Dame Rosemary Jean Cramp, DBE, FSA, FBA (6 May 1929 – 27 April 2023) was a British archaeologist and academic specialising in the Anglo-Saxons.

[7] Cramp went on to study English language and literature at St Anne's College, Oxford,[3] where her tutor was Iris Murdoch.

[1] She remained at St Anne's to study for a postgraduate Bachelor of Letters (BLitt) degree under Christopher Hawkes, which she completed in 1950.

[9] Cramp began her academic career at her alma mater, the University of Oxford,[5] where she was a fellow and tutor of English, with a specialism in Anglo-Saxon, at St Anne's College from 1950 to 1955.

[1][3][10] In 1955, a job appeared at Durham University for a lecturer who could teach history, English, and archaeology; Cramp "applied rather half-heartedly, got it, and a bit reluctantly came north".

[18] From 1963 to 1978, Cramp excavated at Monkwearmouth–Jarrow Abbey, Northumbria, leading the team which discovered remains of the seventh and eighth-century buildings.

[20] Reflecting on the excavation, Cramp described the moment, saying that the shards of glass "looked like jewels lying on the ground.

"[26] Cramp's Jarrow excavations led to the development of a museum and education programme, which eventually became Bede’s World.

[10] At the same time as her excavations at Monkwearmouth-Jarrow, Cramp was helping to develop the Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture, which was launched in 1977.

[2] In the 2011 Queen's Birthday Honours, she was promoted to Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) 'for services to scholarship'.

It was titled Image and Power in the Archaeology of Early Medieval Britain: Essays in Honour of Rosemary Cramp, and was edited by Helena Hamerow and Arthur MacGregor.

[40] Two blue plaques honouring her were unveiled in 2024, one located at Jarrow Hall; the other, at the house she lived in on Church Street, in Durham, from 1972-1988.