Friday, September 03, 2010

Rare Anglo-Saxon treasure sees the light of day

A very rare Anglo-Saxon gold ring is to go on display at Berkeley Castle, Gloucestershire after being shown in the BBC2 series Digging for Britain. The series also features excavations at Berkeley carried out by archaeologists from the University of Bristol who have uncovered evidence for a Dark Age monastery before the castle was constructed in the eleventh century.

The gold ring is believed to have been found as long ago as the eighteenth century and was first recorded in the castle’s collections in 1860. However, in recent years it has only been shown in public once at an exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1972.

Now, thanks to renewed interest in Anglo-Saxon Berkeley due to the University of Bristol’s excavations, the castle authorities have decided to display the ring for a limited period during September.

Click here to read this article from Medievalists.net