11-08-2025
Hundreds celebrate Sutton Hoo burial ship's 1400th anniversary
Hundreds of people visited the site of where an Anglo-Saxon ship was buried to celebrate its 1400th Hoo near Woodbridge, Suffolk, is famous for the excavation that revealed the ship in 1939, considered to be one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of all celebrate the anniversary of the ship's burial in 625 AD, reenactment actors from across the world came together to recreate the burial Musson, the event's organiser who is part of the group Wulfheodenas which celebrates the 6th and 7th Centuries, said it had been "a big task" to orchestrate.
"Sutton Hoo and the burial here, the finds and treasures, have huge significance for Britain," she explained."When I realised it was the 1400 year anniversary, I hadn't heard anything about it being celebrated and I thought it needed to be done."I think it is the biggest gathering of living historians that we've had on the site so I'm quite pleased about that."
Historians believe the ship was for the ruler King Raedwald of East Anglia, but they will never be sure as when the ship was found any bodily remains were claimed by the acidic local soil and only the treasures inside remained. Ms Musson described Sutton Hoo as the "jewel in the crown of Suffolk" and believed it should be celebrated the weekend 80 living historians were also on site while actors portrayed what life was like during this was also a recreation of the ship's burial complete with music and readings.
Colin Steenbergen is a reenactor from the Netherlands, but has lived in Switzerland for past 20 travelled close to nine hours to get to Sutton Hoo after being invited by other Steenbergen said he had been "awestruck" when he saw other well-known reenactors on the site and had met some of his heroes.
"In my opinion it might be one of the most important archaeological finds in western Europe," Mr Steenbergen said of Sutton Hoo."I do think it carries with it an extreme importance and weight which connects people to this day because it is a bit of heritage that we should truly treasure in my opinion," he added.
National Trust customer experience director, Josh Ward, said it had been "the most incredible spectacle" to see so many people come from all over the world to celebrate the site."Sutton Hoo is one of the most important archaeological sites in the world and people do come from all over the place to see it," he said."We've got living history experts not just from across England, we've got people from Switzerland, Austria, Italy, the Netherlands, it's a real international gathering and the biggest living history event we've ever had at Sutton Hoo."
Follow Suffolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
