Monument record MCC8488 - Colchester - Mersea Road cemetery

Summary

Roman and Saxon burials, arms and urns found according to Cutts in Cromwell Road E of the Mersea Road.

Location

Grid reference TL 9974 2473 (point)
Map sheet TL92SE
Non Parish Area COLCHESTER, COLCHESTER, ESSEX

Map

Type and Period (2)

Full Description

Roman and Saxon burials, arms and urns found according to Cutts in Cromwell Road E of the Mersea Road. The site is plotted by Hull on his map as being S of Fairfax Road, of Cromwell Road. <1> Three iron spearheads and an iron shield boss were found during the construction of 10 Mersea Road in 1873. A second shield boss was discovered before 1897. The weapons were undoubtedly from inhumations, although no bones are recorded as having been found. The spearheads belong to Swanton's series D1, C1 and H2 and date to the fifth to seventh centuries. Both bosses are of the low cone type attributed to fifth and sixth century contexts. <2> Another group of finds believed to be from the Mersea Road Saxon cemetery was accessed by the Colchester and Essex Museum in 1926. The principal finds are 21 beads, 3 bronze buckles, the head of a radiate brooch and a bone comb, a Roamn coin of Claudius II Gothicus and a late Roman bronze buckle. <2> A further group in the Joslin Collection, assembled in the 19th century, comprises shield bosses, spearheads and pottery belonging to the period fifth to seventh centuries. <2>

Sources/Archives (2)

  • <1> MENTION: Hull, MR. 1958. Roman Colchester. p294.
  • <2> DESC TEXT: Crummy, P. 1981. Aspects of Anglo-Saxon and Norman Colchester (Colchester Archaeological report 1). Colch Arch Rep 1; CBA Res Rep 39 p14-19.

Finds (3)

Protected Status/Designation

Related Monuments/Buildings (0)

Related Events/Activities (0)

Record last edited

Nov 3 2015 11:41AM

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