Name/TitleDesborough Necklace with cross, The British Museum, 1876,0504.1

About this objectThis necklace has the cross as the focus at the front with alternating gold and garnet and gold 'bullae' pendants and nine of each respectively with gold wire spacer beads between. The cross itself is constructed of two tubes of gold sheet lidded at the ends and has a small garnet at the centre surrounded by rough filigree.
Found in a group of c. sixty graves discovered in an ironstone quarry in 1876, this was the only find reported from its grave. It may not be complete as the quarry men split it up after discovery and it was only reunited later. There are a number of similar necklaces from other graves of the period. Indeed, it is plausible that both the Ixworth and Wilton Crosses [EXH9] may have been set in similar ways with the rest of the necklaces lost.

Date MadeLate 7th century

PeriodAnglo-Saxon

Subject and Association KeywordsDeath and burials

Subject and Association KeywordsCrosses

Subject and Association KeywordsBurial bling

Subject and Association DescriptionLearn more: Lucy 2016; Webster and Backhouse 1991.

Medium and MaterialsGold, garnet and glass

TechniqueCabochon cut

TechniqueFiligree

Measurements2.5 x 25 cm

Credit LineThe Trustees of the British Museum.

Object numberEXH12: 1876,0504.1