Back to boating on the Broads TRIP REPORT COMPLETED 6/5 - Page 22 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Tuesday 5 May – part three: that traffic is not moving at all!
When we got to the burial ground itself, I have to confess I was a bit underwhelmed by it. Apart from one obvious mound, it was actually hard to see the rest of the mounds, as they just looked like part of the undulating land. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it was certainly more than the scene in front of us. Maybe I’m just being unfair, and I feel badly for saying that…
We made our way back to the visitor centre, and now I felt just like Piglet on the very blustery day when he was blown away, as at times the wind was coming close to picking me up and carrying me along! I didn’t stop to take too many photos as a result, but I managed a couple…
We headed for the exhibition centre, which tells the story of how these burial mounds were first excavated.
The site was owned by Edith Pretty and in 1937, she asked an archaeologist Basil Brown to see what was inside the mounds. He opened three of them, and they all contained a burial boat, but sadly, as happens all too often in these cases (think of the Egyptian pyramids), they had already been looted.
The following year, Brown opened up the biggest mound and found another ship, but the wood had rotted away, leaving just a stain, meaning it became known as a “ghost ship”. However, the best news was that the boat had not been looted, meaning all the treasures buried with the Anglo-Saxon king were still intact. The exhibition first takes you through this history…
… then it looks at who the people in the burial mounds were…
You get to look inside a replica of one of the ships that were found in the burial mounds, and I loved this, as I thought it gave you a superb idea of what was actually in the mounds we’d seen outside. Personally, I couldn’t get my head around how big this was, and how small the mounds were. Perhaps they’re a lot smaller now that the excavations are over?
Once you’ve finished looking at all of this, you go into the treasury, although in truth, the treasures in here are replicas, as the real things are in the British Museum. However, as the volunteer who greeted us when we arrived said, if you want to see something that’s been in the ground for 1,500 years, go to the British Museum, but if you want to see items that look exactly the same as when they were put into the ground, that’s what you get here – and personally I liked seeing the items looking as they would’ve done all those years ago.
The most famous item of them all is this one, which has become the symbol of Sutton Hoo:
… but the rest of the treasures are pretty impressive too.
They had some magnifying glasses set up, so that you could look through to get a better view of some of the artefacts, or in my case, photograph them!
With that, we were done. We did look for a fridge magnet, but sadly they were out of stock of them, so I guess we won’t have a momento of this part of the trip then.
We headed for home, and things weren’t going too badly until we got to the M25 and the Dartford Crossing. There’d been an accident earlier, and they’d closed off two of the four lanes to do repair work. Things were snarled up, but they were moving, albeit slowly. We literally got right to the junction, and then everything ground to a halt. We could see nothing on the motorway moving, so Mark turned off the engine, and we sat and waited.
At one point, I did grab the laptop out of the back of the car, so I could work on the trip report, but in truth, I should’ve done that earlier, as a couple of minutes later, everything started to move again. By that point, we’d been stationery maybe 20 minutes? We heard later that they had closed the motorway because of an “incident” (I have no idea what) and then they did a rolling roadblock. After that, it was slow, but we were moving, and that was the main thing.
Going over the Thames, albeit slowly!
We were home by the middle of the afternoon, having enjoyed another boating holiday on the Norfolk Broads.
The weather today was dry, but very windy, with temperatures in the high 50s. The best thing today was Sutton Hoo. The worst thing today was the wind and getting stuck in traffic. Today we tried visiting Sutton Hoo And the result was I’m glad I finally got to see it, after wanting to visit for so long. The most magical moment today was seeing the replica of that famous helmet.
The Sutton Hoo story always makes me wonder what's underneath us all the time! Most of the bulk of the ships and other artifacts were way underground. The mounds you see are like the tip of an iceberg, with most of the chambers below ground-level. Some have been flattened by excavation and looting, but they were never that tall.
The pictures look great, but was it windy? Couldn't resist.
That's quite an interesting little place. Very cool how they displayed the treasures.
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I laughed at your Piglet comment - since I'd said nearly the same thing yesterday (and I know you write these up well in advance)!
There are hundreds of burial mounds like that in China - where you wouldn't really know what they were by looking at them. They look like small little hills randomly dotting the countryside.
Glad the traffic didn't stay at a standstill much longer!
The Sutton Hoo story always makes me wonder what's underneath us all the time! Most of the bulk of the ships and other artifacts were way underground.
That's such a good point - I can't even begin to imagine how much more there is to discover beneath the whole world.
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The mounds you see are like the tip of an iceberg, with most of the chambers below ground-level. Some have been flattened by excavation and looting, but they were never that tall.
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I laughed at your Piglet comment - since I'd said nearly the same thing yesterday (and I know you write these up well in advance)!
Great minds definitely think alike!
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There are hundreds of burial mounds like that in China - where you wouldn't really know what they were by looking at them. They look like small little hills randomly dotting the countryside.
That was quite a nice dinner on your last night! Too bad for the pelting rain and pump noise, especially when you're trying to sleep! Glad you got to visit Sutton Hoo, which is quite an astonishing place with its' history and see more of the Highland Coos!
Thanks for sharing another TR with us as I enjoyed it and always get lost within your reports and almost feel I'm experiencing it myself!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
That was quite a nice dinner on your last night! Too bad for the pelting rain and pump noise, especially when you're trying to sleep! Glad you got to visit Sutton Hoo, which is quite an astonishing place with its' history and see more of the Highland Coos!
Thanks for sharing another TR with us as I enjoyed it and always get lost within your reports and almost feel I'm experiencing it myself!
I always love it when people say that's how they feel reading, as that's what I always aim to achieve with these reports.
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Apart from one obvious mound, it was actually hard to see the rest of the mounds, as they just looked like part of the undulating land. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it was certainly more than the scene in front of us. Maybe I’m just being unfair, and I feel badly for saying that… 
I didn’t stop to take too many photos as a result, but I managed a couple… 
Couldn't resist.
Oh and just for the record, yep, just a bit... 
Too bad for the pelting rain and pump noise, especially when you're trying to sleep! 
Glad you got to visit Sutton Hoo, which is quite an astonishing place with its' history and see more of the Highland Coos! 
I always love it when people say that's how they feel reading, as that's what I always aim to achieve with these reports. 
Holly: 
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