The principal authority for the early history of the church of Worcester is the famous Cartulary compiled about the end of the eleventh century by the Worcester monk, Hemming. Written partly in Latin, and partly in Anglo-Saxon, the volume contains for the most part transcripts of the various privileges and charters by which the monastery proved its title to the vast estates which it held at that time in Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Warwickshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, and Oxfordshire. It is not known with certainty when the cartulary passed out of the possession of the cathedral, but it is probable that it was amongst the many manuscripts dispersed after the dissolution of the monastery in 1540.

In a recent report (Proc. Prehist. Soc. iv, 1938, 249) we described the contents of a pit situated on Stockbridge Down on the ridge that runs south-west from Woolbury Ring Camp. This pit, the site of which is marked as X on the sketch-map which accompanies the present paper (fig. 1), contained an occupation or refuse layer of Middle Bronze Age date, the rarity of which warranted in our opinion examination of anything in the immediate vicinity that might have a bearing upon it.

At least seven round barrows can be identified upon the down, but no record appears to exist of their having been examined. Their relative positions are also recorded on fig. 1, which is based partly upon the aerial photograph of the site published and described by O. G. S. Crawford and A. Keiller (Wessex from the Air, 1928, pl. xxv), and partly upon field work.

The present paper describes the structure and contents of the round barrow that lies some 300 ft. south-west of the pit above mentioned. This barrow, which we have numbered no. 1 on fig. 1, is small and relatively insignificant, being only 25 ft. in diameter and about 18 in. in height. It had been constructed on ground that slopes gently to the south, and lies upon that area of the down that appears from both ground and aerial observation never to have been cultivated.

For more than seven years the Fenland Research Committee has been investigating the post-glacial history of the Fenland with a view to correlating archaeological remains and recent geological deposits. By this means evidence has been collected which bears upon the age of early phases of human settlement in East Anglia and upon the natural conditions prevailing at different periods. It has sometimes been possible to undertake systematic and purposive excavations at key sites in the confident anticipation of definite results, but stray finds made in the course of drainage works or of agriculture have also played an important part. The Stuntney hoard, which it is the primary purpose of this report to record, was discovered by a man ploughing near Stuntney Hall in January 1939.

Preparation of an airport at Ronaldsway, Isle of Man, revealed several matters of archaeological interest. Some conjectural ancient graves were destroyed before information was given, and wall bases were left which probably are related to an entry in the Object Name Books of 1866 at the Ordnance Survey Office: ‘A number of years ago, stone cists containing human remains were turned up on improving circular eminence situated in the field west of Ronaldsway farmhouse. The mound is apparently artificial, higher on the east and west sides, being hollow in the centre; it is about 4 ft. in height, and about 100 ft. in diameter. Supposed by the authority quoted to have been a place of burial. Many cartloads of stones were also removed.’

During excavations carried out in 1937 by Mr. G. J. H. Neely on a Viking and pre-Viking site at Ronaldsway in the Isle of Man, a bronze balance-beam was discovered on the edge of a disturbed grave with a lead weight close by. A full account of the excavations appears in this number of the Antiquaries Journal. The balance-beam is, however, of unique interest, and it has been decided to make it the subject of a separate paper which is based on a comparison of the balance with recognized Viking, Saxon, and Romano-British types and on the results of an experiment conducted at the Science Museum, South Kensington. The balance and weight are now in the Manx Museum.