XXI.—Notes on an Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Market Overton, Rutland

Abstract

Market Overton is situated about a mile from the northern border of Rutland and a little under two miles south-west from the point where the three counties of Leicester, Lincoln, and Rutland meet. Here, in August 1906, ironstone workings were begun on a fairly large scale, and these operations have continued to the present time and are likely to go on for a considerable period. In the course of the excavations a large number of antiquities have been found, ranging, in point of date, from the neolithic period down to mediaeval and later times. Some of the objects found were exhibited before the Society on Jan. 30th, 1908, when I had the honour of presenting a report as Local Secretary for Rutland. The present paper deals with finds which have occurred since my 1908 report, and will be confined to a consideration of objects of the Anglo-Saxon period, which far exceed, both in number and interest, those of other periods which have come to light at Market Overton. It is quite clear that two distinct cemeteries existed here, separated by an interval of some 400 yards. The Saxon finds described in 1908 occurred in what may be distinguished as the North Cemetery, measuring approximately half an acre in area. The present series of relics were all met with in the South Cemetery, the size of which was apparently about double that of the other.