An Anglian Cemetery at Glaston, Rutland

Extract

The sand-pit at Glaston, Rutland, from which came the example of a rare type of Celto-Saxon fibula recorded in the Antiquaries Journal, xxviii, 169 ff., has since yielded evidence of a small cemetery. By way of preface it may be noted that the settlement which the cemetery represents is situated at a point close to the junction of the Oolitic Northampton Sands with the Lias, an observation stressed by Reginald A. Smith in his article on Anglo-Saxon remains in volume i of the Victoria History of Northamptonshire in regard to Anglo-Saxon cemeteries in the country. It is also applicable to the other known cemeteries in Rutland itself, the selection being determined by accessibility to an adequate water-supply. Reference to the geological map in the V.C.H., Rutland, i, shows that the choice at Glaston follows the general rule on an outlier that thrusts into the Lias as far as Uppingham from the north-south Oolitic band that covers the eastern half of the county.