Historical “bling”
Colin Smale explores gilded finds from fields and farmland around the county.
The stunning cross featured is believed by experts to be a Saxon Casket Cross, found on farmland in Waddingham. It is 50mm square and is gilded copper/bronze with a garnet decorating the centre. It would have adorned the end of a religious wooden casket, so imagine what that casket contained!
This is a rare discovery in Lincolnshire because according to experts in this kind of thing, this particular one was almost certainly designed and made in Ireland. Yet again we have an item not local but well-travelled! What is its story? How did it find its way to Lincolnshire? There are records of items looted from Ireland over the years, even from Saxon/Viking times, so perhaps that’s how it got here?
Was the square shaped item a gold medieval dress decoration or a button? 10mm square and found on farmland near to the Belmont transmitter tower, the consensus leans more towards a dress decoration because it would be a devil of a job trying to push that through a buttonhole. Although it looks beautiful in the picture, note the only remaining fragment of blue enamel at the 9 o’clock position – the only clue left to show that this was at one time a very colourful item. There would probably have been four blue circles with maybe white centres and a red disc right in the middle, but that’s just me now, imagining what it may have looked like in its prime. So often archaeology is all about imagining and questioning… What was it used for? Where did it come from? How did it get here, etc?
Lastly we have a Roman oval plate brooch, 38mm long and found at Barnoldby-le-Beck. It is gilt copper-alloy dating to the period AD200-350. The glass ‘centre-boss’ is missing, but this would normally be black and the pin and spring mechanism is still much like our safety pin mechanism as used today. A pair of rope-like mouldings decorates the flat panel surrounding the collar. Between the pair is a series of concentric circles. A raised rim runs around the perimeter and the surface has been gilded.
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Grantham school joins Carol Service in celebration of town’s hospital![]()
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Pupils from St Mary’s Catholic Voluntary Academy are taking part in the first Carol Service to celebrate the special relationship Grantham and District Hospital has with the town and surrounding communities.![]()
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The school children will join in the singing of favourite Christmas Carols as well as perform their own set musical piece at the Carol Service on Thursday 11th December at 7pm, in St Wulfram’s church, Grantham.![]()
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Deputy Head Teacher Olivia Mumford said: “The Carol Service is a fantastic opportunity for our pupils to share the joy of music while showing appreciation for the incredible work done at Grantham and District Hospital. It’s a privilege to support such an important event in our town."![]()
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The Carol Service has been organised by United Lincolnshire Hospitals Charity, who work closely with staff at Grantham and District Hospital and provides those extras for staff and patients that NHS budgets are unable to fund. ![]()
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Further details on the Grantham NHS Carol Service can be found by visiting www.ulhcharity.org.uk/news/christmas-carols-at-grantham-st-wulfram-church-in-thanks-for-towns-sup...