Sutton Hoo Part Two - Inside

There are two National Trust buildings at Sutton Hoo one has the shop, cafe and toilets and the other holds the displays telling the story of the Anglo Saxons and the burial.

Reconstructions of many of the items found in the ship are on display, the originals are in the British Museum

And the huge shield

Sorry this isn't very clear. They are reconstructions of the Lyre and lyre bag

Picture of the textiles specially for all knitting/crafting bloggers!

Son was interested to see this display, as his Archaeology company had done some work there. He said they'd also checked the ground where the NT had recently built a compost toilet on the Sutton Hoo site.

Rendlesham is just up river from Sutton Hoo. More about Rendlesham HERE

As we were living not far away from Sutton Hoo when we were at the smallholding we went to visit when it first opened to the public in 2002 but there wasn't much to see at all. We went a few years later when they had more of a display including a life-sized reconstruction of a section of the ship with the furnished burial chamber. That's gone now they've reorganised the displays which is a pity as it was quite effective.

Lots more about Sutton Hoo HERE but it's worth going for a proper look. I now need a visit to Woodbridge where experts and volunteers are in the process of building a full sized replica of the ship. It will be quite a sight when it's finished, their website is HERE.

Back Tomorrow

Sue

Sutton Hoo Part One - Outside

 Son and Daughter in Law found an online voucher for free admission to a National Trust property for October and they hadn't been to Sutton Hoo for many years and I'd not been since they built the viewing tower and refurbished the displays in the main building so we all went together. Including youngest granddaughter and middle grandson of course.

Sutton Hoo is all about a ship burial containing an important man from the Anglo-Saxon period and his treasures - thought to be King Rædwald - and hidden beneath a mound in the 7th Century, rediscovered properly in 1939 and made even more famous recently with the film The Dig (wiki info HERE).

This is what I wanted to see .........the relatively new viewing tower. 81 steps up to see the view over the burial mounds - sorry the sun was wrong for this photo.

Below are the remains of the burial mounds. Much flatter than they would have been originally. The one with the rope around is the main ship burial.

(The dozens of little metal huts in the distance are for outdoor pig production - very big area for this all along the light land of the Suffolk coast)

This sculpture of the skeleton ribs below shows the size of this boat, must have been hard work dragging it uphill from the river and then burying.

Below you can just see the river in the distance down the valley, across the other side is the town of Woodbridge.

Lots of heathland walks all around the estate and son said they have recently been able to acquire land by the river which they hadn't had before.

Tranmer House, the home of Mrs Pretty who owned the estate at the time of the dig in 1939. It is laid out downstairs as a 1930s property and upstairs are holiday flats available to rent.

Tomorrow they will be some photos of inside the exhibition hall

Sue

What Job Does Your Daddy do?

If you ask Youngest Granddaughter this question her answer is he digs in muddy holes in the ground!

 On  Friday we went down to Clare on the Essex/Suffolk border to see the "muddy holes in the ground" which son is in charge off. It's a community thing, lasting for 3 weeks and this is the 3rd and final year of funding.

 

All that is left of Clare Castle on the top of the Motte

We walked all the way up to see the remains

The dig is looking to map the extant of what was the cemetery of Clare Priory.

 From the top of the Motte there's a good view of the excavations. The building on the right is an old engine shed. Once a small branch railway ran through here, which has confused the archaeology  and probably destroyed quite a lot of stuff.

 

Lots of bits found, they have volunteers digging and washing everything as it comes out of the ground.

This little piece of medieval glass is one of the best finds

 A view over the roof tops of the small old town of Clare from the top of the Motte.

I visited this church (one of the 100) when we went down to see the dig two years ago.

Back Tomorrow

Sue

Last Saturday in September

It's been a fun news week - NOT!  and even though I rarely watch much news on TV - all I've heard this week are warnings ........................  

