This brings back memories - a story given prominence on the front page of the BBC News site this morning talks about the 'King of Bling', a member of Saxon royalty found buried in Prittlewell, near Southend, Essex.

This is the same king whose burial goods I went to see at the Museum of London a couple of years ago, and who merited a radio piece I heard whilst writing an essay on exactly the subject of royal burials. So he's pretty much the symbol of all those months and months of Anglo-Saxon toil, to the point where I'd occasionally stroll down the streets of Oxford thinking to myself, 'Not too many people my age actually know this much about these people.'

Of course there's a very good reason for that, seeing as they're not particularly relevant and no one really cares. Except the guys now protesting outside the King of Bling's burial site, and even they care as much about the trees and park that will be reduced to nothing by the proposed new road. Still, it's nice that someone has the time and resources to fight for these little slices of pre-history.