Anglo-Saxon heritage on display at museum (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Anglo-Saxon heritage on display at museum

CIRENCESTER is famed for its rich Roman heritage.

Yet the remains of a princess and other artefacts from the Anglo-Saxon era are generating plenty of interest at the town's Corinium Museum this week.

Schoolchildren and adults alike have been mesmerised by the life-size figures and items on display in the museum's newest major collection, which has been made the subject of a special theme week.

Archaeological officer Paula Gentil, who has been giving a series of lectures on the collection, said: "It's internationally important.

"We often do this sort of thing with the Roman collections but we have never had an Anglo-Saxon display like this at the museum before.

"We've had a marvellous reaction."

At the centre of the Anglo-Saxon display is the so-called Mrs Getty, a princess, who was discovered covered in jewellery during an excavation at Butler's Field in Lechlade during the 1980s.

Experts using techniques made famous in the hit TV series Meet the Ancestors have recreated her features and her head forms part of the dramatic new display.

School parties have been taking part in a number of workshops, making everything from Anglo-Saxon shields and brooches.