A HISTORY OF ESSEX the museum or elsewhere that it ever contained the products of crema- tion. Nor is the find at Witham a case in point. There was exhibited to the Archaeological Institute 1 in 1844 a collection of objects from the site of an ancient camp there, called Temple Field, at the east end of the town ; but they are evidently not of the same date, and indeed were found in two different spots, three skeletons being taken from a railway cutting, and parts of six urns being turned up by the plough. Bones and ashes were found inside, but the dimensions show these cremation urns to be of prehistoric date ; while the skeletons follow what appears to have been the rule in Essex, though the objects found with them are of an indeterminate character. In the Chelmsford museum are pre- served three pieces of iron from this site, which may be described as spearheads, but of themselves are unsatisfactory evidence of date. There is but slender evidence therefore that the rite of burning the dead was ever practised by the East Saxons ; but there is an interesting case in which fire was certainly employed at the funeral, though not in the manner usual with the Anglians. This somewhat puzzling discovery was made at Broomfield near Chelmsford, and the following account is based on a paper read to the Society of Antiquaries 2 by Mr. C. H. Read, who was invited by Mr. David Christy, the owner of the property, to undertake the exploration. In digging gravel about 1888 in a pit behind Clobb's Row the men came upon portions of a sword, a spear, knife and other remains about 6 or 7 feet below the present surface ; but no particular attention was paid to them or to the site till six years later, when digging was resumed, and it was then found that the northern part of a grave lying east-south- east and west-north-west had been cut away. It was there that the objects already mentioned had been noticed, and these may be described before proceeding to the principal discoveries. ' The sword, though much broken, is nearly complete, and in one respect is of uncommon make. The decomposition of the iron has preserved a good deal of the wooden sheath, so that the blade itself can only be seen in section, where sword and sheath have been broken across. It is of the usual broad two-edged type, nearly 3 feet in length, the grip being represented, as is generally the case, by the tang only. The peculiar feature is that the upper part of the sheath, for nearly 4 inches from the mouth, is covered with strips of a finely-woven material like tape, bound upon itself from the mouth downwards.' Two other objects of special interest were found, probably in close proximity to the sword. One is of gold (fig. 13, A, B) in the form of a four-sided truncated pyramid, the base being about three-quarters of an inch square. The top and sloping sides are set with slices of garnet or ruby glass backed with chequered gold foil to add to the brilliancy, and enclosed within gold filagree work of a plaited pattern. Comparison with a few other specimens of this kind suggests the manner in which these objects may have been used. It is not often 1 Journal, i. 393 ; Essex Review (1900), ix. 28. 2 Proceedings, xv. 250. 320
