Information for record number MWA1983:
Site of Migration Cemetery at Emscote

Summary The site of an Anglo Saxon cemetery dating to the Migration period. The cemetery was discovered by work men in 1852 and again in 1921. The Myton Brooch (now in Warwick Museum) came from here. The site lies between Mercia Way and the River Avon, Warwick.
What Is It?  
Type: Cemetery
Period: Migration (410 AD - 800 AD)
Where Is It?  
Parish: Warwick
District: Warwick, Warwickshire
Grid Reference: SP 29 65
(Data represented on this map shows the current selected record as a single point, this is for illustrative purposes only and does not represent an accurate or complete representation of archaeological sites or features)
Level of Protection National - Old SMR PrefRef (Grade: )
Sites & Monuments Record
Picture(s) attached

  
Description

  
Source Number  

1 In Warwick Museum is a remarkable brooch found near the railway at Emscote Road. It is sometimes called the Myton brooch. It was discovered about 1852 by a labourer while digging a gravel pit. It is supposed that there were several burials in the same locality, but no exact details are available. It is known that the brooch was associated with a skull, a large crystal bead and part of a silver ring.
2 1921: While excavating for gravel on the right bank of the River Avon at Emscote the workmen disturbed several Saxon interments. At that time five or six graves had been found and a further one was discovered later. Among the finds were spear-heads, brooches and shield-bosses. The skeletons were in a poor state of preservation. With one skeleton a necklet or torque was found. It was made of silver, and is a ring of about 11 cm in diameter, round in section and varying in thickness from 0.4 cm to 0.2 cm. It was fastened around the neck of the wearer by a hook and eye. According to the labourers two gilt-bronze saucer brooches were found with the necklet. From other burials came a pair of 'long' brooches and a pair of flat disc brooches. A Roman brooch was also found.
3 Descriptive text.
4 Myton brooch found at SP2965. Anglo Saxon cemetery at SP2965. Information for both from P B Chatwin, 27:01:1949.
5 Finds in Warwick Museum included the Myton brooch, a large facetted quartz bead and a saucer brooch.
6 It is not known if any other graves were destroyed. Finds are in Warwick Museum, the British Museum and the Stratford Museum.
7 The '1921' date recorded above is not referred to by any of the sources that the HER holds and it is currently unknown where this comes from. Another article found whilst searching for anything to corrobate the 1921 date notes finds being made in the summer of 1923.
8 A brief article published in 1925 notes the summar 1923 discovery of a series of Anglo-Saxon graves at Emscote between the railway and the River Avon. This records that the remains of five or six internments were found. These were reported to the Mayor of Warwick, before recording work was carried out by Philip B Chatwin.
9
10 The area to the west is marked as an area of Woodland on the OS 1887 1:500 map. The trees seem well established. The trees are still marked on the OS 2nd edition (1:2500 1905) map but they are gone and a mound with a flat top is marked on the OS 3rd edition (1:2500 1925) map. The OS 1:1250 1952 map shows the area with no mound and completely flat, probably prepared for the housing that goes in just north of this area in the late 50s/early 60s.
 
Sources
Source No: 8
Source Type: Article in serial
Title: Anglo-Saxon Finds at Warwick
Author/originator: P B Chatwin
Date: 1925
Page Number: 268-272
Volume/Sheet: 5:3
   
Source No: 2
Source Type: Bibliographic reference
Title: TBAS vol 51
Author/originator: Chatwin P B
Date: 1926
Page Number: 39-40
Volume/Sheet: 51
   
Source No: 3
Source Type: Bibliographic reference
Title: Arch J
Author/originator:
Date: 1852
Page Number: 179
Volume/Sheet: 9
   
Source No: 1
Source Type: Bibliographic reference
Title: Victoria County History, vol 1, Warwickshire
Author/originator: Doubleday H A & Page W (eds)
Date: 1904
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet: 1
   
Source No: 9
Source Type: Map
Title: 2nd edition 1:2500
Author/originator: Ordnance Survey
Date: 1900-1905
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 10
Source Type: Map
Title: 3rd edition 1:2500
Author/originator: Ordnance Survey
Date: 1913-1927
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 4
Source Type: Map
Title: 44NE
Author/originator: JMM
Date:
Page Number: 44NE
Volume/Sheet: Annotated Map
   
Source No: 5
Source Type: Record Card/Form
Title:
Author/originator: WM
Date:
Page Number: A2
Volume/Sheet: Accession Card
   
Source No: 6
Source Type: Record Card/Form
Title: OS Card 25NE6
Author/originator: Ordnance Survey
Date: 1968
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 7
Source Type: Verbal communication
Title: Personal Comment
Author/originator: Keith Elliott
Date: 2016
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Images:  
Anglo Saxon brooches and a crystal bead found at a cemetery site at Emscote, Warwick
Copyright: Warwickshire County Council
Click here for larger image  
 
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Glossary

 
Word or Phrase
Description  
source Arch J The Archaeological Journal is published by the Royal Archaeological Institute. It presents the results of archaeological and architectural survey and fieldwork on sites and monuments of all periods as well as overviews of such work. The journal is published annually. back
source OS Card Ordnance Survey Record Card. Before the 1970s the Ordnance Survey (OS) were responsible for recording archaeological monuments during mapping exercises. This helped the Ordnance Survey to decide which monuments to publish on maps. During these exercises the details of the monuments were written down on record cards. Copies of some of the cards are kept at the Warwickshire Sites and Monuments Record. The responsibility for recording archaeological monuments later passed to the Royal Commission on Ancient and Historic Monuments. back
source TBAS Transactions of the Birmingham and Warwickshire Archaeological Society is a journal produced by the society annually. It contains articles about archaeological field work that has taken place in Birmingham and Warwickshire in previous years. Copies of the journal are kept by the Warwickshire Sites and Monuments Record. back
period Roman About 43 AD to 409 AD (the 1st century AD to the 5th century AD)

The Roman period comes after the Iron Age and before the Saxon period.

The Roman period in Britain began in 43 AD when a Roman commander called Aulus Plautius invaded the south coast, near Kent. There were a series of skirmishes with the native Britons, who were defeated. In the months that followed, more Roman troops arrived and slowly moved westwards and northwards.
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monument SITE * Unclassifiable site with minimal information. Specify site type wherever possible. back
monument GRAVE * A place of burial. Use more specific type where known. back
monument ROAD * A way between different places, used by horses, travellers on foot and vehicles. back
monument WELL * A shaft or pit dug in the ground over a supply of spring-water. back
monument MUSEUM * A building, group of buildings or space within a building, where objects of value such as works of art, antiquities, scientific specimens, or other artefacts are housed and displayed. back
monument GRAVEL PIT * A steep-sided pit formed by, and for, the extraction of gravel. back
monument CEMETERY * An area of ground, set apart for the burial of the dead. back
monument BURIAL * An interment of human or animal remains. Use specific type where known. If component use with wider site type. Use FUNERARY SITE for optimum retrieval in searches. back
monument ROUND * A small, Iron Age/Romano-British enclosed settlement found in South West England. back
monument MOUND * A natural or artificial elevation of earth or stones, such as the earth heaped upon a grave. Use more specific type where known. back
monument RAILWAY * A line or track consisting of iron or steel rails, on which passenger carriages or goods wagons are moved, usually by a locomotive engine. back

* Copyright of English Heritage (1999)

English Heritage National Monuments Record