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A Byzantine pail, datable to the sixth century AD, was discovered in 1999, in a field near the River Avon in Breamore, Hampshire. Subsequent fieldwork confirmed the presence there of an early Anglo-Saxon cemetery. In 2001, limited excavation located graves that were unusual, both for their accompanying goods and for the number of double and triple burials. This evidence suggests that Breamore was the location of a well-supplied ‘frontier’ community which may have had a relatively brief existence during the sixth century. It seems likely to have had strong connections with the Isle of Wight and Kent to the south and south-east, rather than with communities up-river to the north and north-east.

Anyone who does not know about the author would do well to start on p. xxviii, where he outlines his academically unorthodox career from army officer to practising archaeologist to university profe...

This paper discusses the evidence relating to a mid-thirteenth-century hoard of coins and jewellery discovered beneath a cellar in Cambridge in 1817. Five gold rings with gemstone settings survive from this group and are now in the possession of Trinity College library; these rings are examined, and their date and significance explored. The history of the material—from its initial discovery up until the mid-nineteenth century when the rings were donated to the college—is also investigated. Finally, the original context of the hoard is discussed, including its possible association with the medieval Jewry of Cambridge.

Excavation in September 2000 on the south side of the Anglo-Saxon chapel at Bradford-on- Avon, Wiltshire, showed that the missing south porticus would have been high enough to have had two internal storeys. Because it was built on steeply sloping ground, the chapel's walls needed deep foundations on the south side; observation on the north side confirmed that no footings had been thought necessary below the plinth of the nave and chancel. If the chapel was built by Shaftesbury Abbey after c. 1001 as a shrine for the cult of Edward the Martyr, the lower space in the south porticus might have had a timber-roofed crypt for housing associated relics.

The main title of this book suggests essays on various medieval topics unconnected by any theme. They are certainly varied, but the sub-title attempts to provide unity. The editors seek to show tha...

(1982). Rites and Religions of the Anglo-Saxons. By Gale R. Owen. Archaeological Journal: Vol. 139, No. 1, pp. 465-465.