Oxfordshire's Historic Archives
Preserving and Enhancing Access to Historic Oxfordshire
Records of Archaeological Work held by the Ashmolean Museum

Site Name: Wallingford

Site Location: South-East Oxfordshire
Related Achive: Manning (and Leeds)

Percy Manning recorded a number of archaeological finds at Wallingford. The most prominant of these being a late Bronze Age hoard found in the River Thames just below Wallingford Bridge. The hoard included bronze axes, a chisel, a gouge, a razor, a knife, a spearhead and a leaf-shaped sword. The sword is now held by Reading Museum but the rest of the hoard is in the Ashmolean Museum (AN1927.207-2711). Another part of the hoard was in the collection of Rev. J.C. Clutterbuck and given to the Ashmolean Museum in 1908 (AN 1896-1908 PR372-375).

The finds documented in the Manning archive include:

a bronze axe found in around 1840 in Kinecroft,
a Bronze Age cremation burial containing an urn with burnt bones, found in the floor of a stable at the back of a building on the High Street,
a Roman vessel found containing a number of Roman coins found in Chalmore Gardens,
a Roman eagle and spearheads found in the River Thames at Wallingford,
a late ninth century Danish sword hilt decorated with engraved silver mounts found in 1874 (AN1890.14) and
a small urn recovered in 1879 from a field at Rush Court, a mile outside of Wallingford.

Percy Manning also mentions a number of Anglo-Saxon axe and spearheads found in the River Thames at Wallingford.

An early Anglo-Saxon cemetery was also excavated at Wallingford from 1924 to 1938 containing at least 24 burials and 6 cremations. (Find out more about this cemetery)