Anglo Saxon Family Reburial

In the year 2000, Millennium year, the Gillings family sold their orchards at the top of Water Lane to a developer for a small housing estate. Before building commenced, an archaeological survey was carried out by Bedfordshire County Archaeology Service (BCAS) and the area was, as suspected, found to be part of an ancient barrow (or burial site) covering three periods, the oldest dating back to the late Neolithic/ early Bronze Age circa 2000 BC. A licence had to be obtained from the Home Office before excavations could commence.

There had been a previous dig near by on the site of the present industrial estate in Back Lane carried out by the Cambridgeshire Archaeological Club in 1951 when Melbourn Whiting Company exposed 28 skeletons during chalk quarrying on the ridge. It was a far more relaxed affair than our Millennium dig, the site was open to any visitors and several people told the History Committee that as schoolchildren they had removed bones and other things from the graves – this time the site was firmly fenced off against intruders! In 1951 it was a ‘rescue’ dig and though the full extent of the cemetery was uncertain it was thought to reveal important evidence for the transition from paganism to Christianity. The graves were all covered up again as it was feared that treasure hunters would come and disturb the site.

This new discovery caused great excitement and, in May 2000 a full-scale dig was begun in the course of which 52 graves were revealed containing the bones of 59 individuals. Other researchers in this field visited the BCAS site as the site was considered to be a nationally important source of data. In the past the dating of such burial sites was based on the artefacts found within the graves, but with modern high precision carbon dating processes now available the skeletons could be dated to within one or two generations. This site is thought to have been in use between 575 and 650 AD

There were 17 women, 23 men and 10 children amongst the remains (the other bones were too damaged to determine the sex) and one foetus with its mother. They were quite tall, the tallest man being 184cm (6ft) and the tallest woman 171cm (5’ 7”) which suggests they enjoyed good nutrition, but there were also signs of iron deficiency due perhaps to the scarcity of red meat or possibly intestinal parasites. Sixty percent of the adults showed signs of arthritis mostly in the spine indicating that working life was hard. The Melbourn people had healthier teeth than most Saxon remains have shown although about a third of them had dental disease! There was evidence of at least two women having grooves in their front teeth, they were probably spinners who pulled the linen thread through their mouths to keep it damp.

Although some of the skeletons displayed bone fractures, they were more suggestive of accidents than of violence, which would lead us to think that it was a relatively peaceful, rural community.

Many of the burials contained ‘grave goods’ One female skeleton was found wearing a necklace of 69 glass and amber beads, brooches and a buckled girdle with a knife and a spindle whorl attached, she must have been an important figure in the community. There were indications that she was wearing a woollen cloak over a linen garment, which suggests she lived in the latter part of the 6th century. A number of other glass and amber necklaces were found and two spectacular brooches, one was a great square headed brooch dated AD 550–570 which is extremely rare, also a radiate brooch which the Melbourn History Group were able to have copied in silver and 100 of them were made and sold within the village.

Bedfordshire archaeologists working on the Chalkhill Barrow site

The reburial at New Road Cemetery

The male skeleton to be interred in the mound appears to have been a strong, robust man with 27 teeth at the time of his death. He would have been around 40 years old and stood about 5ft 10” tall. The female skeleton shows signs of a pregnancy, she was 30/35 years old and 5ft 7”. She suffered from severe osteo-arthritis in her spine and had bad teeth. The child was about 2½ or 3 and would seem to have suffered from anaemia. The child is to be reburied in the arms of the mother to keep each other company as was fairly common in those days. DNA testing is very costly so we do not know whether this ‘family’ was actually related, this can therefore only be a symbolic family burial. They will be wrapped separately in a pure linen shroud and laid on

a woven willow base before being lowered into the ‘grave’; all materials will be totally biodegradable.

The contents from this dig, both the remains and artefacts, were removed to BCAS for further research to be carried out. Ultimately these were transferred to Cambridge County Council archaeology department for safekeeping and further research potential if required.

At about this time the New Road cemetery, which had been purchased by our forward thinking Parish Council, needed to be developed as extra burial capacity needs became imminent. The architect had included a replica Anglo Saxon mound as it was in such close proximity to the original burial site, now called Chalkhill Barrow.

The idea of reburial was put to the archaeological department at Cambridge County Council; this was a first nationally and met with opposition and resistance from various outside bodies due to possible legal and ethical complications.

However with support from BCAS and CCC’s archaeological department a compromise was agreed to allow reburial of this ‘family’. This support has been so valuable and appreciated, without it this event could not have occurred

The reburial will be at the base of the mound. The Parish Council has created access to the top where there is a sitting area and a pair of seats made by the same sculptor, Matthew Sanderson, who designed and made the main cemetery entrance gates.

This reburial ceremony, on June 6th (at 1.30 for 2.00pm prompt) is non-religious as we cannot be sure whether they were pagan or Christian. They will be reburied deep at the foot of the mound, a simple and plain occasion as befits their origins in both location and effect.

There may be national interest as we believe we are the first Parish Council (or any other body for that matter) to be allowed to rebury their remains in this manner, we hope you will be able to attend and enjoy this historical occasion. Mavis Howard and Mike Sherwen

With grateful thanks to Corrine Duhig, PhD, FSA, MIFD, Wolfson College, Cambridge for the original reports and analyses of the Melbourn find.

The Chalkhill Barrow archaeological site seen in the foreground and New Road cemetery in the centre of the photograph. hallmark of both proposals was the nature of the finished product – not small isolated stretches of cycle paths, but joined-up networks that would enable complete journeys off-road.

As it happened, for various reasons the decision-makers on the City Deal Executive Board chose not to fund either of these schemes, focusing instead on bus priority lanes and other Cambridge City schemes where congestion is becoming unmanageable. Nevertheless, the case for the A10 is strong, and the County Council subsequently made a successful bid to another fund through the Department for Transport. The route from Cambridge to Foxton has now been awarded funding through that channel. This will join up with the new path completed last year along the A10 at Shepreth. No doubt there will be some frustrations while work is carried out but I hope you will agree that it will be worth it in the long run.

The route south of the Shepreth Frog End junction is on a waiting list. This route would not stick to the A10, but thread through Melbourn village and out onto the A10 from the southern-most Melbourn/A10 access point, with a path on the east side of the A10 all the way to the A505 roundabout. A pedestrian/cycle bridge over the A505 has already been designed, and land issues sorted, so is what the business calls ‘shovel ready’. The A10 Corridor Cycling Campaign has been working with councils and Local Enterprise Partnerships in Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire to help tackle this cross-border scheme. Meanwhile over 100 local businesses have signed a letter to the City Deal outlining the value completing the overall Cambridge-Royston scheme, with special attention to the Melbourn-Royston section. Thanks to everyone who has been in touch – including mobility scooter users who find cycle paths the answer to their woes.

A10 Corridor Cycling Campaign meets 7 July, 7 for 7:30, AstraZeneca da Vinci building, Melbourn Science Park. A great opportunity for another view on local business and local transport, cycling or otherwise. All welcome. More at a10corridorcycle.com. continued from page 29

Questions for your Councillor?

If you have a question for your District or County Councillor please contact the following: District Cllr Val Barrett Tel 01763 261227 valbarrett2001@yahoo.com District Cllr Jose Hales Tel 01763 221058 jose@josehales.me.uk County Cllr Susan van de Ven Tel 01763 261833 www.susanvandeven.com

Cllr van de Ven and Cllr Hales hold a drop-in advice surgery at Melbourn Library Access Point in the Melbourn Hub on the first Monday of the month from 2:30–3:30. If you’d like to make an appointment to meet at any another time or closer to home, please let them know.