The Sutton Hoo Treasure

Mrs Edith Pretty of the village of Sutton Hoo, overlooking the River Deben and the town of Woodbridge in Suffolk, had long believed that there were important ancient burial mounds on her property. In 1938 she asked an archaeologist, Mr Basil Brown, to excavate several of the barrows.

Three of the mounds had been robbed in ancient times but one still contained a spectacular Anglo Saxon burial chamber built inside a 30 metre long wooden ship.

The treasure included armour, weapons, gold coins, gold jewellery with garnet settings, silver cups and silver-supported drinking horns as well as a leather purse with a jewelled cover containing thirty-seven golden Merovingian coins, three coin-sized blanks and two ingots. It is considered one of the best British treasures ever discovered.

The burial chamber was probably constructed for an East Anglian monarch (bretwalda) - most likely King Raedwald.

The ship-burial probably dated from the early 7th century is one of the most magnificent archaeological finds in England.