PAST EVENTS
Reports on events and trips can be found in editions of SAXON on line here.
2025
Annual General Meeting, 7.00pm, Friday 7th March
The meeting is followed by a talk Time Team at Sutton Hoo 2024 with Angus Wainwright (NT Regional Archaeologist) and Dr Helen Geake (Time Team).
All members welcome.
Vista Suite, Ufford Park Hotel, Yarmouth Road, Melton, IP12 1QW
2024
40th Anniversary Lecture Series: the remaining three out of four lectures available free to Society members. The first, Making Money in Anglo-Saxon England was presented by Rory Naismith of the University of Cambridge, and was held in July
September, Thursday 19th: Dr Michael Bintley, University of Southampton: Trees and Woodland in early medieval England: Texts, Landscape and Material Culture
October, Tuesday 15th: Dr Rik Hoggett, Heritage Consultant: Burial and Belief in Anglo-Saxon East Anglia
November, Tuesday 26th: Prof. Michelle Brown, Professor Emerita, University of London: From East Anglia to the Middle East: Anglo-Saxons and the Exotic
These lectures will be available free to members. The Zoom link will be emailed to you a few days before the event when more information will be sent through.
EXCURSION: 22nd July to Winchester and Salisbury
LECTURE: Wednesday 17th July. Lecture held on Zoom.
Professor Rory Naismith Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge presented a lecture on Making Money in Anglo-Saxon England as part of the 40th Anniversary lecture series.
DIGGERS’ DAY: Reunion: Saturday 22nd June:
Diggers’ Day, a reunion event at Sutton Hoo for people who had dug or been involved in the Sutton Hoo Research Project’s excavations between 1983 and 1992.
SAXON FESTIVAL: Saturday 25th May in collaboration with the National Trust and the Ship’s Company at Woodbridge; lectures and VIP tours at Sutton Hoo.
BASIL BROWN MEMORIAL LECTURE: Saturday 18th May in Ipswich at THE HOLD, Suffolk Archives, Fore Street, Ipswich IP4 1LN
Professor Sarah Semple, of the University of Durham presented a lecture on An Anglo-Saxon Palace revisited: Yeavering in the kingdom of Northumbria
LECTURE: Tuesday 7th May by Bill Barton (British Astronomical Association): Basil Brown’s Astronomical Achievements on the 100th Anniversary of Basil’s observation of the Transit of Mercury.
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING: Friday 1st March 2024 at Ufford Park Hotel, Melton
The meeting was followed with a talk on Anglo-Saxon London by Professor Rory Naismith, Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.
2023
RENDLESHAM EXCAVATIONS TOUR: Tuesday 12th September: members private tour of the Rendlesham Excavations hosted by Faye Minter and Professor Chris Scull
EXCURSION TO NORTHUMBRIA July 2023: Excursion to Northumbria and Yeavering (Ad Gefrin) with Windmill tours
LECTURES: Three lectures on Zoom by Dr Rosemary Hoppitt:
21st November: Sutton Hoo Illustrated: Sutton Hoo in paintings and drawings. A review of the ways in which artists have depicted the landscape of Sutton Hoo, the excavations and the reconstructions
9th October: The Sand Bodies of Sutton Hoo; their excavation, preservation and interpretation. An examination of the so-called sand-bodies or deviant burials excavated at Sutton Hoo in the 1980s and 1990s.
17th July: Sutton Hoo 1982: the start of the Carver campaign. 40 years on since the beginning of the Sutton Hoo Research Project this talk examined the background to the project, the context in which it came into being, some of the challenges faced along the way, and some of the early work on the site.
SAXON FESTIVAL: 27TH May – 3rd June in collaboration with the National Trust and the Ship’s Company at Woodbridge: a week of activity
BASIL BROWN MEMORIAL LECTURE: Saturday 20th May in Ipswich at THE HOLD, Suffolk Archives, Fore Street, Ipswich IP4 1LN
Professor Chris Scull: Rendlesham revealed: the discoveries at Rendlesham in the age of Sutton Hoo, and the rise of Ipswich.
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING: Friday 4th February 2023 at Ufford Park Hotel, Melton
The meeting was followed with a talk on Seventh century transformations in Burial: A big data approach by Dr Emma Brownlee, Research Fellow at Girton college Cambridge
2022
RENDLESHAM EXCAVATIONS TOUR: 9th September; members private tour of the Rendlesham Excavations hosted by Faye Minter and Professor Chris Scull
BASIL BROWN MEMORIAL LECTURE: Saturday 7th May at the Riverside Theatre, Woodbridge
Thomas Williams, FSA, former Curator of medieval coins at the British Museum and author Viking Britain (2017) and Viking London (2019) gave lecture on The Kingdom of Essex and other stories: exploring Britain’s lost realms in which he discussed themes from his forthcoming book on the forgotten kingdoms of early medieval Britain: Lost Realms: Histories of Britain from the Romans to the Vikings.
LECTURES: Three lectures on Zoom by Dr Rosemary Hoppitt:
1. The Story of Mound 2: Described by Martin Carver as ‘this much visited and turbulent piece of ground, the talked tracked the history of the mound and its significance.
2. Sutton Hoo 1982: the start of the Carver campaign: 40 years on since the beginning of the Sutton Hoo Research Project this talk examined the background to the project, the context in which it came into being, some of the challenges faced along the way, and some of the early work on the site.
3. The Sand Bodies of Sutton Hoo; their excavation, preservation and interpretation: An examination of the so-called sand-bodies or deviant burials excavated at Sutton Hoo in the 1980s and 1990s.
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING: Friday 4th March 2022 at Ufford Park Hotel, Melton
The meeting was followed with a talk by Professor Martin Carver on The reconstruction of the Sutton Hoo Mound 1 ship by the Ship’s Company in Woodbridge.
2021
During the coronavirus epidemic, events were limited, and held on Zoom
BASIL BROWN MEMORIAL LECTURE: Saturday 8th May on Zoom
Angus Wainwright, Regional Archaeologist, National Trust, gave a talk on Sutton Hoo, the Real 1939 story: a Modern Archaeologist’s View
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING: Friday 5th March 2021 on Zoom
The meeting was followed with a talk on Basil Brown of Rickinghall: Beyond Sutton Hoo by local historian and author Sarah Doig.
2020
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING: Friday 21st February 2020 at Sutton Hoo,
The meeting was followed with a talk on Princely Burials by Susanne Hackenbeck of Cambridge University.
2019
BASIL BROWN MEMORIAL LECTURE: Saturday 13th April at the Riverside Theatre, Woodbridge
Professor Michelle Brown FSA, Professor Emerita, University of London and former Curator of Medieval and Illuminated Manuscripts at the British Library discussed The Introduction of manuscript culture to Anglo-Saxon England.
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING Friday 1st March, 2019 at Ufford Park Hotel, Melton
The meeting was followed with a talk on The material world of the Old English ‘Andreas’ by Dr Michael Bintley of Birkbeck College, University of London.
Other visits have included:
Southend Museum to view the finds from the Prittlewell princely burial.
Norwich Castle Museum
Roman Colchester
Battle Abbey, Sussex
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
Parker Library, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
Colchester Castle
Archaeological site at Lyminge, Kent
Excursions have been led to Denmark, Sweden, Ireland, Northumbria, Northamptonshire, Essex, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire and elsewhere in Suffolk.
