Art and About: Walking Anglo-Saxon London

There are no glorious Anglo-Saxon buildings to be seen and such artefacts as have been recovered are in the Museum of London but even so there is a an enormous amount for us to discuss and imagine. On the walk we will consider six questions: 1. Was there an Anglo-Saxon London? (yes) 2. If so, where was it? (on the walk) 3. What was it? (we will speculate) 4. Why there? ( we will argue) 5. When was it? (we can be quite precise here) 6. Where did it go? (speculation time again) To answer the six questions we will consider six sources: 1. Received wisdom and its merits 2. The Written record 3. The Geographical setting 4. Our walk around five key archaeological sites 5. Language and place names 6. Collections of artefacts and manuscripts The walk and our discussions will draw heavily on the wonderful work of the Museum of London Archaeology Unit (MOLA) and in particular Lyn Blackmore, Robert Whytehead, Robert Cowie, Dr, Gustav Milne, Rory Naismith. This walk and talk is largely the result of their scholarship over many years. A reading list and copies of the sources as well as a link to a virtual version of the walk will be provided.