Publisher's Synopsis
The cemetery lay south of the modern village of Tittleshall, on the side of a Bronze Age barrow. It was founded in the 5th century, and was in use throughout the 6th and early 7th century. One male burial may belong to the later 7th century. The graves of 28 men, women and children were recorded, and the cemetery has been interpreted as the burial plot of a small farming household. The range of artefacts in the graves indicates that the people who lived here were well provided with material goods. A young boy was buried in fine linen with the remains of a sword scabbard, and it is argued that this family was a sword-bearing lineage of local prominence. A study of local landholding patterns suggests that the land unit was originally small, but that it later expanded to form the modern civil parish through the absorption of neighbouring manors. It is probable that the cemetery ceased to be used when occupation moved to settlements of the Middle Anglo-Saxon period which developed into the modern village of Tittleshall.
