Gemma Hagen | Researcher | Digging For Britain

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30/05/2010

Sutton Hoo Society publications

Last few Society publications available at discounted rate

The Society is to stop trading in publications and what we have left are available at a discounted rate.

Currently available to members are:-
Through the Rear-View Mirror  (Markham) 30 copies at 5.00 + 3.00 p&p
Anglo-Saxon Sailing Ships       (Gifford)    30 copies at 1.00 +  75p  p&p
Gold under the Bed                 (CD)         15 copies at  5.00 + 2.00 p&p
 
Once these copies have sold the books will continue to be available at the National Trust shop at Sutton Hoo as remaindered stock at their prices.
 
We also hold copies of "My Life in Archaeology" by Prof. Charles Phillips at a highly reduced rate.

Please contact Mrs. Pauline Moore on 01394 382617, or at
69, Barton Road, WOODBRIDGE, Suffolk, IP12 1JH
for further details or to order at the reduced rate.

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22/05/2010

Society Summer Outing to Wychurst

Society members to visit Wychurst Manor, Kent 12th June

On Saturday 12th June 2010 the Sutton Hoo Society Summer Outing will see members visit Wychurst Manor in Kent. It is here that Regia Anglorum have constructed a fortified manor house (properly a Manorial Burgh) from the late Anglo-Saxon period. The ditch-and-bank surround about one acre, at the heart of which is the Longhall, which dominates the enclosure.

This very impressive building is the only one of this kind in Britain, comparing well with others in Scandinavia.

During the afternoon there will be a raid on the site and during this time our visitors will be penned into a roped enclosure - for our own safety! Hopefully Paul Mortimer (King Raedwald) will be there to protect us!

This promises to be an interesting day out for Society members.

http://wychurst.regia.org/

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13/04/2010

The Staffordshire Hoard

Dr Leahy to talk to The Society

Society members will be able to hear Dr Kevin Leahy talk about his involvement in the finding and recording of the Staffordshire Hoard.

This should be a fascinating insight into this fantastic and eye-opening discovery.

It will be on Saturday 29th May 2010 at 11 am at The Riverside Theatre, Woodbridge.

Tickets are priced at £6.50 for members and £7.50 for non-members. Contact suttonhoo@ntlworld.com for booking details.

http://www.staffordshirehoard.org.uk/

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11/03/2010

New Light in Dark Places one day conference

Recent Discoveries & New Directions in Anglo-Saxon Studies

Saturday 8 May 2010, 9.50am - 6.20pm (registration from 9.15)

Kenneth Clark Lecture Theatre, The Courtauld Institute of Art, Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 0RN

In recent years significant advances have been made in the field of Anglo-Saxon studies. The discovery in July 2009 of the Staffordshire Hoard, comprising over 1600 objects, is the latest in a series of remarkable finds. Bringing together many of the leading scholars in the field, this one-day conference will provide a lively forum for evaluating the current state of research and exploring future research directions. Focusing initially on the hoard and its wider 7th century context, the topic will be expanded to examine art and architecture throughout the Anglo-Saxon period. The conference will be followed by a reception.

To book a place: £15 (£10 concessions and Courtauld staff and students). Please send a cheque made payable to 'Courtauld Institute of Art' to: Research Forum Events Coordinator, The Courtauld Institute of Art Research Forum, Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 0RN, stating that you wish to book for the 'New Light in Dark Places' conference. For credit card bookings call 020 7848 2785. For further information send an email to ResearchForumEvents@courtauld.ac.uk

http://www.courtauld.ac.uk/researchforum/events/2010/summer/may8_anglosaxonstudiesconf.shtml

www.courtauld.ac.uk/researchforum/events/2010/summer/may8_anglosaxonstudiesconf.shtml

www.courtauld.ac.uk/researchforum/documents/AngloSaxonposter-prog_2_.pdf

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11/02/2010

Sutton Hoo Society Spring Lecture

SHS Spring Lecture, Wednesday 21 April

Wednesday 21 April, 19.30

SHS Spring Lecture

Stephen Sherlock discusses his discovery and subsequent excavation of the Northumbrian royal cemetery at Street House, Loftus, Teesside.

Tranmer House, Sutton Hoo

SHS members £3 non-members £4

Please contact suttonhoo@ntlworld.com for booking details

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02/11/2009

The Sutton Hoo Society Stag Pin

The Stag Pin - logo of the Society available to buy.

The Stag Pin - logo of The Sutton Hoo Society now available to buy.

These are silver replicas commisioned from Michael Carpenter of Debenham, Suffolk. The whetstone sceptre from the Mound One ship burial at Sutton Hoo is believed to have been crowned with a red stag deer. This stag is the logo of The Sutton Hoo Society and these replica pins are a unique item of jewellery.

Priced at £21 plus post & packing for members please contact suttonhoo@ntlworld.com for purchasing details. Non-members please contact the same address for pricing details.

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01/11/2009

A Celebration Lecture

A celebration lecture to mark the 70th anniversary of the discoveries at Sutton Hoo.

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08/05/2009

Society Member publishes 'Raedwald' era novel

Pauline Moore, the Society's publication officer, has had her 'Raedwald' era novel 'Storm Frost' published. The story revolves around the tangled relationship between Raedwald, his brother Eni and the novel's heroine Niartha.

