Cranford Review 2019

On Thursday 10th January 2019 the History
Department organised an educational trip to
the exhibition Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms: Art,
Word & War at the British Library in London.
The exhibition provided a once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity to see some of the relics of the Anglo-
Saxon age which are rarely put on national display.
It gave a unique insight into Anglo-Saxon people,
their culture and literature with a fascinating array
of religious texts, artefacts, swords and objects
from before the year 1000 as well as both copies
of the early Norman Domesday Book.
Never again in our lifetime will as large a collection
of Anglo-Saxon history artefacts be collated for
public display in one place. The collection was
donated to The British Library for a limited time
only, from private and public collections from
across Europe.
The St. Cuthbert Gospel is the oldest existing
covered Bible in existence and was written in the
early 7th or 8th century at Wearmouth-Jarrow. It is
the oldest European book with an original, intact
cover and binding. The red goatskin cover reflects
Christian imagery from the Eastern Mediterranean. The book was found in 1104, lying at the head of
Cuthbert who died in 687, when the Saint’s coffin was opened at Durham Cathedral.
The Alfred Jewel was found in 1693, a few miles from King Alfred the Greats’ fortress at Athelney in
Somerset. It is inscribed with the Anglo-Saxon for ‘Alfred ordered me to be made’. It is likely that it was
the handle for a small pointing rod which would help with following and reading religious texts.
Possibly the most transfixing of all of the artefacts, was the Sutton-Hoo Great Gold Belt Buckle, a solid
gold belt buckle, made in the early 600s and almost 6-inches long. This was found as part of the burial
mound excavated at Sutton-Hoo in 1938-1939.
Tom Rich (Head of History Department)
Year 12 British Library trip
“Willkommen” to the Modern World Languages Department
Backe
backe
Kuchen
Over Christmas, our year 7 and year 8
students studying German got busy baking
typical German biscuits. They even had
to follow a recipe in German. The results
looked amazing and tasted as good as they
looked. The students took the recipes home
to make the biscuits in their own kitchens and
sent us photos as evidence. Their baking they
shared with their families over the Christmas
period, a tradition which is very much part of
the German Christmas festivities.
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Alexandra Manole (Head of German Department)