Anglo-Saxon History

Sometimes we must search for these remains; sometimes the earth gives them up as a serendipitous gift. Their former owners prodding our toes as we walk over them; catching our attention; smiling as we stoop to pick up their long-lost belonging or saddened that we will come across evidence of their death. More often than not the dead toy with us, giving us a glimpse of a past story – a few lines, an excerpt, a confusing image of words half-blurred. We peer, trying to interpret them, as we would a road sign through a rain-spattered windscreen. We gather other evidence from history, written records, buildings, the landscape and increasingly use science to unlock hidden secrets. We try to make sense of what we have found. Yet, there is no GPS to the past. That’s most of the fun, where the detective work and the storytelling play their part.

There are a few places where more of the past is preserved. I especially love old English country churches where there is surviving Anglo-Saxon architecture and imagery. To close the creaking door and stand alone, smelling the damp scent of the past on cold, winter days. Ghosts, I am certain, must smell like this. To be sure, old churches have had their share of dramatic changes; through the Reformation, Civil War and Victorian restoration, but beneath their tiled floors what might the past have kept safe? Who is knocking at our soles? Hence the idea of the book and the title.