'Iron Age Burial. This possibly comes from the field to the field to the north of this one, ie 907323. See Ap ref 40. Col. Ex. Comm. <1> 'In 1849 the grave of a British nobleman, at the period just before or just after the Roman conquest, was found near the railway'. - C Roach Smith. Men deepening a ditch found, 18' from the surface, two brown knobs attached to bars of iron. Further excavation uncovered an elaborate burial. Two iron fire-dogs were found, with ox-heads, the horns ending in brown knobs. Three pindle amphorae were laid on the bar of each fire-dog. Only one of the 6 amphorae could be recovered intact, two were removed imperfect, the rest fell to pieces. The first fire-dog was broken but the second is in Colchester Museum. Part of a long, tapering iron rod were also found. Four feet down many platters were found in layers. These fell to pieces when moved. A glass bottle was found 4'6' down, and some 'brass handles, hinges, etc'. These were imbedded in what seemed to be the remaining substance of a box, indicated only by darkness in the soil. The burial pit was triangular, each side 7 feet long. The only surviving artefact is the fire-dog. The burial was not fully explored and other remains may still be present. A drawing of a platter shows it was Cam f.8, the stamp in its centre may have been the same as Cam 122 or 123 (EDATO, backwards). For the rest, the softness of the clay had destroyed the potters marks. There is no doubt that the platters were Gallo-Belgic. One of the amphorae is f.183 - its position is indicated on Roach Smiths plan. <2> <3> <5> See 9202 for cropmarks of a small rectangular structure, ?possble vault burial. Other ref. <4> <6> AP <7>

Site Assessment = 'The tomb falls into the celebrated series headed by the burials of the Lexden tumulus, Welwyn and Stanfordbury'. <2> Accession number for fire-dog?