A small piece of Anglo-Saxon gold can change the direction of your thinking.
In 2025, Arthur, my son, and I uncovered an ancient gold relic while metal detecting in Lincolnshire. It's still unclear exactly what the object once was, but I believe it may have formed part of a 7th-century dagger fitting. What struck me immediately was the craftsmanship. Tiny twisted wires, granulation, absolute precision.
My investigation into all things Anglo-Saxon led to me runes.
The Anglo-Saxon rune system, the Futhorc, was used in early England. You can still find it carved into stone crosses in the north, etched into blades recovered from rivers, and preserved on objects in British museums.
The more I read, the more I realised these marks weren't simply decorative carvings or an ancient alphabet. Each symbol carried an idea alongside its sound. Protection, endurance, union, legacy. A mark that was also a value. That feels strangely rare now. One object in particular stayed with me: the Thames scramasax in the British Museum, a long Anglo-Saxon blade engraved with the complete Futhorc alphabet.
Back at the workshop, that interest in runes is now making its way into the collections. The second of the Treowth launches to be precise.
These symbols on a piece of jewellery will be visible to everyone, and there is a beauty inherent in their forms, but their meaning is usually only really understood by the wearer.
To most people they will simply appear as strange marks. But for the wearer, each rune carries something specific beneath the surface.
At the workshop, my master setter and engraver has been practising hand engraving the runes, first into brass before any marks touch precious metal. Rune forms behave differently under the tool: angular, deliberate, cut rather than drawn.
We have been focusing on seven runes in particular as shown in the reel above, each carrying its own meaning:
- ᛉ Eolh — Protection, defence, a guard held up for others.
- ᛏ Tir — Courage, honour, resolve in difficulty.
- ᛋ Sigel — Journey, progress, movement through life.
- ᘾ Nyd — Endurance, necessity, strength under pressure.
- ᚹ Wen — Joy, harmony, the feeling of things sitting right.
- ᛞ Dæg — Union, connection, the bond between two.
- ᛟ Ethel — Legacy, inheritance, what is carried forward.
Watching those marks emerge under magnification has been strangely moving. Tiny cuts catching the light exactly as they would have centuries ago.
Treowth began with a piece of gold emerging from a farmer's field.
Since then, it has quietly become something larger: a search for meaning through craftsmanship, symbolism, and objects made to last.
A mark cut into precious metal once meant something.
Perhaps it still can.