Sibertswold Downs Grave 58

Large tumulus; grave four feet and a half deep; the coffin, which had been very thick, had passed the fire; the bones of a very tall person, almost gone. On the right side of the skull was the very broad head of an hasta, seventeen inches long, exclusive of a large portion of the socket (which was much broken in opening the grave, so could not be well ascertained), and near three inches broad; I think the whole must have been about two feet two inches long. Here was also the blade of a knife, ten inches and a half long, and one inch and three-quarters broad; two thin plates of brass; two small brass ringles, each fixed to the end of an iron link; a large iron buckle and shank, as at No. 38; and the blade of a broad straight sword, with a brass chape[1] rusted on to the point of it; it seemed to have been wrapped up in, or lain upon, some linen cloth, which still adhered to it. It was so broken, that the exact length and breadth of it could not be guessed at; nay, so very rotten was it, that great part of it was really converted into dust; but it seemed to have been of about the same dimensions with others found by me at Ash and Kingston, and described in this Inventory at their proper places.[1]Bronze chapes of the scabbards of Saxon swords are occasionally found rusted upon the points; in some instances they merely cover the point; in others they extend a considerable way up the edges.- C.R.S.