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Iron knife. It has inlaid silver decoration of a row of semi-circles, a herringbone pattern and letters of an unreadable word. The handle is missing.
Knife
Gilded silver brooch, square at the top and in a cross-like shape beneath. It is decorated with patterns of interlaced lines.
Brooch
Round gold brooch with decoration radiating out in rings from the centre.
Saucer brooch
Spherical brown pot.
Pot
Obverse of a silver penny of King Alfred, bearing a bust of the king with a band around his head and an inscription, 'AELFRED REX'.
Penny

Anglo-Saxon London

The Anglo-Saxons were amongst those who invaded London when the Romans quit Britain in 410. The Anglo-Saxons built a trading centre along the Thames, west of the old Roman city. By 600 they had settled around the area which today is the Strand.

I say that I am useful to the king and to the magistrates and to the wealthy and to all the people. I go aboard my ship with my goods and row over parts of the sea, sell my things and buy precious treasures that are not produced in this country. These latter I bring here with great peril from the sea. Sometimes I suffer shipwreck and lose all my wares, hardly escaping with my life.

Aelfric's Colloquy, about 998

In the 4th and early 5th centuries, the rulers of Britain employed foreign mercenaries to protect the country from raiders. These mercenaries rebelled, leaving the way open for invasion by the Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Frisians from Germany and Holland.

These invaders developed Lundenwic, a trading centre upriver from the walled city built by the Romans. The original site of Roman London remained abandoned for over 150 years.

The Anglo-Saxons also settled on farmland in the countryside along the Thames valley. Early cemeteries and settlements have been found in places such as Ham, Mitcham and Hammersmith.

The influence of the Anglo-Saxons was considerable. The majority of local place names in the London area are of Anglo-Saxon origin, and their language forms the basis of English.

Between the 7th and 11th centuries, the Romanised British population of London either intermarried with the Anglo-Saxon settlers or were driven out. By 600, the Anglo-Saxons had established a settlement in the Strand area.

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