Treasures from the royals of long ago can stay

Sep 22 2009 by Tony Henderson, The Journal

TREASURE found in a royal Anglo-Saxon burial site in the North East is to remain in the region after a cash gift was announced yesterday.

The stunning mid-Seventh Century jewellery was discovered on a coastal clifftop site at Loftus in Redcar and Cleveland.

The unexpected presence of a royal group near the Tees has opened up a new window on North East Anglo-Saxon history, raising questions of the previous view that Bamburgh and Ad Gefrin near Wooler in Northumberland were the only royal power centres in the Kingdom of Northumbria.

In a dig led by North East archaeologist Steve Sherlock, gold brooches were found in five high-status female graves and a sword in a male burial.

But an even bigger surprise came from the grave of a woman believed to be an Anglo-Saxon princess. Among the jewellery found with her were three gold brooches and a pendant unique in the North East.

According to Mr Sherlock, the pendant come behind only the Lindisfarne Gospels and the pectoral cross found when St Cuthbert’s tomb in Durham Cathedral was opened in 1827 in terms of importance.

The princess had been buried on a wooden bed, the first such burial to be found in the North East. Only 12 have been uncovered in the country.

Now the collection of jewellery, some of which has been conserved at Durham University, has been acquired and is to go on show in a special Anglo-Saxon gallery at Kirkleatham Museum near Redcar after the Heritage Lottery Fund made an award of £274,000.

“These are spectacular and quite unbelievable finds which have created international interest,” said Mr Sherlock.

Head of the Heritage Lottery Fund in the North East Ivor Crowther said: “These rare finds are a spectacular insight into the lives of the people who lived in the region long ago.

“This is the only discovery of this kind and of this calibre in the North East and it is really important that we keep the pieces here.”

The jewellery is linked in style to Kent and this draws the Tees site into the web of conflict and struggle which surrounded the creation of Northumbria from the kingdoms of Bernicia, which covered County Durham, Northumberland and part of Scotland and Deira – modern Yorkshire.

The pagan King Edwin of Northumbria married the Kentish Christian princess Aethelburh, who brought her Italian bishop Paulinus.

He baptised Edwin and thousands of people in Northumbria, including one 36-day session on the banks of the River Glen in Northumberland.

But Northumbria was riven by political and religious tensions.

Robin Daniels, of Tees Archaeology, said: “Everything suggests these high status people are from the south, possibly Kent, and may have been caught up in the politics of Northumbria.

“You could write as many novels as you like about the mystery of what happened.”

Page 2: Days of faith and blood