The excavation of an early cemetery with over sixty burials at Garforth in my home area of the central West Riding has been described in reports this week as being a site of exceptional importance. This is because the site contains late Roman graves - one clearly a high status female in a lead coffin - alongside those of apparently pagan Anglo-Saxons with grave goods. Nearby there are the foundations of late Roman buildings and early Anglo-Saxon ones. It is also the first Anglo-Saxon cemetery to be found in the area, whereas in the East Riding such discoveries have been a standard feature of the archaeological record.
The implication of this is of two communities living and, indeed, dying and being buried alongside each other or of a continuity of occupation in the fifth and sixth centuries.
The excavation is reported by the BBC News website at Roman burial unearthed at hidden Garforth cemetery and by Arkeonews at Historic Leeds cemetery discovery unearths an ancient lead coffin belonging to a late Roman aristocratic woman
The significance of this is not just of apparent coexistence but also is related to its location. This is the territory of the British Kingdom of Elmet which survived as a separate entity until it was taken over by King Edwin of Northumbria in 616-17 - that is only a decade before his conversion and baptism by St Paulinus at York in 627. As a result it appears that Paulinus found either a residual British Christian community or at least its abandoned churches at places such as Dewsbury. The tradition is that he baptised converts in the river Calder there, the burh of someone with the very British name of Dewi. Yorkshire has several such place names with Celtic rather than Anglian roots.
Such evidence is fragmentary but fascinating in the quest for this outpost of Romano-British life in the era of conversion and Northumbrian expansion. The Wikipedia article on the history of Elmet is a good starting point and I see it includes research that was not available when I lived in the area. It can be seen at Elmet There is also the linked article about the last ruler of the kingdom at Ceretic of Elmet
As the main Wikipedia article points out the memory of Elmet endured for many centuries in place names for not a few villages, and still for two today, as well as for medieval wool and a modern parliamentary constituency.
The Garforth cemetary potentially adds significantly to our knowledge of Elmet, and casts additional light on the so-called Dark Ages.
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