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Summary

An early pagan Saxon cemetery, discovered during railway construction in the late 19th century, and excavated again in 1912

Other Statuses and Cross-References

• Berkshire SMR No. (pre 2000): 02637.00.000
  
• National Monuments Record No.: SU 37 SE 11
  SU 3894 7490

Monument Type(s):

• CEMETERY (Roman to Early Medieval/Dark Age - 401 AD to 600 AD)
• INHUMATION (Roman to Early Medieval/Dark Age - 401 AD to 600 AD)

Full Description

On September 30, 1889 an Anglo-Saxon cemetery was discovered during construction of the Lambourn Valley railway line <1>. Workmen initially came across a skeleton with spear and knife, and over the next few weeks, both male and female remains were found with a sword, further spears and knives, brooches, tweezers and a necklet of amber beads. Montagu Palmer and Walter Money were involved in the collection of these objects, although there was no systematic exploration of the ground. In fact Peake notes that 'collectors from Newbury and elsewhere arrived rapidly on the site, and the graves were looted and their contents dispersed' <13>. Some artefacts did end up in the British Museum and the Museum of Reading however. Those in the British Museum appear to have been purchased from Montagu Palmer.

It appears that at least 46 graves were discovered in 1889, as graves 37, 39 and 46 are mentioned in the Transactions of the Newbury District Field Club <4>. Subsequent isolated discoveries and a further excavation in 1912 by Harold Peake, revealed a likely total of 74 graves. The associated grave goods suggested a mid 5th to late 6th century date.

No report of the 1890 investigation was published, and an archival search of institutions in 2003 failed to produce more information, although a number of artefacts were located in the British Museum and the Ashmolean Museum. Peake did produce a full report of his 1912 work, which was published in 1915 <9>, including a site location map, but did not show the location of the excavation trenches by which he claimed to have established the extent of the cemetery.

The finds included five important glass items, and some of the gilt copper alloy brooches are displayed in the British Museum. The grave goods from the 1912 excavation are in the West Berkshire Museum collection.

See also South Midlands Archaeology (CBA Group 9) 1977/4- 6; 1978/13; 1986/3, 11: the material from the cemetery was examined and drawn by David Kennett in 1968-72 (recorded under the CBA Group 9 newsletter as this was when Berkshire was in this group). This highlighted the wide and rich range of the grave goods, stored in four museums, the British Museum, Reading Museum, Ashmolean Museum and Newbury Museum.

Sources and further reading

Related Monuments

Associated Excavations and Fieldwork

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