Vila Wolf's Dyslexic Folklorist Ranting

Artist’s impression of Langford, Essex in 700AD. I think this is a great resource for me as an author, helping to build up my visual idea of the settings that my characters inhabit.

The whole village seems so idyllic on a summer’s day, and the central activity is farming, we see crops being cultivated and livestock being herded down the path. It’s important to remind ourselves that although the history of the period is full of turmoils, daily life would carry on in the quiet farming communities throughout the countryside. We can see the smoke rising up through the roofs of the houses, by nightfall the villagers would be returning to the warmth beside the hearths.

There is no bridge over the river, illustrating that the settlement’s name came from it being situated at a long ford (a place where a river is shallow enough to cross). The continuity of names from the Anglo-Saxon period to the modern day gives us fascinating insight into each settlement’s origins. There is also no church, at this time there was certainly a large Christian presence in Essex, but even as recently as 683 a pagan king named Sighere had ruled Essex, alongside his Christian brother Sæbbi. This is the world of mixed loyalties and contending religions that I’ll be exploring in my book. Christianity would have rapidly been gaining a foothold in these communities around this time.

There is another reason why this picture is interesting, because Langford lies just outside of Maldon. We therefore know that the river that we can see in the picture is the Blackwater. If we were to follow it, we would discover the estuary and crossing to Northey island which is believed to be the site of the Anglo-Saxon defeat in 991 that is the subject of the famous poem “The Battle of Maldon”. The most significant outcome of this battle is that it ultimately led to the policy of paying Danegeld to keep the Viking raiders away.

**Unfortunately I cannot find any official website by the artist Jon Cane, which is a shame as it would be great to provide a link and to see other work.

The Benty Grange helmet is an archaeological artefact excavated by Thomas Bateman in 1848 from an Anglo-Saxon tumulus (or barrow) at the Benty Grange Farm in the civil parish of Monyash in the English county of Derbyshire.

The remains and a reconstruction are in Sheffield’s Weston Park Museum.

This helmet is of the Spangenhelm type and like the Pioneer helmet is boar-crested. The surviving iron bands would have supported plates of horn (decayed in antiquity) held in place with small silver rivets and the nasal of the helmet is decorated with a silver cross.

A horn helmet. Interesting.

The discovery was made by archaeologists working for Staffordshire Council and English Heritage when they were working on the site following the recent ploughing of the same field near Lichfield.

The discovery was revealed to the world this morning at a press conference at the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, in Hanley.

It comes more than three years after the Staffordshire Hoard was found in the field by an amateur metal detectorist.

South Staffordshire Coroner Andrew Haigh will rule at an inquest on January 4 if the metalwork pieces are part of the Staffordshire Hoard and should be declared treasure.

The new finds include a possible helmet cheek piece, a cross-shaped mount and an eagle-shaped mount. The new collection is currently being examined by experts.

Staffordshire County Council leader Philip Atkins said: “The Staffordshire Hoard was an amazing discovery and, together with our partners, we have been immensely proud to play our part in helping to discover and tell the story of a collection of such international importance.

“The ploughing of the same field has unearthed a small number of other gold and silver finds. While it is far too early to say what exactly they are, or how old they are, they are certainly interesting finds.”

Following its discovery in July, 2009, The Staffordshire Hoard, as it became known, was valued at £3.285 million and eventually bought for the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery and Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery.

The campaign to keep the Hoard on UK soil saw prominent figures from a range of different fields – including actress Dame Judy Dench, then Prime Minister Gordon Brown and ex-Rolling Stone Bill Wyman – queue up to lend their support.

The latest collection will be assessed by the coroner and, if it is deemed to treasure, it will be valued. Mr Atkins said it was “more than likely” that another joint fund-raising campaign would get underway to keep the treasure for the Potteries and Birmingham museums. 

The Hoard – the largest collections of Anglo-Saxon treasure ever found - contains more than 3,500 items of gold and silver with precious stone decorations.

But the Hoard is so much more than a collection of precious materials – it’s the legacy of craftsmen whose artistry fashioned these precious metals and gemstones into incredibly detailed sword hilt fittings, helmet parts and other items.