ANGLO-SAXON REMAINS not only to account for the presence of the ewer and cup but also for the absence of ornaments of Anglian type in association with them. It is true that Aethelbert's supremacy had passed even before his death in 616 into the hands of Raedwald of East Anglia, but unless and until some traces of Anglian cremation or influence are found in Hert- fordshire or Essex, archaeology may admit the truth of Mr. Green's view that Raedwald's dominion did not reach further south than the Stour valley. Hertfordshire perhaps fared similarly, and the southern limit of East Anglia in Raedwald's time may have been the Icknield Street, for Anglian remains are plentiful in the extensive discoveries of Hon. R. C. Neville (afterwards Lord Braybrooke) at Wilbraham, Cambs, and a fine square-headed Anglian brooch has been found near Bassingbourn in the same county. 1 In the absence of indications to the contrary it is more reasonable to refer the cremated burials at Wilbraham to the time of Raed- wald, who was a pervert from Christianity, than of Wulf here, who was a staunch upholder of the faith that Penda had trampled on. The dis- covery in Hertfordshire of a mixed cemetery such as that so richly illustrated in Saxon Obsequies would throw much light on the early his- tory of the county ; but till that occurs such negative evidence as there is may be accepted. Besides those already mentioned only one cemetery appears to have been noticed in the county, and there are but slender grounds for deter- mining its precise date. The following seems to be the only record of the find : ' In a field near Sandridge remains have been discovered of a supposed Anglo-Saxon burial ground. A large number of human bones have been found together with iron implements, which are said by local antiquaries to be of Saxon origin. Unfortunately the greater part of the remains, which were discovered by a ploughman, were buried after being shown to a gentleman who pronounced them to be only old bones.' 2 Of isolated finds but few have been recorded, 3 and are here included more on account of their antiquarian interest than for any historical evidence they can afford. Future discoveries and investigations may however add some importance to the small bronze coins (figs. 3, 4) found in recent years at St. Albans and now preserved in the museum there. They belong to the class called minimi, and these particular specimens cannot have been struck before the year 345, when the type here represented was introduced. 4 The imperfect devices here preserved would not of themselves go far towards identifying the pieces, but there can be little doubt that they are copies, rudely executed, of certain mintages of the Roman emperors, Constantius II. (33761) and Julian the Apostate (3613), having on the obverse the imperial head and on the reverse a warrior felling a horseman with his spear. The St. Albans pieces are much smaller than the originals, 1 In the collection of Mr. William Ransom, F.S.A., of Hitchin.
- Antiquary, xi. 132.
8 Sir John Evans' Ankttokgcal Survey of Hertfordshire has here been of service.
- This and other information has been kindly supplied by Mr. H. A. Grueber, F.S.A., of the
British Museum, 259
