1,400-Year-Old Royal Hall Unearthed In Rendlesham, United Kingdom

A royal hall of “international importance” that dates back 1,400 years has been unearthed on private land.

The Hall of the first Kings of East Anglia was discovered in Rendlesham, Suffolk, over the summer.

Prof Christopher Scull said it was the “most extensive and materially wealthy settlement of its date known in England”.

It was discovered by a community dig as part of Suffolk County Council’s Rendlesham Revealed project.

An Anglo-Saxon iron knife was excavated from the boundary ditch in Rendlesham

The authority said the hall was “recorded in the writings of The Venerable Bede of the 8th Century”.

The hall, which was 75ft (23m) long and 33ft (10m) wide, was set within a larger settlement of more than 124 acres (50 hectares).

For 150 years, between AD 570 and AD 720, it was the centre from which a major province of the East Anglian kingdom, focused on the valley of the River Deben, was ruled.

Bede’s writings identified Rendlesham as the place where the East Anglian King Aethelwold stood sponsor at the baptism of King Swithelm of the East Saxons, between the years AD 655 and 663.