Another extensive class of Anglo-Saxon fibulæ are what are usually called, though not very satisfactorily, cruciform, or cross-shaped. Fibulæ of this class are, perhaps, most abundant in the midland and south-eastern counties, but they are of very rare occurrence in Kent. They would appear, therefore, to have appertained mostly to the Angles, who were the inhabitants of Mercia, East Anglia, and Northumbria. They are sometimes of silver, but usually of bronze, and are variously ornamented with interlaced work, heads, and borders of various designs. Their form will be best understood from the accompanying engravings, which exhibit some of the most usual varieties. They are from Northamptonshire, Leicestershire, Suffolk, and Cambridgeshire, and will serve as typical examples of this class of brooch. [Illustration: Fig. 451.] [Illustration: Fig. 452.] [Illustration: Fig. 453.] Another totally distinct kind of fibula, or brooch, which is considered to be peculiarly of Irish type, but which, nevertheless, is occasionally met with in England, remains to be noticed. I allude, of course, to brooches of the penannular form,[57] the general type of which will be understood by the engravings given on figs. 453, 454, and 455, which are all Irish examples of more or less decorative character. The originals are in the museum of the Royal Irish Academy, as are also many other exquisite specimens of these interesting examples of early art. [Illustration: Fig. 454.] [Illustration: Fig. 455.] [Illustration: Fig. 456.] The one next figured (fig. 456) was discovered in Westmoreland, and described and engraved in the _Archæological Journal_, vol. ix. page 90. This beautiful fibula I here engrave of a reduced size. The ring, it will be seen, moves freely round the upper half of the brooch, the lower or flat part of which is divided so as to allow of the passage of the acus through it. “It is set with flat bosses, five on either side. Each of these flat dilated parts of this curious ornament appears to proceed from the jaws of a monstrous head, imperfectly simulating that of a serpent or dragon; and between the jaw is introduced the intertwined triplet, or _triquetra_, the same ornament which is found on the sculptured cross at Kirk Michael, Isle of Man, and on some Saxon coins.” This example is of silver. With it was found a silver armlet--a simple twisted bar of decreasing thickness towards the extremities, which are hooked. The dimensions of the fibula are, length of acus, eleven inches; greatest diameter of circular part, five inches; width of the dilated part, two inches; weight, 8 oz. 8 dwt. [Illustration: Fig. 457.]