Following the success of the previous project to reconstruct the famous 6th century shield from Bidford-on-Avon grave-182 with the kind help of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, we were honoured to be asked by the Trust to produce for them a reconstruction of a 6th shield to be shown to visiting school groups, alongside the original finds in their collection vaults, as part of their educational programme in support of teaching for the new national curriculum.   

Although simplifying some aspects of the construction to maximize durability and keep costs for the Trust low, we were pleased to be able to produce a  satisfying result; a highly durable but convincing reconstruction with details linking directly to items in the collection and drawing particular inspiration from Bidford-on-Avon graves 33 and 182. 

A size of approximately 60cm in diameter was chosen; a reasonable size to be handled by pupils in the target agegroup, close to the modal size for 6th century Anglo-Saxon shields, and also fitting comfortably in the upper half of the "medium shield" category (Dickinson and Härke, 1992). Key details of interest which were integrated into the reconstruction included a boss hand forged by our associate smith corresponding to the form of the well preserved boss from grave 33, in the SBT collection, with rivets capped with pure tin achieving a similar look to those of the boss from grave 182, tinned board disc fittings like those of grave 33, an iron lozenge fitting corresponding to the type specimen from grave 33, and a type 1a(i) grip. 

On completion of the project, three members of the Thegns of Mercia were pleased to be warmly welcomed to the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in Stratford-upon-Avon to present the reconstructed shield to staff in person. It is hoped that this shield, displayed alongside matching finds in the collection, will help to bring the Anglo-Saxon age to life in the minds of visiting school pupils, inspire learning about the period, and encourage pupils to consider various basic aspects of interpretation of archaeology. 

With the kind help of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, over 2013-14 we researched the find and attempted a convincing reconstruction with the help of our associate craftspeople, hoping to recreate what the shield may have looked like when new, and with the intention to raise awareness of this important Midlands find. 

The effort began with substantial research; first to track the find down, and then to explore its context. With Bidford-182 sitting in the "borderlands" between the Wessex-influenced upper Thames valley region and the tribal regions that would later form Mercia, it was particularly important to investigate the affinities of the Bidford finds, and the items from grave 182 in particular. Before recreating the artistic elements, it was also worthwhile exploring their meanings. (Our discussion on the cemetery, its finds, affinities, and the meaning of the 182 shield art can be seen here). 

A shield boss closely matching the dimensions of the original was commissioned from our associate smith, while replicas of the decorative gilded copper-alloy fittings were commissioned from our associate historic jeweller. It was necessary to be extremely precise with these items so as to ensure that the gently curving fittings would, in shape, to the sweep of the boss flange. Our jeweler was also able to produce gilded disc fittings corresponding to the reported measurements of the originals. 

The board was constructed by Thegns members Dr Andrew Thompson and Æd Thompson, using 10-year seasoned ash which had been cut from trees felled less than 14 miles from Bidford-on-Avon itself. The board planks were thinned using authentic adzes and chisels to an appropriate thickness, then glued together using hot animal-glue, producing strong bonds between the plank edges. (More detail on the reconstruction here).  With no evidence to infer the size of the board of the Bidford-182 shield, a diameter of 68cm was chosen, taking into account inferences from neighboring finds. 

The board was then covered with oak-tanned leather, fixed in place using hot animal glue, while an edge, again of oak-tanned leather was sewn in place through pre-drilled holes with strong linen thread. The leather was then treated with a beeswax and oil mixture, applied warm and with considerable polishing, to achieve a rich, water-resistant and scratch-resistant finish.  Meanwhile, a grip had been prepared (Dickinson and Harke type 1a(I) ) corresponding closely to the degraded remains of the original. This was fixed in place using soft iron clench-nails (again corresponding to extant remains) atop a wooden component continuous with the boards themselves, then bound with thin calf-skin for added comfort - a technique well evidenced from other 6th century finds.   Although previously skeptical about the security of this rather simple type of shield grip (and preferring the common and more sophisticated type 1b) we found the result to be both surprisingly sturdy and comfortable. 

Following installation of the decorative pieces, the boss was installed using soft iron rivets peened onto roves on the reverse, while, for security, the decorative disc fittings on the board were attached in a similar manner. The shield boss rivets themselves were capped, prior to installation, with tin, as the originals had been, resulting in an impressive juxtaposition of black iron, gold mounts and silver-coloured rivet caps. 

The result, we hope, reflects well what the original shield may have looked like before deposition at some time in the 6th century, with the elements available for study effectively recreated, and conservative choices made with respect to aspects which could not be inferred from the archaeology. 

In April 2014 we conducted a scaled-down simulated Anglo-Saxon cremation, in order to investigate the process, and produce a replica of a fairly typical Anglian cinerary burial as it might be found during excavation. 