It is published by AuthorHouse and available from them at  www.authorhouse.co.uk and also online at Amazon as well as in Waterstones and The National Trust shop. Other bookshops should have it. The ISBN is 9781438959955.

Although a work of fiction the author has made use of ancient manuscripts and sources.

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15/03/2009

Spring Lecture

Spring Lecture, Wenesday 25 March at Tranmer House

This years Spring Lecture will be presented by Richard Newman on 25 March at Tranmer House. The talk will begin at 7.30pm and is free to Society members with a charge of £4.00 for non-members. Please contact Mike Argent on 01728 747716 to reserve seating as spaces are limited.

Richard is going to talk about Romans and Saxons on the river Alde.

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15/02/2009

Back Copies of Saxon

Back copies of the Society newsletter Saxon are available to buy.

Please email suttonhoo@ntlworld.com for details of copies available and costs and postage details. These contain many varied and interesting articles including conference and Spring lecture write ups.

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12/12/2008

Member's Discount on Tom Williamson's new book

Tom Williamson's write up of the research into the Sutton Hoo burial ground and the East Anglian landscape sponsored by the Society is now available with a discount to Society members. Full details of member's discount will appear in the next issue of Saxon. For those of you who can't wait you can order the book from the publisher by following the link on our homepage.

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25/10/2008

2008 SOCIETY CONFERENCE REPORT

Arts and Crafts in the Mead Hall The Roots of English Culture - 170 delegates attended the sixth Society Conference at the Seckford Theatre, Woodbridge School on 25th October.

SPEAKERS’ RESUMES WILL BE ON THE WEBSITE EARLY 2009

170 delegates attended the sixth Society Conference at the Seckford Theatre, Woodbridge School on 25^th October. They were treated to exciting and stimulating lectures from five speakers, all experts in their field, who delivered a broad spectrum on the subject of the Anglo-Saxon Hall. Chairmen Martin Carver (pictured left - Photo: Nigel Macbeth) and Angela Evans steered the day with customary engaging style.

The Society’s first conference in 1998 was held in the old school hall, but it became clear that the seating capacity was not going to be adequate for future events. This all changed when the school’s Seckford Theatre opened in 2006, a modern purpose-built theatre incorporating all the technical facilities required for staged performances and conferences.

It was ideal; comfortable and airy, with foyer, dining room and bar. An adjoining room offered space for book stalls, craft stands etc. where delegates browsed and chatted during coffee and lunch break.

^{Back row (left to right): Stephen Pollington, Neil Price, Earl of Cranbrook (Society President), Angela Evans, Sam Newton. 
Front row: King Raedwald (alias Paul Mortimer), Helen Geake, Jenny Walker. (Photo: Nigel Macbeth)}

SPEAKERS

Jenny Walker is a PhD student in her final year at the University of York. Recent research and published work has focused on the function and ideology of the Early Medieval Hall. She is presently completing further research that was presented at the Early Medieval Northumbria Conference held in Newcastle.  
Jenny discussed the organisation of space and activities within the Hall with an interpretation of its functional and ideological use. Through the presentation of case studies, she considered the meaning and ideology behind this spatial organization and the architecture and construction of the Anglo-Saxon Hall itself.

Neil Price is currently Chair of Archaeology at the University of Aberdeen, having previously held the post of Reader in Archaeology at the University of Uppsala (Sweden). He has written extensively on the Viking Age and has conducted research projects in France, Iceland, Russia and Lapland. 
Neil examined how in the Iron Age Scandinavian world, from which the early English took inspiration, the Hall was not only the seat of power and status, but also a highly ritualised space. He moved on to review the archaeological and textual evidence for this, including discussions of sacrifice and ritual dining, offering ceremonies to gods and supernatural beings, and the cultic overtones of hospitality. The concept of funerary halls was also considered, extending their metaphors into the afterlife.

Sam Newton is a freelance lecturer and tutor in Wuffing and Early Medieval Studies, running courses in and around East Anglia. In 2002 he co-founded Wuffing Education which runs study days at Sutton Hoo. He regularly contributes to radio and television, including Channel 4’s Time Team. Sam explored what Old English verse reveals about the significance of the Mead-Hall in Anglo-Saxon culture. He explained current experimental work in Old English music and ended his talk in dramatic fashion with an extract from Beowulf, accompanied on his own replica Sutton Hoo lyre.

Helen Geake is currently Finds Adviser (post-Roman artefacts) for the Portable Antiquities Scheme.  She has become a familiar face on Channel 4’s Time Team where she appears regularly. Helen discussed how early Anglo-Saxons used costume to signal gender, age, status and ‘ethnic’ origin. She focused on the public arena of feasting in the Mead Hall, when women in particular may have been highly visible. She went on to explain that costume reconstructions have hitherto come from archaeological evidence of dead people in graves – how different, then, was the everyday dress of the living?

Stephen Pollington has long been involved in the promotion of Old English studies and is the author of several books on the subject. As well as a successful lecturer, he has appeared on radio and television and acted as a consultant for both.Stephen demonstrated how the Mead Hall was one of the central institutions of Anglo-Saxon society, acting as a platform for religious, judicial and social activities. He argued that the most important function of the hall was the part it played in the imagination.

^{Below: Pictures from the conference.}

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