Skip to content

Sutton Hoo: Exhibition unites 'greatest' Anglo-Saxon digs

The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery Gold mount with horse head decorated with gold filigreeThe Potteries Museum and Art Gallery
A gold mount with horse head decorated with gold filigree was part of the Staffordshire Hoard

Finds from two of the greatest Anglo-Saxon excavations in the UK are being brought together for an exhibition.

It will be held at the National Trust's Sutton Hoo visitors centre, near the site of the burial mound in Suffolk said to belong to King Raedwald.

The exhibition will bring Sutton Hoo discoveries together with items from the Staffordshire Hoard found in 2009.

It has been put together by guest curator Chris Fern, an expert in the Staffordshire Hoard.

Work to excavate Sutton Hoo started in 1939, while scholars believe the treasures found in the Hoard could have been made in workshops in the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of East Anglia

The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery Hilt collarThe Potteries Museum and Art Gallery
Many of the treasures of the Staffordshire Hoard are thought to have been crafted in East Anglia
Norfolk Museum's Service Shield Fish Mount from Spong Hill, NorfolkNorfolk Museum's Service
The exhibition also features a Shield Fish Mount from Spong Hill, in Norfolk

The exhibition - supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund - will see 62 original Anglo-Saxon objects on display, on loan from Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, the British Museum and Norwich Museum and Art Gallery.

Items will include gold and garnet shoulder clasps, gold and garnet sword pyramids, three gold Anglo-Saxon coins and a gold sword belt buckle.

British Museum Gold and garnet sword pyramidsBritish Museum
Gold and garnet sword pyramids were found at Sutton Hoo

Mr Fern said: "It is wonderful to see these objects - the pinnacle of craftsmanship in their day, astounding in their artistic genius - returned to the kingdom of East Anglia where their story began.

"Through them we can glimpse a time when warriors and kings in widespread regional kingdoms fought for supremacy in an age of gold and of the coming of Christianity."

Laura Howarth, archaeology and engagement manager at Sutton Hoo, said: "Seventy years separates the discoveries of Sutton Hoo and the Staffordshire Hoard, but both have illuminated our understanding of the culture and society of this golden age of Anglo-Saxon England."

Opening on 14 May, "Swords of Kingdoms: The Staffordshire Hoard at Sutton Hoo" will be on display until 29 November.

Getty Images Sutton Hoo warrior's helmetGetty Images
The remains of the Sutton Hoo warrior's helmet are at the British Museum in London