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West Stow: Anglo-Saxon royal finds displayed at replica village

Suffolk County Council Silver gilt horse and rider broochSuffolk County Council
Discoveries at the royal settlement at Rendlesham include this silver gilt horse and rider brooch

A replica Anglo-Saxon farm settlement is hosting finds discovered at a "unique" 1,400-year-old palace complex.

More than 50 artefacts discovered during an excavation at Rendlesham, Suffolk, are on display at West Stow, near Bury St Edmunds.

They include coins, gold and garnet accessories, a silver gilt horse and rider brooch - and food remains.

The discoveries will help "inform the ongoing experimental archaeology conducted at West Stow".

Suffolk County Council/Jim Pullen Drone photograph showing excavated hall and boundary ditchSuffolk County Council/Jim Pullen
The hall and boundary ditch (right hand trench) and its rubbish dump (left hand trench) were uncovered at Rendlesham in 2022
Christine Johnson/Geograph West Stow replica Anglo-Saxon villageChristine Johnson/Geograph
West Stow was also an Anglo-Saxon settlement, focused on farming

West Stow Anglo-Saxon Village and Museum is a recreation of an Anglo-Saxon village, occupied from AD 420 to AD 650.

It has eight buildings and is the other end of Suffolk from Rendlesham, which recent excavations have established as a place of "periodic royal residence" for 150 years, from AD 570 to AD 720.

Archaeologist Prof Chris Scull, who is advising the Rendlesham Revealed project, described it as "really quite unique in England".

It is a National Lottery Heritage Fund funded community archaeology project in partnership with Suffolk County Council.

Suffolk County Council Early English Gold ShillingSuffolk County Council
More 6th to 8th Century coins have been found at Rendlesham than anywhere else in England

The temporary display focuses on the main story of royal Rendlesham at its height, when it was the power centre of the early East Anglian kingdom.

Ian Shipp, cabinet member for leisure and culture at West Suffolk Council, which runs West Stow, said: "West Stow has evidence of a farming community living here between the 5th and 8th Centuries.

"New evidence from sites such as Rendlesham helps inform the ongoing experimental archaeology conducted at West Stow, to try to better understand Anglo-Saxon life."

Suffolk County Council Gold and garnet beadSuffolk County Council
Specialist craftsmen at Rendlesham produced high quality objects like this gold and garnet bead

Many of the objects show high levels of workmanship, including a copper-alloy gilt horse-harness fitting, with garnet and shell centre inlay.

Others represent the ordinary life of farmers and craftworkers, such as belt buckles and pins, or animal bones from butchery.

They are on loan from Colchester and Ipswich Museums and from Suffolk County Council's Archaeological Service, and have previously been on display at Sutton Hoo.

Rendlesham Revealed: The Heart of a Kingdom AD 400-800 is open until 23 July.

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