Winchester Reliquary

Portable altar made before parish churched were built, but is it evidence of Winchester's earliest known theft?Containing the relics of a saint, this served as a devotional object and portable altar. Dating to the 9th century it is the only Anglo-Saxon reliquary of this type to found in this country. It was made at a time when the Viking invasions destroyed many of Europe's centres of arts and learning - including Winchester. Found in 1976, in a cesspit dated to 925-950, the circumstances of its discovery lends the reliquary a particular interest. We can be certain that the church did not dispose of its holy relics in such a manner and another explanation for its location needs to be found. Did a thief steal it from a church thinking it was made of gold, and on finding that it was made of gilt copper and of little value throw it into the cesspit? Is this evidence of Winchester's first known crime?

Portable altar made before parish churched were built, but is it evidence of Winchester's earliest known theft?