Rare cross to go on show near ancient burial site
IT WAS used to adorn the grave of a aristocratic Anglo-Saxon girl who lived 1,300 years ago.
Now the gold and garnet Trumpington Cross is going on display just a few miles from where it was discovered.
The cross, worth more than £80,000, was found on the skeleton of a girl aged between 14 and 18 in one of the earliest Christian burials in Britain, unearthed near Cambridge.
She was buried between 650AD and 680AD in a very rare “bed burial”, just 15 of which have been found in the UK, laid in the ground in a bed which had a wooden frame with metal brackets and straw mattress. All around her were treasured possessions including gold pins, glass beads, an iron knife and a chain which would have hung from her belt. The cross marked her out as an early convert to Christianity and – as the earliest Christians were from noble families – indicated she was of aristocratic or even Royal blood. She was discovered in 2011 on the building site owned by Grosvenor, which has donated the cross to Cambridge University’s Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Senior curator Jody Joy said: “The Trumpington Cross and other material recovered from the dig are of international quality and significance.”
The cross is of international quality and significance. Jody Joy, Cambridge University’s Museum of Archaeology senior curator.