s Anglo-Saxon Pendant, AD 600-700 - Hull Museums Collections

Anglo-Saxon Pendant, AD 600-700

This gold pendant must have been a special piece of jewellery. It was buried with a rich woman over 1300 years ago. She was buried at Garton in East Yorkshire with many other fancy items. The red stone in the middle of this brooch is a garnet. The fine gold work is called filigree.

The Anglo-Saxons were master craftsmen. They were very skilled at metalwork and other crafts such as pottery, glass and decorative books.

This pendant was found in the grave of an Anglo-Saxon noblewoman at Green Lane Crossing at Garton, East Yorkshire. The fine gold filigree work on this brooch is a great example of Anglo-Saxon craftsmanship and detail.

The Anglo-Saxons were immigrants to Britain and many people have speculated about why they came here. They may have been refugees from barbarian tribes in the East or forced by climatic change and rising sea levels. Many people think they came as mercenaries paid to keep out other invaders after the Romans had left.

Germanic tribes had provided soldiers for Rome before. British rulers turned to these tribes for help. They were the Saxons, Angles and Jutes. These came from modern day Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands.

Britain became divided into separate kingdoms. Yorkshire’s Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were Bernicia, Deira and Elmet. The end of Roman rule had left a power vacuum which the Anglo-Saxons filled. Their influence on culture and language is still around today. Our country is called England, because it was the land of the Angles.

Two of the best known examples of Anglo-Saxon craftsmanship are the Sutton Hoo burial treasures and the Lindisfarne Gospels. The Sutton Hoo treasures were discovered in a burial in Suffolk. They are now a highlight of the British Museum’s collection. The Lindisfarne Gospels are originally from Northumberland and are now in the British Library.