Huge ‘cult house’ from 1,400 years ago uncovered beneath a farm in Suffolk

The remains of a possible temple dating back 1,400 years have been discovered on private farmland near Sutton Hoo.

Experts who excavated the remains say the building may have been used for pre-Christian worship or was a “house of worship.”

Sutton Hoo in Suffolk is one of the country’s most important historic sites. In June 1939, as war approached, archaeologists discovered a burial chamber at the site full of extraordinary treasures, ultimately revealing an Anglo-Saxon royal cemetery that revolutionized early English history.

Since then, the area continues to reveal astonishing secrets from the past.

Last year the remains of a large wooden royal hall were uncovered at Rendlesham, four miles away, confirming the site was a settlement of East Anglian kings.

Suffolk County Council said excavations this year found evidence of fine metalworking associated with royal occupation, including a mold for casting decorative horse harnesses, similar to those known from nearby Sutton Hoo.

The Rendlesham complex turned out to be more than twice as large as previously thought and was bordered by a nearly kilometer-long canal covering an area of ​​15 hectares – about the size of 20 football pitches.

The royal residence was part of a larger 50-hectare settlement complex whose size and complexity was unique in the archeology of fifth- to eighth-century England, the council said.

The burial on a longship at Sutton Hoo, about four miles from Rendlesham, is believed to be the final resting place of King Raedwald, who reigned in the 7th century.

The discovery of a ‘possible temple’ in Rendlesham was made this summer by Suffolk County Council’s lottery-funded community archeology project Rendlesham Revealed.

The project’s lead academic advisor, Professor Christopher Scull from Cardiff University and University College London, said: “The results of the Rendlesham excavations speak clearly to the power and wealth of the East Anglian kings and the sophistication of the society they reigned.”

“The possible temple or cult house provides rare and remarkable evidence of the practice at a royal site of the pre-Christian beliefs that underpinned early English society.”

“The distinctive and massive foundations indicate that one of the ten meter long and five meter wide buildings was unusually tall and robustly built for its size, so it may have been built for a special purpose.”

“It most closely resembles buildings elsewhere in England that are considered temples or places of worship and therefore may have been used for pre-Christian worship by the early kings of the East Angles.”

Excavations this summer uncovered the foundations of three new wooden buildings, including the possible temple.

They also identified evidence of metalworking from the 7th century, two graves of unknown date and evidence of earlier settlements and activities from the Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age and Roman periods.

“This year’s results complete three seasons of fieldwork that confirm the international significance of Rendlesham archeology and its fundamental importance to our knowledge of early England,” said Suffolk County Councilor Melanie Vigo di Gallidoro.

“Everyone involved in the project can be proud that we have achieved something special together.”

The council said excavations had been completed and trenches at the site had been filled. Analysis of the finds is already underway and preliminary results should be available next year.