The rarity of runic inscriptions from early Anglo-Saxon England, and particularly from the southern kingdoms in the pagan period, makes even a nearly illegible example worth recording. We draw attention here to the remains of such an inscription, hitherto unrecognized, on a sixth-century sword-pommel from the Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Sarre, on Thanet in east Kent, and we take the opportunity of reconsidering two well-known contemporary inscriptions, on a sword-pommel from the cemetery at Gilton, Ash, also in east Kent, and on the scabbard of a sword from the cemetery on Chessell Down in the Isle of Wight.

In 1937 Dr. Felix Oswald contributed a paper to the Journal of Roman Studies entitled ‘Carinated bowls (Form 29) from Lezoux’. Twenty years previously James Curie had published a paper in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland which described and illustrated inter alia some early Lezoux decorated ware in the celebrated Plicque collection at the Musée des Antiquités Nationales, Saint-Germain-en-Laye.

In a recent account of the sixth-century Anglian cemetery at Londesborough in the Yorkshire Wolds, one curious piece of bronze from a female's grave was inadequately described merely as ‘perhaps an unusual type of buckle’. Too late for publication in that report a small group of parallel objects came to my notice, the existence of which has since been corroborated by Dr. Roes's recognition of a complete class of early continental quoit brooches, of which this group forms one variant. In fact, the fragmentary Londesborough piece (fig. i (4)) appears to be identical with an uncommon early Alamannic or Marcomannic group of thistle-shaped annular brooches.

The excavations conducted in the summer of 1966 were concentrated upon two projects: the final excavation of the previously unexamined parts of the North Wing, and of the early structures lying beneath it, and the large-scale stripping of selected areas of the garden belonging to the Roman palace. The modern cover-building, which is being erected by the Sussex Archaeological Trust over the remains of the Roman North Wing and which was begun in July 1965, had reached a state of near-completion by September 1966. The excavation work beneath was therefore carried out with the benefit of a roof above it, but with minor inconveniences incurred by being surrounded by builders and subcontractors. Earlier in the year some trial trenching had been carried out in the modern gardens of houses which now occupy the site of the Period I bath building. This work, though limited, has added considerably to the outline plan hitherto available.

A further selection of twenty-eight fragments of samian moulds, originally found by Plicque at Lezoux and formerly belonging to the Oswald–Plicque Collection, is discussed in this paper; like their predecessors, all these fragments are now preserved in the Birley Collection, at the Department of Archaeology, University of Durham.

South Cadbury Castle (N.G. ST 6225) occupies a free-standing hill, some 500 feet high, towards the Somerset-Dorset border. The hill itself is principally, if not entirely, of yellow sandstone belonging to the Jurassic series. To the west there are wide views across the low-lying Somerset basin centred on Glastonbury, an area of great importance in the early post-Roman centuries. To the east, a scarp marks the western edge of the higher ground of Wessex. In cultural terms, South Cadbury lies within the north-western limits of the coins of the Durotriges, but is only a dozen miles from the Glastonbury Lake Village. In the post-Roman period, it is one of the most easterly sites to produce imported pottery of Tintagel type, as well as one of the most inland.

The houses with which this paper is concerned belong to the small segment of the eastern slopes of the Pennines known as the ‘Ancient Parish of Halifax’. It is not known when the ‘Ancient Parish’ was formed but the first recorded vicar of Halifax was inducted in 1274 and in that same year the Wakefield Manor Courts ceased to meet in Sowerby Town and made Halifax their centre.

The Ancient Parish covers ten miles of the valley of the river Calder and its tributaries, Halifax itself lying on the Hebble. The area is bleak; it lies, all except the extreme eastern part, on Millstone Grit and rises from a height of some 200 feet above sea level in the valley to an altitude of 1,400 feet. The old settlements mostly lie on the sloping hillsides at an average height of 700 feet.

The Late Bronze Age hoard found at Guilsfield, Montgomeryshire, as well as being the largest and best known from Wales and the Marches, has also been one of the most discussed. Dr. H. N. Savory has recently reviewed the find with the aim of making clear its true content, and with the intention of setting the hoard in its proper local and national context. Consequently, he has provided ‘a reasonably complete set of measured drawings’ and inventory, and the most detailed analysis and evaluation of the hoard hitherto attempted. The present writer has been independently engaged in the study of the same hoard and feels that further critical evidence can be adduced to clarify the nature and significance of this important find. In view of these facts, and bearing in mind the large number of important studies of this period which have been published in the last few years, yet another discussion of the find seems desirable.