The Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Girton College, Cambridge

The Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Girton College, Cambridge, was discovered in 1881, while ground was prepared for the construction of tennis courts. More of the cemetery was unearthed in 1886, when the foundations for the Tower Wing were being laid. The area was excavated under the supervision of Francis Jenkinson (1853-1923), and the urns and other material found on the site date it to roughly the fifth and sixth centuries CE. The graves contained domestic utensils - tweezers, needles, pots for food and cooking - and personal items, such as ivory combs and bronze brooches. Written by Girton alumnae Edith Hollingworth and Maureen O'Reilly, this detailed report of the excavations is based on notes left by Jenkinson, and was first published by Cambridge University Press in 1925. According to a contemporary reviewer, the work of Hollingworth and O'Reilly provides a 'duty to their College and a real service to archaeology'.