Sutton Hoo: the Other Barrows and Burials
with Dr Sam Newton (Wuffing Education)
at Sutton Hoo on Saturday 18^th January 2020

An assessment of what we can ascertain about the other barrows and burials at Sutton Hoo, which form the most immediate context for our understanding of the great ship-burial.  Starting with the surrounding Suffolk landscape, we shall then focus in on Basil Brown’s excavations at Sutton Hoo in 1938 and those of his successors, taking each barrow in turn. We shall complete the day with a look at the most recently discovered bu

Provisional Programme

10.00                   Site Opens (tea/coffee available on arrival)

10.30 – 11.25:      Sutton Hoo before 1938 – barrows in the wider Suffolk Landscape.

11.25 – 11.50:      Tea, coffee, & biscuits; orders for lunch.

11.50 – 12.45:      Sutton Hoo 1938 – Basil Brown’s excavations and the finds from Mounds 3, 4, & 2.

                             Sutton Hoo 1986-1991 – Mound 2 revisited; Mound 5 and the possible execution burials.

12.45 – 14.00:      Lunchtime.

14.00 – 14.50:       Sutton Hoo 1986-1991 – Mounds 6, 7, 14, 17 (the horse and rider), and 18.

14.50 – 15.10:       Tea, coffee, & biscuits.

15.10 – 16.00:      The Undug Barrows– Mounds 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, & 15; and the cemetery under the Visitors’ Centre.

16.00:                     Thanks and Farewell

About Dr Sam Newton

Sam Newton was awarded his Ph.D at UEA in 1991.  He published his first book, The Origins of Beowulf and the pre-Viking Kingdom of East Anglia, in 1993, and his second, The Reckoning of King Reckoning of King Rædwald: the Story of the King linked to the Sutton Hoo Ship-Burial, in 2003.  He is also the author of several academic papers, some of which are available at https://independent.academia.edu/SamNewton.  He has lectured widely around the country and contributed to many radio and television programmes, especially Time Team, for whom he worked from 2005 to 2012.  He is a tutor for Cambridge University’s Institute of Continuing Education, an accredited Arts’ Society lecturer, and a Director of Wuffing Education.

Feedback:

When asked ‘What was best about the day?’ at a previous Study Day on this topic people said:

• Whole new insight into Sutton Hoo – I knew very little about the other mounds before. Another excellent day, thank you
• As usual Sam and the subject were well worth the money
• As brilliant as always!
• Dr Sam’s usual enthusiasm for the subject
• View from the centre when the sun came out. Really enjoyed it and learnt a lot
• Views of the mounds from photos and google earth

 

Some Suggestions for Optional Background Reading

• Bruce-Mitford, R., Aspects of Anglo-Saxon Archaeology (Gollancz 1974).
• Bruce-Mitford, R., The Sutton Hoo Ship-Burial, 3 vols (London 1975, 1978,1982).
• Carver, M.O.H. (ed.), The Age of Sutton Hoo: The Seventh Century in North-Western Europe (Woodbridge 1992).
• Carver, M.O.H., Sutton Hoo, Burial Ground of Kings? (London 1998).
• Carver, M.O.H. et al., Sutton Hoo – A Seventh-Century Princely Burial Ground and Its Context, Reports of the Research Committee of the Society of Antiquaries of London 69 (British Museum 2005).
• Evans, A.C., The Sutton Hoo Ship-Burial (British Museum 1986).
• Grainger, G. & M. Henig, “A Bone Casket and Relief Plaque from Mound 3 at Sutton Hoo”, Medieval Archaeology 27 (1983), pp.136-141.
• Green, C., Sutton Hoo: The Excavation of a Royal Ship-Burial (Merlin 1963).
• Lawson, A., E. Martin, & D. Priddy (eds), The Barrows of East Anglia, East Anglian Archaeology Reports, 12 (1981)
• Newton, S., “In Defence of the Wuffings: A Review of Martin Carver’s Sutton Hoo: Burial Ground of Kings?”, Newsletter of the Suffolk Institute  of Archaeology & History, 50 (2000), pp.10-11; also at www.wuffings.co.uk/MySHPages/MOHCReview.htm.
• Newton, S., “Sutton Hoo: Burial-Ground of Dissidents?”, Saxon (Newsletter of the Sutton Hoo Society), 62 (2016), pp.7-8; also at https://independent.academia.edu/SamNewton
• Plunkett, S.J., Sutton Hoo (National Trust 2002).
• Pollington, S., Anglo-Saxon Burial Mounds (Anglo-Saxon Books 2008).
• Williamson, T., Sutton Hoo and its Landscape: the Context of Monuments (Oxford 2008).