Sutton Hoo

Back in May we visited Sutton Hoo on our way home from Southwold. I remember doing a project at school about the Anglo Saxon burial ground, in fact I made a scroll and wrote on it in runes, it has always been a place that intrigues me.

It was Edith Pretty and Basil Brown who discovered the burial ship and it's amazing treasures. It is said to be one of the greatest archaeological discoveries, Time Team have completed work on a cemetery at the site and recently some additional excavations. The replica of the boat at the visitor centre shows just how big it was.

It's a very large site, high above Woodbridge and te River Deden. It's amazing to think they pulled the boat up to the chosen site. It would be a hard task today with our modern machinery, it must have taken ages and many men.

It's quite a walk from Edith Pretty's house, with many burial mounds. I imagined it was just one but there are large mounds and smaller ones. Standing tall but not in an obtrusive way is a viewing tower, the lower level is accessible but it was quite a lot of stairs to the top .... it was so worth it, what a view.

Edith's house stands high above the river, it's a lovely house in itself. The upper floors are closed and are used by the archaeologists still researching the site. Downstairs is mainly exhibits of photos and records, very different to a furnished National Trust property.

The visitor centre however had many finds, including replicas of important discoveries that are now in the British Museum. The intricate designs are amazing, such skilled craftsman. The collection of coins and the helmet were my favourite but all the items were impressive.

We had a great visit and will be watching Time Team as they have discovered the other part of a highly decorated bucket. The top half had already been found but thought yo have been broken by ploughing. They have found and removed the bottom and are now cleaning and investigating it ... their YouTube channel has lots of videos, hopefully later this year we'll know more.