5 May 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

1,400-year-old temple from the time of the East Anglian Kings discovered at Suffolk royal settlement

Archaeologists have uncovered a possibly pre-Christian temple from the time of the East Anglian Kings at Rendlesham, near Sutton Hoo in Suffolk, England.

The discovery was made this summer by Suffolk County Council’s Rendlesham Revealed community archaeology project, which is funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Last year the project uncovered the remains of a large timber Royal Hall, confirming the location as a royal settlement of the East Anglian Kings.

This year’s excavations also uncovered evidence of metalworking associated with royal occupation, including a mould used for casting decorative horse harnesses similar to that known from the burial ground at Sutton Hoo.

The royal compound was found to have been more than twice the size than previously thought at around 15 hectares, which is equivalent to the size of 20 football pitches. The compound was part of a wider settlement complex covering around 50 hectares which is unique to the archaeology of fifth to eighth-century England.

A temple from the time of the East Anglian Kings has been uncovered in Rendlesham. Photo: Suffolk County Council
A temple from the time of the East Anglian Kings has been uncovered in Rendlesham. Photo: Suffolk County Council

Professor Christopher Scull of Cardiff University and University College London was the project’s principal academic advisor.

Professor Scull said: “The results of excavations at Rendlesham speak vividly of the power and wealth of the East Anglian kings, and the sophistication of the society they ruled. The possible temple, or cult house, provides rare and remarkable evidence for the practice at a royal site of the pre-Christian beliefs that underpinned early English society.

“Its distinctive and substantial foundations indicate that one of the buildings, 10 metres long and 5 metres wide, was unusually high and robustly built for its size, so perhaps it was constructed for a special purpose. It is most similar to buildings elsewhere in England that are seen as temples or cult houses, therefore it may have been used for pre-Christian worship by the early Kings of the East Angles.”

The Venerable Bede identifies Rendlesham as an East Anglian royal center in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People. Bede records that King Redwald, who died around AD 625 and whose grave is thought to be the Sutton Hoo ship burial, kept a temple with altars to pre-Christian Gods alongside an altar to Christ – though he does not specify where this was.

Volunteers excavating the remains of the ditch that enclosed the royal compound, under the guidance of Faye Minter Photo: Archaeological Archives and Projects Manager, Suffolk County Council
Volunteers excavating the remains of the ditch that enclosed the royal compound, under the guidance of Faye Minter Photo: Archaeological Archives and Projects Manager, Suffolk County Council

This year’s breakthrough comes after three years of excavation that has transformed the understanding of the period.

This year’s excavations also discovered enclosures and evidence of earlier settlements and activities from the Neolithic (4th millennium BC), Bronze Age, Iron Age and Roman periods.

These archaeological discoveries show that Rendlesham has been a favored location for human settlement and activity for 6,000 years from the fourth millennium BC to the present day, but that it was most important when a royal center during the 6th to 8th centuries AD.

Suffolk County Council

Cover Photo: Rendlesham Revelead: showing the archaeological remains including the probable temple or cult house (left hand side) and boundary ditch (center). Photo: by Jim Pullen

Related Articles

A first-of-its-kind Ayyanar stone idol found in Vellore, India

25 June 2022

25 June 2022

An Ayyanar stone idol, the first of its kind in Vellore, was discovered at Thandalai Krishnapuram (TK Puram) in Tamil...

Neanderthal Footprints Discovered On the Beach of Matalascañas (Huelva)

4 May 2021

4 May 2021

A stroll along the beach of Matalascanas (Huelva) in June of last year unearthed a spectacular scenario that occurred in...

Archaeologists Uncover Evidence of British Rule in Florida

29 March 2025

29 March 2025

A recent archaeological excavation in St. Augustine, Florida, has revealed a British redoubt dating back to 1781, offering valuable insight...

Rare gold gifts 2300 years old discovered in the famous Phoenician city of Carthage

17 August 2023

17 August 2023

Archaeologists excavating the sanctuary of Tophet, Carthage uncovered a collection of offerings, Tunisia’s Ministry of Cultural Affairs announced in a...

2000-year-old ancient Roman Road, described as the most important in Scottish history, has been discovered

3 November 2023

3 November 2023

A 2000-year-old ancient Roman road was unearthed in Old Inn Cottage’s garden near Stirling, Scotland. The site is located a...

Twin temples linked to Hercules and Alexander the Great discovered in Sumerian city of Girsu

29 January 2024

29 January 2024

Archaeologists discovered two temples, with one buried over the other, during excavations at Girsu, a Sumerian city in southeastern Iraq...

Secrets of the Galloway Hoard Revealed

27 May 2021

27 May 2021

Experts have uncovered fascinating secrets of a Viking Age hoard discovered by a metal detector to be presented to the...

A hungry Badger uncovers the largest collection of such coins ever discovered in northern Spain

11 January 2022

11 January 2022

Archaeologists have uncovered a rich trove of 209 Roman-era coins in northwestern Spain, due to the apparent efforts of a...

Ritualistic Dog Burials Associated with the Goddess Gula Unearthed at the Harran Archaeological Site in Southeastern Türkiye

15 December 2024

15 December 2024

Excavations at the Harran archaeological site in Şanlıurfa, one of the world’s oldest settlements and listed on UNESCO’s Temporary World...

A Life-Size Funerary High Relief Discovered in Pompeii’s Porta Sarno Necropolis

3 April 2025

3 April 2025

A research project titled “Investigating the Archaeology of Death in Pompeii,” developed by the Universitat de València in collaboration with...

Last Assyrian Capital “Ninive”

7 February 2021

7 February 2021

Ninive is an ancient Assyrian city located on the eastern bank of the Tigris River in northern Iraq, near today’s...

Beehives of Saudi Arabia’s Thought to be Over 1,000 Years Old

20 July 2024

20 July 2024

Located in the majestic Sarawat Mountain range in western Saudi Arabia, the ancient beehives in the Maysan Governorate constitute a...

Excavations at Körzüt Castle unearth 2 cuneiform inscriptions and a new Urartian Susi temple

25 October 2023

25 October 2023

During the rescue excavations carried out at the Körzüt Castle in the Muradiye district of Van province in eastern Turkey,...

History of 8,500 years waits for a museum

19 June 2023

19 June 2023

The conservation process of the Yenikapı shipwrecks, which were discovered during the Marmaray project and considered the largest collection of...

12 tombs with Beautiful Decorations and Carved Bricks from the period of Kublai Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan, found in China

22 May 2023

22 May 2023

China has a rich history. In addition to the fossil records from the Paleolithic Period, the country has witnessed the...