Double the luck

IN archaeological terms, it was the equivalent of seeing lightning strike twice, winning the Lottery two weeks in a row or finding a pair of four-leaved clovers in your back garden.

Steve Sherlock thought he had already found his holy grail, the stuff of dreams, the once-ina- lifetime discovery to be treasured forever when he unearthed an Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Norton, near Stockton, in 1984.

Excavations over the following two years there turned up 120 graves in a significant Pagan burial site dating from the Sixth Century, with the human remains, weapons, jewellery and other items offering a fascinating insight into the community’s distant past.

As an archaeologist of more than 30 years, it could not get any better than that for Dr Sherlock – or so he thought. Until, that is, he set foot on farmland at Street House, near Loftus, east Cleveland, in 2004.

Working from aerial photographs, he was investigating evidence of what he believed to be an Iron Age site. What he ultimately found would rewrite the North-East history books – and set in motion a painstaking process of research and conservation that is being celebrated in one of the most important exhibitions ever seen in the region.

Lying underground were the graves of yet another Anglo-Saxon cemetery, some of which would yield astonishing clues to the area’s connections to ancient royalty.

No human remains had survived, but Dr Sherlock recovered a stunning array of jewellery, including a unique shield-shaped brooch and two cabochon pendants, which could only have been afforded to the burial of someone of the very highest status – an Anglo-Saxon princess.

“I knew straight away what I had found after the same experience with the Norton excavation, but I could still barely believe it,” he said.

Working alongside volunteers and members of Teesside Archaeological Society, Dr Sherlock dug in for the long haul and their tireless efforts were rewarded as the revelations just kept on coming.

Thirty graves were found in the first year.

Thirteen were revealed in 2006 and, by the end of 2007, the team had finally uncovered 109 graves in an area the size of half a football pitch, with a plan of the site revealing a social order now apparent.

It was the royal bed burial – a ceremony in which a female body is laid out on a decorated wooden bed accompanied by fine gold jewellery – that was attracting all the attention.

DR Sherlock said: “We had no idea it was the grave of a princess until we started to dig and found some 53 objects, including this amazing gold brooch with garnet settings, unparalleled in the Anglo-Saxon world, that must have been commissioned from the finest craftsmen in the land.”

Although the identity of the princess may never be known, the discovery allowed parts of her life story to be pieced together.

“The brooch dates back to around AD 650, which means that our princess almost certainly would have known St Hilda,” says Dr Sherlock.

“St Hilda founded the Abbey on Whitby Headland in AD 657, so they may well have been from the same family, or certainly the same social order, ruling over the area and settling local disputes.

“The princess may have spent the early part of her life in exile, in another part of the country, possibly Kent, before coming to east Cleveland.

“Upon her death, she would not have been buried immediately, but would have lain in waiting. Relatives would have travelled many miles to the North-East to pay their final respects before she was buried with these extraordinary jewels.”

Street House was the only Anglo-Saxon royal burial site of its kind found in the North-East.

In addition to the princess’ resting place, there were five other high-status graves, clearly indicating royal connections.

Glass beads, pottery, iron knives, belt buckles and a seax, a type of Anglo-Saxon sword, were also discovered. But the region soon had a battle on its hands to keep the staggering finds out of the clutches of London, traditionally the home of cultural objects of such international repute.

The late MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, Ashok Kumar, took up the cause in the Commons, passionately championing Kirkleatham Museum, in Redcar, as the ideal venue to showcase the finds to local people “as a reminder of the distant past of the area in which they live”.

After a coroner declared the items to be treasure and a £274,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund was secured in 2009, the region was granted its wish Now the Anglo-Saxon Princess Exhibition is the permanent showpiece display at Kirkleatham. Its curator, Alan Pearce, is in no doubt as to its importance for the North-East.

He said: “This is simply massive for tourism in this area. We have long focused on our industrial past – Captain Cook country, those kinds of things – but Anglo-Saxons are a whole new part of our heritage to shout about.

“We have Bede’s World at Jarrow, but not much else, so this is enormously important.

“Here we have something new, something that we’re hoping will be bigger and better than anything we’ve ever had. It’s a story that can rank alongside any historical tale in the country and one that we cannot wait to tell to people.”

Months of intense preparation have transformed the museum while global attention was being focused on the area. “We’ve had inquiries from Australia, New Zealand, America, Germany, all from people wanting to know about what’s happening here,” said Mr Pearce.

“The appetite for the princess’ story locally has also been phenomenal. We have had educational outreach activities taking place, we’ve given talks to various community groups and academic institutions, the museum cafe has been laying on Anglo-Saxon banquets, and we’re in talks with schools about children paying visits.

“When we created an audio-visual presentation that will form an integral part of the exhibition, the actor Stephen Tompkinson, who’s from Teesside, was only too happy to narrate it and be part of all this.

“We previewed the exhibition to people in Loftus for one week earlier this month and they were queuing on the street to get into the town hall. We had 1,700 people through the doors in a week. The sense of pride and ownership that people have taken in the princess’ story is remarkable.”

For Dr Sherlock, meanwhile, the story may not have ended yet. “I’ll be doing more work at Street House over the summer,” he says.

“If there was a princess buried here, then the question for me is ‘where was she living?’ That’s my next big quest – and hopefully the next big discovery.”

􀁧 The Anglo-Saxon Princess Exhibition is at Kirkleatham Museum, open Tuesdays to Sundays, 10am to 5pm, and is closed Mondays, except bank holidays. Entry is free.