples, both from Kent; see Archæologia, vol. xxx, pi. xl, and Collectanea Antiqua, vol. ii, pi. xxxviii. A third, discovered on Chessell Down in the Isle of Wight, by Mr. Hillier, closely resembles those from Kent. It will appear in the fourth volume of the Collectanea.- C.R.S.