NHER 5137 (Monument record) - Possible Bronze Age burial

Monday 2 January 1720/1.
'..was found an oaken coffin in a moist springy ground about two furlongs off West Tofts church in Norfolk as some of Mr Partridges labourers were digging a ditch to drain the grounds. It seemed to lie southeast and northwest, it was full of water, and besides bones was taken out about thirty small beads, a black face made of Lancashire Coal, a golden funnell and a cipher as in the figures below. The funnell was broken about outright. The workmen say it slipped of (sic) a small piece of rotten wood, query if not a crucifix. (The 'coal' face has) a hole through the upper part of the figure. The cypher and beads are of blue colour, query what? The beads are all square but irregular. In the place where this coffin is found, is a piece where stood a large house formerly, query whose?'
See secondary file for diagrams.
(S1) checked from original manuscript by E. Rose (NAU), 1980.

(S2) is an abstract of above. R.R. Clarke (NCM) suggests ?Food Vessel culture with Wessex Culture imports, ?Faience beads.
E. Rose (NAU).