Not enough turkeys for Christmas  }

Shortage of fresh pre-packed meat  }                } these all due to a shortage of CO2

Shortage of bagged salads              }  

No toys on the shelves for Christmas

Not enough gas to supply everyone for winter 

Electric and gas prices shooting up

People waiting 8 hours for an ambulance

 And then  the fuel thing - NOT a shortage of diesel or petrol, just slow deliveries due to shortage of lorry drivers. If people just carried on filling up as usual there wouldn't be a problem but Media Hype means that when I went out with DiL and the grandchildren yesterday and we needed fuel to get where we were going, the queues were crazy.  Sainsbugs had run out of diesel and at the next garage DiL put in ¾ tank full before that too ran out.

It's official......................the world has gone mad. Do you know what I'm going to do next week?...............................Stay at home and read all those library books on yesterday's post!

 

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 The October Parish Magazine has landed through the letter box this week and with things re-starting I've discovered this is a village of Coffee mornings....................

Every Monday there's one in the Old School room - all for free!

Tuesday mornings every week - in the Church - donations for the church

Then on the First Saturday of the month  coffee morning and lunches as well- in the Old School Room again, not sure who that's raising money for.

The Rural Coffee Caravan calls on the first Friday of the month - they bring information as well as coffee for free but you have to take your own chair and mug (bit chilly outside)

Then there's an extra one on the first Saturday in October which is a fund-raiser for animal charity.

 

 

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  Here's  a small glimpse at where we were going when  we needed to fill up with diesel ....... all the way to the Suffolk /Essex border.

Just as two years ago Son, the archaeologist, was in charge of the volunteers and digging at this site.

More about this on Monday 

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Today Youngest Daughter was going to visit but she daren't as she couldn't get any fuel for her car in Leiston. She said the queues were down the road all day! I have to go for a flu jab this morning and annoyingly they're not doing them at the doctors in the village due to building work so I have to go to the other surgery.

Then there's the village yard sales tomorrow, I shall haul my junk  out of the garage and see if I can make a few pennies. 

I'll leave you with photos of youngest granddaughter,

"Take a photo of me posing Nanna" she said. "Posing?" I said "Yes" she said "like this". 3½ going on 13!!

 

 

Whatever you are doing this weekend I hope you don't run out of petrol! Have a good weekend.

Back Monday

Sue

 

The Archaeologist

My Archaeologist son is supervising volunteers on a dig in Clare Castle Country Park, on the Suffolk/Essex border.

 DiL, Willow and I went to have a look at the dig last week. Son showed us around, I'm glad he was there to tell me what was what as they just look like holes in the ground to me!

They are digging in the bailey below the Castle Motte, an area that was more recently a goods yard for the old railway to see if they can find exactly how big the moat was and also further down to find anything to predate the Norman Castle and also another nearby trench has been put in to find out the area of a cemetery relating to the Minster or Monastery that was also on the site for some years. They found burials further away from some found in a dig a few years ago. I took a photo but son told me off ! Not done to take photos of burials he said. The bones are to be recorded and left.

The diagram on the bench shows a cross section of the Castle keep on top of the motte, the moat and inner and outer baileys

The silver half-coin below dates back to William 1st not long after 1066. The key-plate is probably from a medieval box or casket. Top left is decorated glass 

A bit more about the first week finds HERE

There are up to 20 volunteers each day of all ages including some older children who are being home-schooled - a better way of learning some history than being sat in a classroom....... I'm a big fan of home schooling.

Just after we left Son was on BBC Radio Suffolk talking to one of the presenters about the dig and the finds so far. The dig finishes soon but there is funding for another 3 weeks next summer. 

Willow needed a play on the climbing frames, slide and swing and then we had lunch in the Old Station Cafe.

 It makes me so happy to know Son is doing a job he loves and thank goodness when Cotswold Archaeology Company  merged with/took over Suffolk Archaeology CIC they kept their Suffolk office so he didn't have to move away. I would certainly miss seeing my littlest granddaughter now.

Thanks for comments about the autumn decor - it's good to have a bit of a change now and again.

Back Tomorrow
Sue