SUTTON HOO - My Buried History

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SUTTON HOO

Shoulder clasp

2 boars in interlocking design

20% garnets
20% millefiore glass

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A rare piece of treasure from the celebrated Sutton Hoo excavations is to return to its finding place.

The ornately decorated purse lid was found at the Suffolk burial site in 1939 following the dig that unearthed the remains of an Anglo Saxon ship and possessions of a warrior king, thought to be Raedwald, Saxon king of East Anglia.

Almost certainly made in East Anglia in the seventh century, the purse lid is the finest of its kind ever found. It is elaborately wrought in gold and inset with millefiori glass and more than 1,500 pieces of garnet featuring ornate designs of men and mythical beasts.

It has been on display in London’s British Museum since its discovery, along with the rest of the treasure hoard, but an agreement between the National Trust, who owns the Sutton Hoo site, and the museum means that it can return to Suffolk for a special exhibition.

The purse lid was made to cover a leather pouch containing gold coins and would have hung from the waist belt. It contained a collection of 40 Frankish coins and two gold ingots.

It is likely to have been made by a master craftsman and is one of the best examples of early medieval jewellers’ work to be found in northern Europe.

Although replicas of many of the Sutton Hoo finds are housed in the National Trust’s visitor centre at the site the majority of finds have been in the British Museum since 1942.

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These shoulder clasps from Sutton Hoo were probably made by the same craftsman that made the purse lid.

© British Museum

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The shield-fittings reassembled.

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Reconstructed lyre

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EXCAVATING AT SUTTON HOO

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