#uttlesford

Viking necklace from a woman's grave at Saffron Walden (Essex, late 9th century).

The necklace has beads of glass, carnelian, crystal and silver, a plain silver pendant inscribed with a cross, and two silver gilt pendants decorated with Scandinavian-style ribbon patterns.  It dates from c. 875 – 900 AD, when Alfred the Great was fighting the Danes.

This necklace was found in 1876 in the Saffron Walden cemetery, which dates from the late Saxon period.  During this time, the local population was Christian, and people were therefore buried without grave goods.  The one exception is the woman who was buried with this necklace, like pagan Viking women in Scandinavia.  The inscribed cross on the plain pendant suggests, however, that she had accepted Christianity.

The Society for Saffron Walden Museum wants to raise £60,000 in three months to help secure archaeological treasures found in the district

The museum is launching an urgent public appeal for donations to keep up to five treasures which were all discovered by metal detector enthusiasts in Uttlesford since 2011.

The findings were all declared as treasure.

By December, it is believed £60,000 will be needed to maintain the artifacts.

The museum are hopeful that most of the money will come from grants, but at least £7,500 of local funding is needed.