Final day of our holiday…
We are travelling home tomorrow, and so today was the last day of exploring the area around Suffolk. The forecast was supposedly cooler, but it felt a lot hotter today (weirdly!) 28C/83F - there was no breeze, so maybe that was the difference.
We decided to visit Sutton Hoo - in 1939 the burial site of an Anglo-Saxon King was discovered along with the Great Long Ship he was buried in, and the treasure that he was buried with. The Anglo-Saxons lived in the area following settlement in the 5th Century by travellers from the Netherlands, Germany and southern Scandinavia. They were instrumental in creating the English language, and lived by farming and trading.
Sutton Hoo (in old English Sūt tūn hōh - Southern+Settlement+area of raised land) - along with many other areas of Suffolk had several burial mounds which area still visible:
Many burial sites had been looted for their treasure, but no-one realised that the large 'bump' at the front of the photo contained a huge long ship and some beautiful treasures. In 2021 the film The Dig told the story and starred Ralph Fiennes and Carey Mulligan. You can watch the trailer here.
This is Edith Pretty (1883-1942) owned the estate where 18 burial mounds lay. She was very interested in archeology and so invited amateur archaeologist Basil Brown to explore them in 1937. This painting dates from 1939 and was painted by the Dutch artist Cor Visser (a refugee from The Netherlands).
He also painted her son Robert who was eight at the time of the discovery of the treasure. She was 47 when he was born, and Frank, her husband died in 1935 so it was just Edith and Robert at the house at the time of the discovery.
This is Sutton Hoo House (now called Tranmer House) where they lived.
The house was rather lovely and you can stay in the upper floor!
I liked the servant bells...
There's a sculpture of the boat - it's the largest ever found in the UK.
Some treasure! A gold pendant made from a coin.
A display about the processes when making cloisonné jewellery ...
such as this shoulder clasp.
A replica of the Sutton Hoo helmet. The original is in the British Museum.
A replica of the burial shield.
It was interesting but as most of the treasure is at The British Museum we only saw reproductions of it which is a shame. We had a quick snack lunch and then headed back to the AirBnB, stopping off at a local farm to walk their animal trail. We saw alpacas, cows, pigs, goats, turkeys, geese, quail, donkeys, rabbits, Guinea pigs and sheep. We'd bought some food - here is Mr Cee feeding a friendly sheep :)
That was enough for today - it's muggy and hot so we're taking it easy!
We decided to visit Sutton Hoo - in 1939 the burial site of an Anglo-Saxon King was discovered along with the Great Long Ship he was buried in, and the treasure that he was buried with. The Anglo-Saxons lived in the area following settlement in the 5th Century by travellers from the Netherlands, Germany and southern Scandinavia. They were instrumental in creating the English language, and lived by farming and trading.
Sutton Hoo (in old English Sūt tūn hōh - Southern+Settlement+area of raised land) - along with many other areas of Suffolk had several burial mounds which area still visible:
Many burial sites had been looted for their treasure, but no-one realised that the large 'bump' at the front of the photo contained a huge long ship and some beautiful treasures. In 2021 the film The Dig told the story and starred Ralph Fiennes and Carey Mulligan. You can watch the trailer here.
This is Edith Pretty (1883-1942) owned the estate where 18 burial mounds lay. She was very interested in archeology and so invited amateur archaeologist Basil Brown to explore them in 1937. This painting dates from 1939 and was painted by the Dutch artist Cor Visser (a refugee from The Netherlands).
He also painted her son Robert who was eight at the time of the discovery of the treasure. She was 47 when he was born, and Frank, her husband died in 1935 so it was just Edith and Robert at the house at the time of the discovery.
This is Sutton Hoo House (now called Tranmer House) where they lived.
The house was rather lovely and you can stay in the upper floor!
I liked the servant bells...
There's a sculpture of the boat - it's the largest ever found in the UK.
Some treasure! A gold pendant made from a coin.
A display about the processes when making cloisonné jewellery ...
such as this shoulder clasp.
A replica of the Sutton Hoo helmet. The original is in the British Museum.
A replica of the burial shield.
It was interesting but as most of the treasure is at The British Museum we only saw reproductions of it which is a shame. We had a quick snack lunch and then headed back to the AirBnB, stopping off at a local farm to walk their animal trail. We saw alpacas, cows, pigs, goats, turkeys, geese, quail, donkeys, rabbits, Guinea pigs and sheep. We'd bought some food - here is Mr Cee feeding a friendly sheep :)
That was enough for today - it's muggy and hot so we're taking it easy!