There are several artefacts currently on display at the British Museum (Upper Floor, Rooms 36-37), which were found during the excavations of two Anglo-Saxon Cemeteries in Sleaford in the nineteenth century. The photographs on this page are of some of the items found during the 1881 excavation. These items were acquired by the British Museum in 1883.

The first Anglo-Saxon cemetery was discovered whilst digging for gravel in 1828. It lies mainly in a field called Grey Lees in Quarrington, on the north of the road from Sleaford to Ancaster, extending over a part of the field on the other side. Human skeletons were found on top of the gravel, as well as more human remains that had been consumed by fire and partly gathered into vases. With these were found numerous grave goods, such as spear heads, horse harness, brooches, clasps, buckles, bead necklaces, and bronze and bone pins. Some of these were drawn by the Rev. Charles Terrot and appear in plates in Edward Trollope's History of Sleaford. At least one of these items, a rough grey vase found full of fragments of burnt bones and dark earthy matter is held by the British Museum.1

The second Anglo-Saxon cemetery was discovered in 1858 during work carried out to extend the Grantham and Sleaford railway to Boston. Human skeletons were revealed in a pasture field lying on the outskirts of the town in the parish of Old Sleaford, to the south of the present level-crossing at the junction of Southgate and Mareham Lane. Each skeleton lay about 18 feet below the surface and was accompanied by a shield, spearhead and knife, all said to be in a fair state of preservation. The spearshafts were still distinguishable as made of ash. Some of these items are illustrated in Edward Trollope's History of Sleaford.2

The second phase of excavation on this site was carried out by the archaeologist George Thomas in 1881, when the railway was extended to Boston. He was only able to investigate the south-western corner of the cemetery but, out of a total of about 600 identified graves, 240 were opened, revealing a total of 241 skeletons.The graves were arranged in rows at intervals of about ten feet. With about twelve exceptions, the skeletons were lying according to pagan custom on their left side, doubled up, with knees bent and hands before the face. One of the graves contained a child in whose hand were six Roman coins. Other graves contained perforated coins worn as pendants on necklaces.3

1. Edward Trollope, Sleaford and the Wapentakes of Flaxwell and Aswardhurn (1872), Plates II, III and IV, pp. 98-100.
2. Edward Trollope, Sleaford and the Wapentakes of Flaxwell and Aswardhurn, (1872), Plate V, pp. 100-1.
3. L. Faraday, 'Relics from Lincolnshire in the British Museum - 3. Anglo-Saxon', Lincolnshire Magazine, 4, 47-9; Simon Pawley, The Book of Sleaford (1996), pp. 12-14.