The Rendlesham Collection

This remarkable collection of objects, excavated close to the village of Rendlesham, near Woodbridge, Suffolk, includes 40 Anglo-Saxon coins, fine jewellery and other items believed to be related to an Anglo-Saxon palace which once stood on the site. The Anglo-Saxon occupation probably began at endlesham in the late sixth century and a new royal dynasty emerged. Bede refers specifically to the estate of the East Anglian kings at Rendlesham in his History of the English Church and People. There are clear links between the items in this collection and the contents of the world-famous burial site excavated at nearby Sutton Hoo in 1939. The range of Anglo-Saxon objects relates to the broad spectrum of rituals associated with life and death in this community over three or four centuries. The gold and silver coins include both English and Continental issues, some of them very rare and one completely new type. Among the jewellery items is a complete gold pin with head decorated with birdsÂ’ heads. There are also three Anglo-Saxon finger rings and several brooches, including two Frankish ones and parts of five early Anglo-Saxon cruciform types. There is also a large number of items of non-Saxon origin included in the collection. These range from a miniature gold bucket, possibly of a prehistoric date, Bronze Age spearheads, Romano-British brooches, Roman silver and bronze coins, Medieval silver coins, and 25 silver and and bronze coins of the Tudor and Stuart periods. Items from the Rendlesham Collection will now be displayed alongside Ipswich MuseumÂ’s internationally important holdings of other Anglo-Saxon objects.