Several websites today have reports about the immensely significant discovery by archaeologists of an early Anglo-Saxon hall of very considerable size at the site of the royal vill at Rendlesham in the Deben valley of south-east Suffolk.
The excavations at Rendlesham are part of an ongoing project examining this admistrative centre linked to the burial ground at Sutton Hoo and which was one of the centres of royal authority in the Kingdom of the East Angles. Rendlesham was a place known of by Bede when he wrote his Ecclesiastical History.
The BBC News report about the excavation can be seen at Ancient royal hall unearthed on private land and that from the ITV website is at Ancient 'Hall of Kings' dating back 1,400 years unearthed
There is an article from Heritage Daily which can be read at Royal hall of the first Kings of East Anglia has been discovered in Suffolk
The excavation is also reported upon by the Daily Express at Archaeology: Royal Hall of the first East Anglian Kings unearthed in Suffolk
The East Anglian Daily Times gives an account at Dig uncovers Anglo-Saxon royal palace in Deben Valley
I am sure there will be more in coming days about this latest discovery at Rendlesham and if I see any further useful links I will post them.
This is an archaeological site that will doubtless continue to be seen as of great importance to our understanding of seventh and eighth century governance and society and of the development of what we think of as the Anglo-Saxon era. The age of the Heptarchy feels that bit more tangible, that bit more real as a result of such discoveries.
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