Royal saxon tomb in Prittlewell

The Royal Saxon tomb in Prittlewell is a high-status Anglo-Saxon tomb excavated at Prittlewell, north of Southend-on-Sea, in the English county of Essex.

In the autumn of 2003, in preparation for a road-widening scheme, an archaeological survey was carried out on a plot of land to the north-east of Priory Park in Prittlewell. The archaeologists were lucky in the placement of their trench and uncovered a set of Saxon remains.

Archaeologists from the Museum of London Archaeology Service excavated the site and discovered a 7th century chamber grave beneath a mound. They described it as "the most spectacular discovery of its kind made during the past 60 years".

Earlier excavations had indicated Saxon burials in the area however it was not expected to make such a find.

The tomb and artefacts

Excavation demonstrated the tomb to be a deep, formerly walled room full of objects of copper, gold, silver and iron. These finds included an Anglo-Saxon hanging bowl, decorated with inlaid escutcheons and a cruciform arrangement of applied strips, a folding stool, three stave-built tubs or buckets with iron bands, a sword and a lyre, the last one of the most complete found in Britain. Blair, I., Barham, E., and Blackmore, L. (2004). My Lord Essex. "British Archaeology" 76: 10-17.]

About 110 objects were lifted by conservators in two phases, over a period of ten days. The final lift was completed on 20 December 2003, with final defining of the chamber walls and backfilling continuing for three days after.

Theories about occupant

The quality and preservation of the Prittlewell Chamber Tomb has led to inevitable comparisons with the Sutton Hoo Ship Burial and associated graves. The artefacts found were of a quality that it is likely that Prittlewell was a tomb of one of the Kings of Essex and the discovery of golden foil crosses indicates that the inhabitant was an early Christian. Other objects, such as the Coptic bowl and flagon, appear to point the same way. This suggests that it was either Saebert (died 616 AD) or Sigeberht II the Good (murdered 653 AD), who are the two East Saxon Kings known to have converted to Christianity during this period. It is, however, also possible that the occupant is of some other wealthy and powerful individual whose identity has gone unrecorded .

Post-excavation events

Southend Borough Council faced criticism due to plans to continue with the already controversial road widening scheme - covering the site. The council has, however, promised to find a home for the finds, in order to keep them in the borough and it has been suggested that a new gallery will be created at Southend Museum for their display . The project was the winner of the Developer Funded Archaeology Award as part of the British Archaeological Awards for 2006. [Blair, I. 2007. Prittlewell Prince. "Current Archaeology" 207: 8-11] Since September 2005 the site has been occupied by a road protest camp against the road building scheme known locally as Camp Bling. [Citation
title=The battle for the 'King of Bling'
date=6 February 2006
newspaper=BBC News
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/essex/4672900.stm
accessdate=2008-01-13]

References

External links

* [http://www.molas.org.uk/pages/siteReports.asp?siteid=pr03 MoLAS Report]
* [http://www.southendmuseums.co.uk/history/saxonking/saxonking1.htm Southend Museum information]
* [http://blingblog.bravejournal.com/ The 'Camp Bling' protest camp at the burial site]