Sittingbourne sword discovered

An Anglo-Saxon sword is being studied at the Heritage Centre in Sittingbourne.  Bridgitte Tetteh.

Transcript

00:00Meet the scientist from Sittingbourne who's been given the important task of preserving

00:05a 1,500-year-old Anglo-Saxon sword, which was discovered down the road in East Kent.

00:14Scalpel blade is my most trusty, like for 40 years I've been wielding the scalpels.

00:21I also use thorns and, what is this, porcupine quill, because it's softer.

00:29Dana Goodburn-Brown is a conservation expert who's taken over one of the local shops in

00:35the town centre and set up a high-tech lab.

00:38Now she's teamed up with local archaeologist, that's Dr Andrew Richardson.

00:43But this sword is exceptional because first it's still got its hilt fittings and there's

00:50a silver, it's got this ring on the pommel which we think is significant.

00:54Well Andrew says the discovery should be a real source of local pride.

01:00At this time, Kent was the destination and items from as far afield as Sri Lanka and

01:06Africa came to Kent, they weren't going to London, they were coming to Kent because Kent

01:11was such an important, vibrant, well-connected little kingdom at that time.

01:15So it's a time we should all look back on fondly.

01:19Now at the moment it's being kept here at the Heritage Centre, which is in the shopping

01:24centre in the heart of Sittingbourne, but inside the centre is where you'll find a kind

01:28of CSI lab and I'm going to go and meet the archaeologists and scientists who are trying

01:34to find out a bit more about this artefact's hidden history.

01:38And using her specialist microscope, Dana can magnify the details on the sword by more

01:45than 10 times to reveal hidden clues.

01:49Like a sword in a burial is a sword and all the things that were buried with that person,

01:54so it's an amazing time capsule.

01:56And while the sword's final resting place will be at Folkestone Museum, for now it's

02:01staying in Sittingbourne and will be the main feature of a festival next month.

02:07So we're having a festival on Sittingbourne High Street, February 22nd, and we'll have

02:13it displayed for that, for the Swale with Sail Sittingbourne High Street Festival.

02:17So there'll be people dressed up in Anglo-Saxon attire, doing weaving, talking about medicine

02:24in the past.

02:26We're celebrating the town's history.

02:28You can find all the details on the local CSI Sittingbourne Facebook page.

02:34Brigitte Teter, out and about for KMTV.