About Us
The Sutton Hoo Society, a registered charity, was established to support the work of the Sutton Hoo Research Project, which undertook an archaeological excavation and research programme between 1983 and 1992. In part the Society's early role was guiding visitors around the excavations.
Today, the Society has an extensive training programme for Sutton Hoo Society Guides who offer burial site tours and Exhibition Talks, and works alongside the National Trust to promote interest in the site and Anglo-Saxon archaeology and history.
The Society:
- Hosts bi-annual conferences
- Holds annual lectures
- Organises Society outings
- Publishes a twice-yearly members Newsletter,
'Saxon'
The Society's Funding Policy achievements include:
- The provision of numerous items during the 1980s campaign, including trowels, spades, wheelbarrows, sieves, portable showers, site toilets, catering equipment, grass mower, finds hut and ticket office.
- Donated £5,648 for the Intertidal Survey Project SCCAS (Suffolk County Council Archaeological Service).
- Donated £9,500 toward the completion of Martin Carver's 'A seventh century princely burial ground and its context' the final report of the 1980's excavation campaign. This included the dating of Mound 17, geophysical work, ground truthing, and illustrations.
- Donated £4,500 for the NT exhibition replicas of sword, shield and spear (Mound 17)
- Provided 2 field telephones for the Visitor Centre at Sutton Hoo
- Donated 100% ticket sales to the NT at the first Anglo-Saxon Festival at Sutton Hoo (2004) organised by the Society
- Sponsored theatrical productions (Mrs Pretty & Basil Brown monologues) for two successive years at Sutton Hoo (written by Peppy Barlow)
- Sponsored £22,500, phased over three years, for a major research project by Dr Tom Williamson (University of East Anglia). 'Sutton Hoo in Context: the Site and its Landscape' (published 2008)
- Donated £1,500 toward the production of the CD 'Gold Under the Bed' compiled by Peppy Barlow
- Contributed £1,200 toward the NT winter exhibition: The Life of Edith Pretty
- Sponsored the conservation of a portrait of Robert Pretty by the artist Cor Viser, and the purchase of a clock owned by Edith Pretty
Funding commitments for the future include:
- £8,500 to SCCAS to carry out air photo analysis, topographic, magnetometry and metal detecting surveys on the area currently suspected to include the villa regio of the East Anglian Kings mentioned by Bede.
- £3,500 for AMS (Accelerator Mass Spectometry) dating of the 2000 cemetery cremations, hopefully to produce more accurate dating and bring a greater insight into the generally poorly understood chronology at Sutton Hoo. (SCCAS)