There are accounts on the Internet today of a recent excavation at Cookham on the Berkshire bank of the Thames which has identified the site of a major eighth century Mercian monastery. This is being seen as a discovery of national importance.
Not only was this a significant house for women religious but it appears to have been a base for Mercian ‘soft power’ in the Thames Valley and trading through London and its links to the continent. After the death of King Offa in 796 his widow, Queen Cynethryth, became abbess of the monastery, a further indicator of its status.
The site revealed a significant number of artifacts, including window glass and items of women’s jewellery, demonstrating its importance and the quality of life there.
The reports can be seen at ‘Lost’ Anglo-Saxon monastery discovered next to Cookham church from The Independent and at Monastery of powerful Anglo Saxon queen discovered in genteel Thames-side Berkshire village from The Art Newspaper
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