ANCIENT SITES
s the storm clouds of the Second World War
gathered ominously over Europe, in the
peaceful, rolling countryside of Suffolk an
amateur archaeologist unearthed the nal
resting place of an ancient warrior king, rewriting the
story of English history.
Overlooking the quaint market town of Woodbridge
two hours northeast of London, the unassuming landscape
of Sutton Hoo rises up from the banks of the picturesque
River Deben, which winds its way inland from its mouth
at Felixstowe Ferry on the Suffolk coast. For decades,
the mysterious mounds that cover the area had inspired
folkloric local legends, capturing the imagination of Sutton
Hoo’s landowner and keen spiritualist Edith Pretty. During
the 1930s, she invited Basil Brown, an excavation assistant
at nearby Ipswich Museum, to undertake a series of
archaeological investigations on the site.
While the initial digs revealed that Sutton Hoo’s barrows
had been largely plundered by 16th-century grave robbers,
when work began on Mound One in the early summer of
1939 it led to a discovery comparable to that of the
celebrated tomb of King Tutankhamun.Previous page: Replica
of the Anglo-Saxon
helmet at Sutton Hoo
Clockwise from right:
Sutton Hoo buckle;
one of the burial
mounds; Edith Pretty
at a dig in 1939Painstaking excavation by Brown and his team of
volunteers revealed the ghostly, but distinct, imprint
of a grand burial ship visible in the regular latticework of
rust-coloured lines staining the sandy soil. While the ship
had all but disappeared, a veritable treasure trove of over
260 intact items, ranging from a fragmented full-face
helmet and shield, to bejewelled weapons, a gold buckle
and Byzantine silver bowls, signalled the tomb had once
housed a high-born member of Anglo-Saxon society.
Later research led to today’s widely accepted theory that
the occupant was King Raedwald of East Anglia, who had
died around AD 625, coinciding with the site’s timelines.
The remarkable discovery overturned preconceptions
that the historic era, in the wake of the Roman Empire’s
decline, was culturally stagnant and disorderly. Instead,
it showed an outward-looking society, boasting established
international trade routes and a burgeoning artistic tradition
evidenced by the ornate imagery on many of the artefacts.
Today, Sutton Hoo is managed by the National Trust,
which has recently undertaken a £4 million project to
transform the visitor experience, entitled ‘Releasing the
Sutton Hoo Story’. The nal elements of the venture reach