Rare Anglo-Saxon cross found in early Christian grave to go on display

The Trumpington Cross, made of gold and garnet, was found on the skeleton of a girl aged between 14 and 18 in one of the earliest Christian burials in Britain, unearthed near Cambridge.

The teenager was buried between around 650AD and 680AD in a very rare “bed burial”, just 15 of which have been found in the UK, laid in the ground in a bed which had a wooden frame with metal brackets and straw mattress.

She was surrounded by treasured possessions including gold pins, glass beads, an iron knife and a chain which would have hung from her belt.

But it was the cross that excited Cambridge University archaeologists, marking her out as an early convert to Christianity and – as the earliest Christians were from noble families – indicating she was of aristocratic or even royal blood.

She was discovered in 2011 at Trumpington Meadows, just outside Cambridge, where a new housing development is being built on land owned by Grosvenor.

The cross, thought to be worth more than £80,000, has been donated by Grosvenor to Cambridge University’s Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (MAA) , where it will go on display with the other grave goods.

Jody Joy, senior curator at the museum, said: “MAA has one of the best collections of Anglo-Saxon artefacts in the British Isles – and we are indebted to Grosvenor for their generosity in…