A New Handled Beaker, with Spiral Ornament, from Kempsey, Worcestershire

The beaker shown in plate XL was found in the early summer of 1934 in working the pits of the Kempsey Sand and Gravel Co., in the hamlet of Draycott in the parish of Kempsey, Worcestershire. The exact site is almost exactly one mile due south of the middle of Kempsey village, and 300 yards ENE. of the fifth milestone from Worcester on the main road to Tewkesbury, the diggings in question being 30–40 yards W. of the lane which here runs parallel to the main road (see fig. 1). The spot is rather over 700 yards from the nearest bend of the river Severn responsible for the drift of gravel that is being worked, and the surface stands here at about 60 ft. O.D. The beaker was found at a depth of 4 ft., embedded in what seemed to be undisturbed gravel; it was whole save for a small chip on the lip and the breakage of the handle at the moment of discovery, both since restored. Other finds in immediate proximity comprise fragments, including one of rim, of a twelfth-century cooking-pot, and a quantity of animal bones, including horse: these were not from the undisturbed gravel, and in any case no definite association can be claimed with the beaker. A habitation-site seems thus out of the question, and in view of the vessel's position in the gravel and its perfect state one would expect its context to be an inhumed burial. A close look-out for human remains in the area concerned has, however, been unrewarded. The beaker was submitted to the British Museum, together with the minor finds, by the Hon. F. D. H. Lea-Smith of Kempsey, in whose possession it remains; the facts concerning the discovery had been carefully ascertained by him, and all is here published by his permission.