To achieve this, we built a small pyre of seasoned oak branches cut to length (simulating round logs), with animal bones placed on top. The pyre took the "criss-cross" form broadly accepted to have been the method for such cremations, and was lit using authentic techniques.      The resulting transformitive roaring flame lasted for approximately two hours, achieving temperatures far in excess of a typical campfire. It was interesting to note that this arrangement encouraged inward, rather than outward collapse, such that un-burned timbers, and the bodily remains themselves were deposited further into the heart of the fire as it burned.   Various aspects of this simulation had been carefully balanced; much of the energy in an open cremation is used up boiling off the huge quantity of water in tissues, but, on the other hand, various constituents of the body (particularly high-energy fats) are thought to promote high temperatures in the pyre.  The ratio of fuel to cinerary matter was carefully chosen to go some way to accounting for other issues resulting from the scaling down of the pyre. 

The following morning, ash, coals, and the degraded bone fragments remained. It was interesting to note that,for the most part the bones remained fairly intact, although they had lost most of their mass, becoming light and brittle.  In a full cremation it is likely that falling timbers would often smash these fragile pieces, but the relatively intact state in our simulation goes some way to explain why bone fragments found in real cremation urns survive in identifiable pieces. 

The remains, including ash, coals, and manually crushed degraded bone, were added to a small replica Anglian cinerary urn fashioned after examples from Loveden Hill, Lincolnshire.  Added to the remains were modest grave goods; a small token bone comb and a copper-alloy toilet set.  

The result was a fairly convincing cinerary urn and contents, ready to be buried at educational events and exhumed by plucky budding archaeologists.    Although simulated inhumations are becoming a familiar feature at educational events, it is very much worth emphasizing the importance of cinerary burials too. Such burials dominate in early cemeteries in Anglian regions, and although the goods associated with this rite are usually less impressive than are found in inhumations, the spectacular nature of such send-offs, and the materials necessary for them show that this rite was not the poorer cousin of inhumation, but rather an elaborate expression of wealth, culture and belief among the pre-Christian communities of England in the 5th-7th centuries. 

Completed in early 2014, the sword "Grásiða" was designed to contrast with our other 9th-10th century sword assemblage "Gram". 

The weapon itself, produced by our associate weapon-smith, is of Petersen Type-K with a substantial iron hilt integrating a large lobed pommel. This, combined with its long and broad blade (again of piled-steel construction but this time more vividly visible) gives the weapon a substantial and severe feel, contrasting well with the rather more elegant Gram. 

Finds of this sword-type have been found across western and central Europe, including Great Britain and Ireland, with well known 'Ulfberht'-branded examples suggesting a Frankish origin of the type. There is nevertheless evidence of widespread manufacture of such swords (including many poorer-quality examples, particularly in Norway) suggesting this style, if initially of Frankish origin, was widely copied.  Remaining in use for some centuries, the Migration-Age origins of the design of such swords is clearly visible, therefore making re-creations like Grásiða a useful illustrator of evolution and transition in sword design, into the "Viking Age".

The sheath of Grásiða, crafted by Thegns member Æd Thompson, was designed to compliment the sword while remaining, as far as possible, true to Anglo-Viking sword scabbard finds. A fleece-lined wood core was carved, accommodating the sizeable blade of the sword. In a deviation from usual procedure, but in line with a number of early Scandinavian scabbard finds, the core was deliberately carved to be slightly loose then wrapped in a "bandage" of linen before the foundations for the leather-moulding were added.       The structure, then coated with animal-glue, was wrapped with wet oak-tanned leather and sewn up the back, with the leather moulded along the foundations as the leather dried and the glue cured. This led to the foundation-moulding designs showing crisply, with the linen-bindings beneath shown as faint diagonal lines. 

It quickly became apparent that internal linen bandaging represented an effective means of regulating the tightness of scabbard-core. Though, in general, tightening the scabbard, the linen bindings can be seen to progressively 'flex' to accommodate the sword, as it is inserted, such that the scabbard remains tight enough to keep the blade secure but not so tight that it is difficult to insert.  It is conceivable that this variation may have emerged as a means of achieving a well-gripping scabbard without the need for the careful fine-tuning of carving and animal-hair length normally involved. It is further, possible that such scabbards may have  maintained optimal tightness for longer, thus a more reliable blade-protector particularly in the context of a lengthy campaign. 

Finished with the trusty "three-strap sling" arrangement, the leather strap-work was supplemented with simple geometric stamped decoration (itself borrowed from a sheath from Coppergate, York) and an elegant bronze strap-divider, buckle and strap-end, of Scandinavian Borre-style contemporaneous with the sword itself. 

The name "Grásiða" - a sword name borrowed from the Sagas - means "grey-side" in Old-Norse, while the Old-English approximation of this name translates to "Grey-scythe"; both strong names for an 'Anglo-Viking' battle companion. 

Grásiða, now completed, we feel is representative of a moderate to high-status 'Viking' sword from the 9th-10th century; an elaborately smithed, substantial hacking blade with a hilt hearkening back to earlier styles, built for function, and with a sheath prioritising durability - with a little ostentatious wealth-display for good measure.

Two 'wælseaxes' or 'killing knives' are represented in the Staffordshire Hoard; a larger weapon represented by the famous Salin Style-II biting-beast decorated hiltplate K567 (previously reconstructed by the Thegns in 2011-12), and a smaller but more richly decorated knife implied by five gold and garnet cloisonné items which came together to form the most elaborate knife-hilt ever discovered from this period. 

