The antiquary determined to investigate and dug
into the barrow, and there found the body of a man with a gold or
bronze breastplate. I am not sure whether the armour was gold or
bronze. Now here is an amazing instance of folk-memory. The chieftain
was buried probably in Anglo-Saxon times, or possibly earlier. During
thirteen hundred years, at least, the memory of that burial has been
handed down from father to son until the present day. It almost seems
incredible.
It seems something like sacrilege to disturb the resting-places of our
prehistoric ancestors, and to dig into barrows and examine their
contents. But much knowledge of the history and manners and customs of
the early inhabitants of our island has been gained by these
investigations. Year by year this knowledge grows owing to the patient
labours of industrious antiquaries, and perhaps our predecessors would
not mind very much the disturbing of their remains, if they reflected
that we are getting to know them better by this means, and are almost
on speaking terms with the makers of stone axes, celts and
arrow-heads, and are great admirers of their skill and ingenuity. It
is important that all these monuments of antiquity should be carefully
preserved, that plans should be made of them, and systematic
investigations undertaken by competent and skilled antiquaries.
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