Sutton Hoo

I spent the whole day today at the wonderful National Trust location, Sutton Hoo. I love history and the way it’s covered by the National Trust and the Sutton Hoo Society is fabulous. I started, as you do, with a drink and cake at the cafe, then went round the High Hall exhibition with some original objects found on the site and lots of replica items from the dig at the main burial mound in the late 1930’s (the originals are in the British Museum). My photo is of a large artistic installation representing the stunning helmet that was found. Then I walked up to the burial mounds for midday talk by an excellent Sutton Hoo Society guide about the history of the Anglo Saxon burial site (from around the year 600) and its discovery. The talk was free, was delivered inside the site (roped off to the public normally) and lasted over an hour. I then walked around the site perimeter and walked up the 17m viewing tower. I’ve added an extra showing two photos, the top one is looking from the perimeter, across the burial mounds with the viewing tower opposite, and the other showing how much more impressive the site is when you can see it from above. Then I sat outside in the sun for about half an hour, out of the north wind it was a glorious warm & sunny day. Then I went round Tranmer House on the site which houses exhibitions about the archeological work undertaken including lots of photos of the main dig completed just as WWII started. If you’ve seen the film The Dig, the photographer was a man, but in reality the dig was photographed by two women, Mercie Lack ARPS and Barbara Wagstaff. If you’re interested, the photos can be seen here https://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/article/the-photographic-collection-of-mercie-lack-and-barbara-wagstaff-at-sutton-hoo

A fabulous day, the only negative was lots of travel issues with roadworks, several closed roads, and long alternative routes.