Anglo-Saxon burial mask uncovered in Sutton Hoo , Suffolk
England,  History,  Photography,  Travel Blog

Buried Ships & Blessed Fish

October 31, 2023 /

There I was, all poised to do a post about how miserable it is to return to England, heading home from Heathrow through the rain, checking the dates of the next rail strikes, reading depressing news items, waking up to dull grey skies and drizzle, when from nowhere England unexpectedly throws open its arms and says, welcome home you guys….this is what’s great about where you live…

The history of Sutton Hoo is so rich that they made a film about it, but really, the absorbing part of the story is all condensed into the last 85 years or so. Edith Pretty and her son, recently bereaved of husband and father, knew that they had some unnatural looking hillocks on their land, and, with Edith having developed an interest in spiritualism since the death of her husband, consulted local Suffolk historians with her interest piqued in what may lie below.

Edith Pretty’s House at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk
Sutton Hoo, Suffolk

Enter Basil Brown, local archaeologist, excavator of Roman sites, eager to explore whatever it was that lay beneath the grounds of the grand house. Brown’s early digs sent his mind reeling: there was something very special here. But this was 1939, Chamberlain’s attempts at conciliation with Hitler were failing, the world was heading towards its second disastrous global conflict of the 20th century. 

Anglo Saxon burial grounds in Sutton Hoo, Suffolk
Burial grounds Sutton Hoo

By now Brown, his helpers and Edith Pretty had started to uncover a whole series of burial mounds, with one of them concealing something as important as a ship burial, a method of confinement reserved for the most exalted of society. Sutton Hoo was very clearly a custodian of some extremely special secrets. With war coming, Brown’s team had no option but to abandon the site, loosely covering their discovery with leaves and soil, then crossing their fingers and hoping for good fortune.

Anglo Saxon burial grounds in Sutton Hoo, Suffolk
Burial mounds Sutton Hoo

Their hopes were fulfilled. Sutton Hoo was to reveal a treasure trove of a burial site, successive mounds revealing more and more history, more and more intrigue. Somebody was buried here, somebody important enough to have been buried within his ship, a ship hauled to the burial site from the sea to this place where riches and artefacts found their way into the grave. The site is a treasure trove extreme, a wealth of tools, possessions and goods from a different time. 

Replica of the burial ship found in Sutton Hoo in Suffolk
Scale model burial ship, Sutton Hoo

Much speculation surrounds who is buried at Sutton Hoo, the favourite candidate being Raedwald, King of the Anglo Saxon kingdom of East Anglia, who is known to have died somewhere in the region around the year 624. Being buried with some favourite jewellery is one thing: being buried with your favourite ship is a different level of reverence altogether. 

Buried Anglo Saxon treasures found in Sutton Hoo, Suffolk
Buried Anglo Saxon treasures found in Sutton Hoo, Suffolk
Treasures from Sutton Hoo

Apart from people, the thing I miss most when we’re travelling is that wonderful institution which is the English pub – and, as part of that, proper English ale. I have loved English pubs ever since my father first took me into the White Horse as a teenager and introduced me to beer, involved me in the bar-stool banter and showed me the joys of the pub environment. I will never lose that love. It’s where I belong.

There’s a pub up here near Michaela’s Mum’s which for me ticks every box of what a pub should be, a pub in a quiet corner of England, the Oddfellows Inn at Pakefield, Suffolk, so today’s special “blessing of the herring” ceremony at that very place is too good a chance to miss. Blessing the herring? Seriously? Yep, in this locale where the fishing industry is both traditional and contemporary, the start of the herring fishing season is heralded by the local vicar coming to the pub, blessing the first catch, and imploring God to grant the trawlermen a safe passage through the season.

Blessing of the herring at Pakefield, Lowestoft, Suffolk
Blessing the herring
Cooked herring
Blessed

After prayers (oh bless my herring, it’s bound to taste so much nicer with holy approval!), it’s into the pub for some excellent local ales – where, just like a proper English pub is supposed to be, there’s barely standing room as the place is rammed. And then, just to complete the scene, in comes the fishermen’s choral society, the shanty singers, to entertain us with wonderful musical tales of seafaring, of battling the elements, of friends lost at sea…

The Lowestoft Longshoremen, Shanty singers in The Oddfellows Pub, Lowestoft, Suffolk
The Lowestoft Longshoremen, Shanty singers in The Oddfellows Pub, Lowestoft, Suffolk
The Lowestoft Longshoremen, Shanty singers in The Oddfellows Pub, Lowestoft, Suffolk
The Lowestoft Longshoremen, Shanty singers in The Oddfellows Pub, Lowestoft, Suffolk
The Longshoremen in action

It’s a great couple of hours, the very best of England. Our heritage, our history, our pubs. We settle down back at Michaela’s Mum’s knowing today was just brilliant. Ironic, isn’t it. We travel the world in search of days like today, where tradition endures and custom dictates, and the community comes together, and here it is, in all its glory, in our own country.

And to think I was ready to do a post about it being miserable to be home…

Friends and family enjoying The Lowestoft Longshoremen, Shanty singers in The Oddfellows Pub, Lowestoft, Suffolk
In the Oddfellows pub

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