and some implements were unearthed, and pronounced by local experts to
date from Saxon times. They were buried again by some ignorant person.

A bronze brooch, discovered at Boxmoor, has been assigned to "the
latest period of true Anglo-Saxon art". A gold ornament, resembling an
armlet, was found at the village of Park Street, near St. Albans; it is
thought to date from A.D. 700-1000.

5. _Churches._--These will be separately mentioned in due order,
especially St. Albans Abbey, the unique meeting ground of all Styles;
but a few sentences touching the predominant periods may be permissible
here:--

_Norman_ work is found in many places; Anstey, Bengeo, Barley, East
Barnet, Graveley, Hemel Hempstead, Little Hormead, and Ickleford are
largely of this period, and Norman features are mingled with later work
at Abbots Langley, Baldock, Weston, Great Munden, Great Wymondley,
Knebworth, Redbourn, Sarratt, and the churches of SS. Michael and
Stephen at St. Albans. There are Norman fonts at Broxbourne, Bishop's
Stortford (found beneath the flooring in 1869) Anstey, Buckland,
Harpenden, Great Wymondley and Standon.

_Early English_ churches are at Ashwell, Brent Pelham, Digswell,
Furneaux Pelham, Great Munden (Norman doorway), Knebworth, Royston,
Stevenage and Wheathampstead. Some of these, _e.g._, Digswell and
Knebworth, are pleasantly situated and others contain features of great
interest, but on the whole they can hardly boast of much architectural
beauty.

_Decorated_ churches are rarely found without prominent transitional