opportunity to study the building sites or to undertake any kind of contextualresearch, but he did what he could, rescuing objects from across London and relying on old texts and maps to piece together their history. By dint of his energetic legwork and extensive investigation, his collection eventually amounted to a coherent history of the capital, a âMuseum of London Antiquitiesâ, which included âa very curious collection of swords and spear heads from the Thamesâ and âan enamel buckle or brooch similar in workmanship to the Alfred Jewel. . . an object of great rarityâ. 5 This is now recognized as an Anglo-Saxon treasure known as the Dowgate Hill brooch, a late-tenth- or early-eleventh-century gold disc brooch decorated with colourful cloisonné enamel and a filigree border set with four large pearls, found in 1831 at the foot of Dowgate Hill on Thames Street. By 1857, Roach Smithâs collection was so extensive and so widely admired that it was given a home in the British Museum.
Roach Smith and Clarke appreciated the impulses driving Mayer and were conscientious on his behalf. They were his eyes and ears in London and for many years they were attentive to Mayerâs needs, constantly on the lookout for objects he might like. âIf you set me to work I go to it in earnest,â declared Clarke enthusiastically, 6 and on one memorable occasion he discovered an entire shop full of pieces for Mayer: âThe owner told me he had not been in the rooms for seven years and only once for fourteen and if you had seen me when I came out you would have laughed, no chimney sweep would have been blacker, three washings, I am not clean yet.â 7 During the 1850s and 1860s, Clarke and Roach Smith acquired a variety of ancient artefacts to send back to Liverpool: âI have received for you a fine British urn. . . found. . . at Felixstowe. . . I got it. . . for a little above £2,â enthused Roach Smith in a letter of December 1852. In April 1856, he wrote again, âI yesterday secured a Roman vessel, from Blackfriars Bridge & two old English vessels from the Fleet Ditch for you.â 8
More significantly, it was Roach Smith who was instrumental in helping Mayer acquire a number of complete collections that firmly established his reputation as one of the most influential collectors in the country. The first of these, the Faussett collection, had been assembled by Bryan Faussett of Heppington in Kent, an eighteenth-century churchman and amateur archaeologist. Faussett collected thousands of Roman and English coins, and had so many duplicates that he was able to melt down 150lbs of bronze to be cast into a bell. His real interest, however, was graves, and he spent all his time between writing sermons and visiting parishioners excavating Anglo-Saxon barrows in the woods and downs across Kent. He opened up over 630 graves in an eight-year period during the 1760s and 1770s, amassing a collection of grave goods, from plain hammered-metal bowls to intricate brooches. Unlike many amateur archaeologists of the time, he kept painstaking journals of all his excavations, sketching the sites as he found them, and recording every detail of his discoveries in five substantial volumes which were kept with the objects at his house. 9
By the middle of the nineteenth century, however, the collection had been forgotten. Faussett had died and the objects were simply gathering dust in the family home. Strolling in Kent in 1842, Roach Smith found himself close to Heppington and found the name half-familiar. Eventually, he managed to recall the details of an eighteenth-century work,
Nenia Britannica
:
or, a sepulchral history of Great Britain; from the earliest period to its general conversion to Christianity
. This was, as its title suggests, a wide-ranging survey published in 1793 by another Kent clergyman, James Douglas, who was also an officer in the Corps of Engineers. Douglas used his military
Roach Smith and Clarke appreciated the impulses driving Mayer and were conscientious on his behalf. They were his eyes and ears in London and for many years they were attentive to Mayerâs needs, constantly on the lookout for objects he might like. âIf you set me to work I go to it in earnest,â declared Clarke enthusiastically, 6 and on one memorable occasion he discovered an entire shop full of pieces for Mayer: âThe owner told me he had not been in the rooms for seven years and only once for fourteen and if you had seen me when I came out you would have laughed, no chimney sweep would have been blacker, three washings, I am not clean yet.â 7 During the 1850s and 1860s, Clarke and Roach Smith acquired a variety of ancient artefacts to send back to Liverpool: âI have received for you a fine British urn. . . found. . . at Felixstowe. . . I got it. . . for a little above £2,â enthused Roach Smith in a letter of December 1852. In April 1856, he wrote again, âI yesterday secured a Roman vessel, from Blackfriars Bridge & two old English vessels from the Fleet Ditch for you.â 8
More significantly, it was Roach Smith who was instrumental in helping Mayer acquire a number of complete collections that firmly established his reputation as one of the most influential collectors in the country. The first of these, the Faussett collection, had been assembled by Bryan Faussett of Heppington in Kent, an eighteenth-century churchman and amateur archaeologist. Faussett collected thousands of Roman and English coins, and had so many duplicates that he was able to melt down 150lbs of bronze to be cast into a bell. His real interest, however, was graves, and he spent all his time between writing sermons and visiting parishioners excavating Anglo-Saxon barrows in the woods and downs across Kent. He opened up over 630 graves in an eight-year period during the 1760s and 1770s, amassing a collection of grave goods, from plain hammered-metal bowls to intricate brooches. Unlike many amateur archaeologists of the time, he kept painstaking journals of all his excavations, sketching the sites as he found them, and recording every detail of his discoveries in five substantial volumes which were kept with the objects at his house. 9
By the middle of the nineteenth century, however, the collection had been forgotten. Faussett had died and the objects were simply gathering dust in the family home. Strolling in Kent in 1842, Roach Smith found himself close to Heppington and found the name half-familiar. Eventually, he managed to recall the details of an eighteenth-century work,
Nenia Britannica
:
or, a sepulchral history of Great Britain; from the earliest period to its general conversion to Christianity
. This was, as its title suggests, a wide-ranging survey published in 1793 by another Kent clergyman, James Douglas, who was also an officer in the Corps of Engineers. Douglas used his military
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