Image courtesy of Tom Lucking
“As the edge of the gold and garnets appeared in the soil, the whole atmosphere in the field changed."
Tom Lucking, Metal detectorist and archaeologist
The story begins
The story begins
In 2014 an incredible discovery was made in a field in the Norfolk village of Winfarthing. Metal detectorist Tom Lucking uncovered a large bronze bowl.
Understanding that the bowl may be at the foot of a grave, Tom re-buried it and alerted archaeologists.
Careful excavation later revealed that the bowl was indeed part of the grave of an Anglo-Saxon woman dating from around 650-700AD.
The woman was buried with exceptional jewellery, indicating that she must have been of very high social status, possibly even royalty.
This was hugely surprising. There was no previously known Anglo-Saxon history in the area; what was this possibly royal woman doing here?
Image courtesy of Portable Antiquities Scheme
Excavation of the grave of the Winfarthing lady, image courtesy of John Rainer
Where is Winfarthing?
Aerial view of Winfarthing © John Fielding – www.flickr.com/photos/john_fielding
Winfarthing is a small village in South Norfolk, about 4 miles north of Diss, and 19 miles south of Norwich. Today it has a population of about 500 people.
It is a linear village, following the road between Diss and Attleborough.
Winfarthing appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 as ‘Wineferthinc’. The name means ‘Wina’s quarter part’ – land belonging to Wina. The oldest building in the village is St Mary’s Church, parts of which date from the 13th century.
There is evidence of settlement going back thousands of years, with Stone Age and Bronze Age objects being found locally. Roman objects have also been found, including pieces of pottery, coins, metalwork, and building remains.
Until recently there was very little evidence of Anglo-Saxon settlement here.
The pendant
The star object from the Winfarthing find is an extremely rare gold and garnet pendant, about 70mm in diameter. It is of similar quality and style to the finds at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk and the Staffordshire Hoard.
It was made using a technique called cloisonné, in which small gold cells were attached to a sheet of gold, then tiny red garnets were set into each cell.
There are over 400 garnets in the pendant, making up geometrical shapes and stylised animals. The garnets likely came from Asia.
Image of the Winfarthing pendant courtesy of Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery
This would have been an unbelievably expensive item, and could only have been afforded by someone extremely rich.
When first dug up, the pendant was clogged with mud and some of the garnets were loose. You can read about how experts cleaned and conserved it here.
In this Time Team clip we hear from Tom Lucking about the moment the pendant was discovered.
Coins & crosses
Image of Winfarthing jewellery courtesy of Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery
The other jewellery in the grave offers further clues about who this woman was, and the world she lived in.
A smaller gold pendant is decorated with a cross design. This helps us to understand that this woman lived during the earliest days of Christianity in Anglo-Saxon East Anglia.
There are also two coins which have been turned into pendants. The coins were made in what is now France during the reign of Sigebert III, between 633 and 656. This tells us that there was some kind of connection between the woman in this grave in Winfarthing and continental Europe.
The jewellery was completed by two biconical beads of gold wire (called biconical because they are made of two cone shapes).
The grave also contained everyday objects - an iron knife, a pottery vessel (made in France), and a collection of copper alloy chatelaine rings. These would have been worn around the waist and used to carry small items like keys.
The skeleton
Bones do not often survive in East Anglia’s acidic soils. This grave is a rare exception, as a partial skeleton remained. Archaeologists have been investigating what these remains can tell us about who the Winfarthing lady was.
Time Team archaeologists concluded that she was quite a petite woman, over 40 years old and possibly over 50. She had a good diet as a child and as an adult.
In this Time Team news video we hear how recent testing suggests that she spent her childhood in continental Europe, possibly in the Rhineland.
The bronze bowl
The bronze bowl which first alerted Tom to the presence of the grave has been carefully studied by archaeologists. It was not empty when it was buried, and its contents help shed light on when the Winfarthing lady died and her role in society.
At the time of her burial this bowl was filled with plants – foxgloves, horsetail, blushing lanterns, bracken, pear or apple stems, and birch tree bark. These all flower in early summer, indicating the time of her burial. They also have healing properties, suggesting that she may have been a healer of some kind.
Reconstruction of how the bronze bowl may have looked when filled with plants, courtesy of Matt Clark, Shadow Tor Studios
Why was she buried here?
Similar Anglo-Saxon finds have been made at Sutton Hoo, Rendlesham, in Caistor St Edmund (near Norwich), and at Boss Hall (near Ipswich).
High status Anglo-Saxon graves are usually found in important settlements. When the Winfarthing lady was first discovered, nothing was known about Anglo-Saxon activity nearby.
When Time Team visited Winfarthing in 2022 this was one of the main questions they tried to answer.
They discovered other graves, indicating that the Winfarthing lady was not buried on her own but in a cemetery. As a high status person her burial was deeper, and much better preserved.
The cemetery was possibly in use for centuries. Study of the surrounding landscape revealed clues as to why this location might have been chosen by the Anglo-Saxons as a cemetery.
The landscape surrounding the cemetery forms a natural amphitheatre and could have been an important meeting place. Time Team also found evidence of a possible Roman shrine at a nearby spring, suggesting this had been an important place for generations.
“She was buried in a very special place, in a landscape setting that may have been venerated for generations before her from prehistory. It's all about the water and the springs that are present."
Stuart Ainsworth, Time Team
Where are the finds now?
Thanks to generous grants from the National Heritage Memorial Fund, Art Fund and the Friends of the Norwich Museums, the Winfarthing Treasure was secured for public ownership at Norfolk Museums Service. The Winfarthing pendant is currently on display in the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings gallery at Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery.