Fragments of wool survived in the silver bowl with classical head, protected by the umbrella' of the Anastasius dish, and scraps of woollen cloth were also found sandwiched between fragments of the top two of the inverted nest of ten silver bowls, which had slid off the pole to the north, of keel side. Much more textile than the one large pad shown on the plan by the excavators was found in the drinking-horn/maplewood bottle area. This area was found covered by rotted wood, but the textiles in it probably owe their survival more to the presence of the silver-gilt mounts of the horns and wooden vessels and to the thickness and compactness of the textile layer between wood and metal. Only wool survived here, although evidence suggests that linen was present. The only places in the burial deposit where linen was preserved were within and beside the base-ring of the Anastasius dish;on the double buckle- a small unique scrap of SH15- and, partially mineralised but still identifiable, near the shield boss.
When textile is mineralised (ie. when the threads are wholly replaced by metallic oxides) it is not possible to identify the fibres and so establish whether the cloth was wool or linen, although this may be deduced in some cases from the close similarity in appearance of the replaced cloth to unmineralised cloth, elsewhere in the burial, of which the fibre has been positively identified. Rust impressions and mineralised fragments indicating the former presence of textiles were found in association with the following iron objects: mailcoat, axe, cauldron suspension-chain, sword, scramasax, helmet, the circular escutcheons found inside the silver bowl with classical head, the lamp and some of the cleats thought to be connected with the construction or furnishing of the burial chamber. A replaced (mineralised) fragment of the soumak weave SH7 marked as having come from area A ( the area containing the principal concentration of gold jewellery) was probably derived from the adjacent top of the sword.
The fragments of textile found with the drinking-horn and wooden bottle remains must represent sizeable pieces of cloth, such as blankets, hangings of cloaks. The small fragments of linen associated with goose- down under the Anastasius dish represent the pillow cover and perhaps its case. It seems that in both instances we can establish in general terms the areas covered and arrive at minimum sizes for the cloths.
In addition to the many fragments of textile which survive from the drinking-horn and wooden bottle area there are three thick pads in which numerous layers of leather and of different weaves are compressed. These three pads, which include the largest pieces of textile found in the burial chamber, were 20.5cm, 20.5cm and 15cm in length. The pads have now been separated out and in each the sequence of layers identified has proven to be the same. Two of the pads (A and B) cannot be precisely located within the area but nonetheless we can infer that the whole of it was covered by cloth. This can be deduced firstly from the fact that in almost every instance some textile remains are associated with the fragmentary metal mounts of the horns and bottles as boxed by the excavators and, secondly, from the fact that the same textiles can be located not only over the central part of the area but also both at its west end, as shown on the plan, and its east end, where they register, in the sequence already recognised , in replaced form on the western edge of the mailcoat. The horn and bottle complex occupied a length of 3 ft. and was some 1 ft.6in. in width. Some of the cloths that covered it were certainly doubled, judging by the occurrence of returning A folds on the edge of the mailcoat, and by the presence of double layers in the three pads .
The down pillow appears from the excavators' plan to have covered a length of some 18 in. (45cm) and one may suppose that the pillow cover and presumed slip were approximately of this length. The largest surviving pieces measure up to 10cm by 7.5cm. It does not seem likely that the pillow was much longer than 45-50cm since it had been so there appears no reason why its remains should not have been more widely distributed over the area under the Anastasius dish from which organic remains have survived. Apart from these two instances the pillow and the textiles laid over the drinking horns) it is not possible to make any inference about the size of any textile. We can point to surviving fragments of the same weave in different parts of the burial chamber, fortuitously preserved by contact with corroding iron or other metals , but we cannot say that they belonged to the same piece of cloth or garment, only to an identical weave which could have been employed for a second similar cloth or garment or for a different purpose altogether. The linen broken-diamond twill SH 12, for example, occurred with the remains of the down pillow and is presumed to be its cover; but a fabric very like it (also called SH 12) was found at a point physically insulated from the pillow, and in mineralised form, within a deep fold on the underside of the mailcoat. Although close to each other in the grave, these pieces of very similar linen weave must have served different purposes.
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