Trumpington bed burial
 Shown within Cambridgeshire
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| Location | Trumpington, Cambridgeshire, England, United Kingdom |
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| Coordinates | 52°10′19″N 00°06′18″E / 52.17194°N 0.10500°ECoordinates: 52°10′19″N 00°06′18″E / 52.17194°N 0.10500°E |
| Type | Tomb |
| History | |
| Periods | Anglo-Saxon |
| Site notes | |
| Excavation dates | 2011 |
The Trumpington bed burial is an early Anglo-Saxon burial of a young woman, dating to the mid-7th century, that was excavated in Trumpington, Cambridgeshire, England in 2011. The burial is significant both as a rare example of a bed burial, and because of the ornate gold pectoral cross inlaid with garnets that was found in the grave.
The Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge has indicated that it wishes to acquire the pectoral cross once it has been valued by the Treasure Valuation Committee.
The occupant of the grave was a young woman, aged about 16, who was buried lying on a wooden bed (now decayed, but identifiable from its iron brackets). She was buried with a number of grave goods, including an iron knife, a chatelaine, and some glass beads that perhaps originally decorated a purse. Most notably, an ornate gold pectoral cross was found on her breast. The small cross, only 3.5 cm across, is inlaid with garnets, and would have been sewn onto the robe that she was wearing, as indicated by loops on the back of each arm of the cross.
The bed burial and three other Anglo-Saxon graves were discovered in summer 2011 as part of a series of archaeological excavations carried out by the Cambridge Archaeological Unit of the University of Cambridge in Trumpington Meadows, on the outskirts of the village of Trumpington, within the city of Cambridge, prior to the redevelopment of the land for housing. The excavations uncovered a variety of features from a long period of time, including two long barrows dating to the early Neolithic, a double burial dating to the Beaker culture, and an Iron Age settlement. The Anglo-Saxon graves and other Anglo-Saxon features, including sunken floored buildings, were discovered in a field north of the meadows. Of the three other graves, two were also of young women, but none of them were bed burials or contained any grave goods. It is thought that the buildings and graves must be associated with a settlement, perhaps a monastic community, although no early Anglo-Saxon settlement was previously known to exist at Trumpington. Examples of 7th-century religious foundations for royal women include Barking Abbey, Essex for Saint Ethelburga and Minster Abbey, Kent founded for Saint Ermenburga.
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