Summary

A flat cremation grave which yielded a now well known group including a bronze mirror, coral mounted bronze cup and a pair of jugs of form 131.

Full description

A flat cremation grave which yielded a now well known group including a bronze mirror, coral mounted bronze cup and a pair of jugs of form 131. <1> Thw mirror is fragmentary, approximately half survives in total and in places portions of the rim survive. The outstanding features of the ornament are massive opposed scrolls descending in graceful curves. In the central interspace is a familiar Celtic motif, a concave sided triangle within a circle; the very beginning of the C1 AD is a likely date for its manufacture. The burial containing the mirror was found in 1904 although the circumstances of the discovery and the manner of interment are not fully recorded. The grave goods are catalogued in the Annual Report of Colchester Museum for 1904 with a note stating that they were found "in a field on the north side of Lexden Road, where Lexden Grange now stands". It is also stated that another pedestalled urn (638.04) was found in the same field. The then curator noted that the mirror bore traces of gilding which "I cannot see now". The burial lies isolated between the Belgic cemetery at Lexden and the site of Camuolodunum on Sheepen Farm. <2> <3> <4> The finds are in Colchester Museum. <5> An account published by Henry Laver in the Antiq Soc Proceedings states that "the discovery was made a short distance from the town within the bounds of the borough during some excavations for drainage and as every effort was made in trying to save the whole of the vases and other relics possibly the whole was preserved". The site is marked on OS maps, probably on Lavers information and therefore probably quite correctly. <2> <6> The other grave goods with the mirror werea small bronze cup, a pedestalled urn, a small cordoned bowl, two tall flagons of red ware, mica coated of exceptional form clearly copied from a metal prototype. The whole group is dated c.Ad 10-25. <2> <3>

<1> Hawkes, CFC and Hull, MR, 1947, Camulodunum, p13, copy in SMR (DESC TEXT). SEX33956.

<2> Fox, C and Hull, MR, 1948, The incised ornament on the Celtic Mirror from Colchester, Essex, Vol 28, p123-36 (DESC TEXT). SEX34106.

<3> Fox, C and Hull, MR, 1948, The incised ornament on the Celtic Mirror from Colchester, Essex, Vol 28 (Graphic material). SEX34107.

<4> Colchester Museum, 1904, Col Mus Rep, p17 (LIST). SEX34108.

<5> unknown, unknown, Acc No 639-47.04 (Artifact). SEX34109.

<6> Laver, H, 1905, Soc Antiq Proc, Vol 10, p211-5 (DESC TEXT). SEX34110.

Monument Types

• CREMATION (Late Iron Age - 100 BC to 42 AD)

Associated Finds

• BOWL (Late Iron Age - 100 BC to 42 AD)
• CREMATION (Late Iron Age - 100 BC to 42 AD)
• DRINKING VESSEL (Late Iron Age - 100 BC to 42 AD)
• FLAGON (Late Iron Age - 100 BC to 42 AD)
• MIRROR (Late Iron Age - 100 BC to 42 AD)
• VESSEL (Late Iron Age - 100 BC to 42 AD)

Protected Status

• Conservation Area: Colchester - Lexden Village

Sources and further reading

Related records

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