In 2013, with the help of some talented associates, we undertook a project to produce a faithful reconstruction of this impressive knife, complete with a suitably complimentary sheath. 

Faithful replicas of the five hilt pieces (K354, k370, k449, k376 and k690) were produced, precisely to scale, by our associate jeweller. It was possible to infer from the aperture and staining on the lowermost piece the cross-section of the original blade, and, from that cross-section, a full blade profile (referring to typologies and contemporaneous finds) with a small margin of error. 

A replica blade was produced to the inferred measurements by our associate blade-smith, of twist-welded construction featuring the classic herringbone 'wrymfah' pattern, composed of two twisted bundles, each of 9 layers, forged flat with a layered iron back and carbon-steel edge. The edge itself had also been repeatedly folded, prior to addition, producing a delightful but subtle "watered" pattern when the blade was finished.   The seax was assembled by Thegns member Andrew Thompson with a composite hilt featuring walnut and dark coloured bovine horn. 

While we can be fairly clear on what the seax would have looked like, the sheath is more of a mystery, as no obvious seax-sheath components remain beyond two tiny buckles (with other possible uses) and a seax of this status is unprecedented. With particular reference to contemporaneous sheaths belonging to seaxes of similar type, a sheath in the well-evidenced "seax scabbard" form was produced by Thegns members Æd and Andrew Thompson, with a fleece-lined wood core, shaped to reflect the shape of the blade, then wrapped with thin, moulded oak-tanned leather. This was fixed with copper-alloy edge strips and clips, with the tip protected by a cast copper-alloy zoomorphic chape inspired by a similar component from the seax from Ford, Laverstock, Wiltshire. 

We were keen to augment this basic, well-evidenced sheath design to raise it to a status befitting the unprecedented richness of the seax, while sticking as far as possible to Staffordshire-Hoard pieces. We chose to integrate six further replica Staffordshire-Hoard pieces, beginning with a pair of zoomorphic terminals (k16 and k1184) adapted as strap-ends and two tiny buckles (based on k685 and k114).
The sheath was finally completed in early 2014 with the addition of two short pieces of gold and garnet cloisonné strip, of the kind abundant in the hoard (in this case featuring the patterns of k273), integrated into the sheath design after continental fashion (most notably demonstrated by the 6th century seax and sword of Childeric I). 

Taking well over two years of planning and research, this project has, we hope, produced a replica seax and sheath worthy of a prince of Mercia, bringing to life what such an assemblage may have looked like at the time of manufacture, and illustrating (particularly with respect to the seax itself) how the now disembodied components present in the Hoard originally fitted together. 

Undertaken in 2013, the aim of this project was to produce a reconstruction broadly representative of moderate-status swords and sheaths used by 9th-10th century Anglo-Saxon and Danish thegns, based on evidence available. 

Produced by our associate weapon-smith, 'Gram' is representative of Petersen Type L swords often referred to as "the English style" due to their frequency in C9th-10th Anglo-Saxon contexts, although more members of this type have been found in Scandinavia than the UK. This type is most commonly associated with Wheeler-V hilts typified by the elaborate high status Gilling-West sword. Such hilts are perhaps the most elegant of the 'Viking-Age', with their curved guards allowing for a more comfortable and relaxed grip, with greater wrist mobility.

This sword has been kept relatively simple, with little decoration on the hilt, representative of most extant examples, and a handle finished with horn.  Gram's blade was built with a piled steel core with hammer-welded steel edges; a construction most notably seen, in this period, on the sword from Canwick Common, Lincolnshire. 

The sheath, constructed by Thegns member Æd Thompson, was designed with particular reference to available organic evidence from the relatively complete 10th century Gloucester scabbard find, and discarded scabbard-leathers recovered from Coppergate, York. 
The wood-core construction (housing an animal-hair lining to cushion the blade) wrapped with oak-tanned leather was supplemented with modest foundation-moulded radiating lines (consistent with some earlier finds) integrated with a triangular internal scabbard-slide fashioned from horn. This component was not universal on scabbards of the period, but is well evidenced from impressions and slits featured on many of the Coppergate leathers, and the scabbard from Gloucester. Strong definition of these designs was achieved by applying warm animal-glue as a gel to the foundation, sewing the leather tightly up the back while wet, then moulding the leather into the valleys as the glue cured. 

Evidence for the suspensions of such scabbards are rare. Here, we took inspiration from the Norse 'Bellateare scabbard' remains from the Isle of Man, with a secondary band on the scabbard attached to the main baldrick via a three-way strap divider. This has been shown to immobilise the sword well and comfortably, preventing bouncing or swinging of the scabbard even when running. 

Together, this sword and sheath are not "flashy" as with the ostentatious assemblages of the 6-7th century, but represent an elegant and functional simplicity thought to have been favoured during the latter half of the 'Anglo-Saxon period' in England, with emphasis shifting from display to practicality.