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| HER Number | MWB3620 |
|---|
| Record Type | Monument |
|---|
| Name | Beneath railway line, Purley |
|---|
Summary
Isolated Saxon grave containing pottery, a circular brooch and beads of amber and glass, found while widening the Great Western railway in 1891
Other Statuses and Cross-References
- Berkshire SMR No. (pre 2000): 01591.00.000
- National Monuments Record No.: SU 67 NE 20
SU 6545 7648 - Primary Reference Number: 2951
Monument Type(s):
- INHUMATION (Early Medieval/Dark Age - 410 AD to 1065 AD)
Full Description
The Smith Journal reference is a diary entry of 1891 stating "Visited site of the widening of the GWR line, & inspected the locality of an interment. Was unable to get particulars as to the direction of the body. The soil is light loam resting on chalk, and a shallow excavation had been made in the chalk for the interment. Pottery (lost & untraceable), a skeleton, beads (of which I secured 3 amber & one of clay) & bronze fibulae" <1>.
The Victoria County History <3> summarises the discovery under Anglo-Saxon Remains as an isolated internment and states "only a few beads of amber and glass were preserved, although pottery and a circular brooch are said to have been found at the same time". Peake's gazetteer<3> does not mention the location of the finds, but George Smith donated his collection including these beads to Reading Museum on his death in the 1940s <4>.
The site of the burial is not marked on Ordnance Survey mapping until the 4th epoch <7>.
Sources and further reading
| <01> | Smith, George?. SMITH JOURNAL - Generic Source. I 5/8/1891. [Unpublished document / SWB13476] |
| <02> | Ditchfield and Page (eds). 1906. Victoria County History (VCH) Berks I 1906. Vol 1. P246. [Monograph / SWB10017]
https://archive.org/details/victoriahistoryo01ditcuoft (Accessed on 22/12/2021) |
| <03> | Peake, H. 1931. The Archaeology of Berkshire. P129, 217. [Monograph / SWB10018] |
| <04> | Berkshire Archaeological Society. 1946. Berkshire Archaeological Journal 1946 49. 49. In ADS Journals. 10.5284/1000017. P66. [Article in serial / SWB10411]
http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/berks_bas_2007/journal.cfm?volume=49 (Accessed 25/01/2012) |
| <05> | MEANEY, A. 1964. A GAZETTEER OF EARLY ANGLO-SAXON BURIAL SITES. P49-50. [Monograph / SWB10723] |
| <06> | Dickenson. 1976. DICKENSON 1976 UNPUB THESIS. [Unpublished document / SWB7723] |
| <07> | Ordnance Survey. c. 1930. Ordnance Survey Epoch 4. [Map / SWB14664] |
| <08> | Cherryson, A K. 2005. In the Shadow of the Church - Burial practices in the Wessex heartlands c.600-1100 AD. p7. [Unpublished document / SWB147403]
http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/10321/ (Accessed 02/11/2016) |
| <09> | 1891-93. Quarterly Journal of the Berkshire Archaeological and Architectural Society Vol II. II. In ADS Journals. 10.5284/1000017. p17 in An Archaeological Survey of Berkshire by Emma Elizabeth Thoyts. [Article in serial / SWB9007]
http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/berks_bas_2007/journal.cfm?volume=-102 (Accessed 06/07/2016) |
Related Monuments
| MWB6044 | TILEHURST TO PANGBOURNE STATION RAILWAY LINE (Monument) |
Associated Excavations and Fieldwork
None recordedIf you have any comments or new information about this record, please email us.
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