J.Y. Akerman, Esq., F.S.A., Local Secretary for Berkshire, communicated the following report of excavations in an ancient cemetery at Frilford, near Abingdon, Berks.

  • Akerman, John Yonge, 1806-1873.
Date:
1865
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: J.Y. Akerman, Esq., F.S.A., Local Secretary for Berkshire, communicated the following report of excavations in an ancient cemetery at Frilford, near Abingdon, Berks. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    \_From the Proceedings of the Society of Antiqiuxries, May 25, 1865.] J. Y. Akerman, Esq., F.S.iV., Local Secretary for Berk- shire, communicated the following Report of Excavations in an ancient Cemetery at Frilford, near Abingdon, Berks:— “ About eighteen months since, my neighbour Henry Corains, Esq., called upon me and brought for my inspection an iron umbo, and the fragments of a pair of bronze fibula3, which he stated had been found by labourers quarrying stone in a field about midway between Frilford and Garford. Recognizing in these remains the Anglo-Saxon types which excavations have rendered so familiar to tl>e Antiquary, I last autumn obtained permission from William Aldworth, Esq., the owner of the land, to explore the spot, the result of which I have now the honour to lay before the Society. “ Frilford, the Frieleford of the Domesday Survey, is a hamlet of IMarcham, a large and populous village three miles west of Abingdon. The editor of the Chronicon Monasterii dc Abingdon, Preface, page xxxvii., observes that Frea, the goddess of love and beauty, gave her name to Frilford. The earlier form of this word is Frigeleford, which clearly resolves itself into Frigc-leah- ford, “ the ford by the field of Frea.” “ A charter of Edgar, A.D. 965, gives to the Abbey of Abing- don, IMarcham, with its hamlets Frilford and Appleton. The car- tulary states that ‘ Frileford, Appeltun, Leoie, fucrunt tempore Edgari Regis membra de Marcham.’ “ The spot where these remains were discovered was formerly known as ‘ Frilford Heath,’ and has only been brought under the plough within the last twenty years. It is bounded on tlie south by the small stream of the Ock, a tributary of the Thames, which it reaches at Abingdon. The Ock as a boundary is often mentioned in Anglo-Saxon charters. “ The quarry alluded to has been open for some time past; the work has proceeded in a northerly dirccton, parallel with the road from Frilford to Garford. During its progress the workmen have met with several graves, some of which contained relics;