Monument record FNN 002 - Mislocation of an Anglo-Saxon cemetry.

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Summary

?Mislocation of ESax cemetery.

Location

Grid reference Centred TM 0658 6841 (50m by 50m) Approximate
Map sheet TM06NE
Civil Parish FINNINGHAM, MID SUFFOLK, SUFFOLK

Map

Type and Period (1)

Full Description

?Mislocation of ESax cemetery. Also see COT 015.
Cemetery - mixed inhumation and cremation.
1849: Creed exhibited `a cinerary urn found, with many others (all of which were entirely destroyed) and ornaments of brass, in the cutting of the Eastern Union Railway at Finningham' (S2).
`Roman remains (sic)... discovered, five years ago, in making the Eastern Union Railway; they consisted of urns, ... spearheads of iron, one of which is in our museum, and ornaments of brass'(S6)(S3).
1858: Rev G Chester exhibited brooches in London (R1).
1905: An unpublished brooch from the Finningham site is compared to one (in the BM) from Brooke, and another to one from Ipswich (S7). Found in a large ballast pit just N (according to circumstantial evidence from residents and Basil Brown in 1955) of Finningham Station during railway construction (in 1848/9)(S3)(S8). The only pit shown just N of Finningham station on the OS 1:2500 1904 series is at cited grid reference (HER reference COT 015) and is circa 90ft by 100ft in extent.
Note: Ballast for construction of railway from Haughley junction to Finningham came from Gallows Hill, Needham, as material from cutting not suitable (S5). This suggests this pit was not for ballast and was not findspot of cemetery. There do not appear to be any references to a ballast pit in the earlier sources!
Note another (large) pit exists NE of Finningham beside the railway line at (see 'Not to be published on web' tab for finder/s and/or findspot/s) (in Finningham parish) which seems a more likely topographical position. Cuttings extend from S of Finningham Station to (see 'Not to be published on web' tab for finder/s and/or findspot/s) (pit - see above) to beyond the N parish boundary.

Sources/Archives (9)

  • <R1> (No record type): Arch J, 15, 1858, 165.
  • <S1> Bibliographic reference: 1911. Victoria County History, Suffolk (VCH). 335.
  • <S2> Bibliographic reference: Suffolk Institute of Archaeology. Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology. PSIA, 1, 1853, 60.
  • <S3> Index: OS. OS Card. OS, card TM06NE1.
  • <S4> (No record type): Meaney, A.. 1964. A Gazetteer of Early Anglo-Saxon Burial Sites. Meaney A, Gazetteer, AS Burial Sites, 1964, 227.
  • <S5> (No record type): Moffat H, East Anglia's First Railway, 1987.
  • <S6> Bibliographic reference: Suffolk Institute of Archaeology. Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology. PSIA, 2, 1855, 118-9.
  • <S7> (No record type): Proc Soc Ant, 21 (2nd ser), 1906-7, 37n & 244.
  • <S8> Unpublished document: Basil Brown. Basil Brown Archive. Brown B, OS 6" correspondents map, 1953-5.

Finds (0)

Protected Status/Designation

  • None recorded

Related Monuments/Buildings (0)

Related Events/Activities (0)

Record last edited

Jul 19 2013 4:03PM

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