Sutton Hoo

The Anglo-Saxon royal burial ground dates from around 590-650 AD, with the principal ‘Great Ship Burial’ mound from c625 AD. Located on a ‘hoo’ (‘hill’), it occupies a heightened spot on the River Deben in Suffolk. The site was a hugely significant discovery and led to a revolutionary re-think of the first chapters of English history, its richness both historical and literal, encompassing numerous extraordinary gold objects, as well as revealing the scale of the boat the king had been buried in. A period previously seen as dark and unsophisticated was now illuminated as vibrant and cultured.

The Sutton Hoo redevelopment project aimed to transform the visitor experience across the National Trust-owned site, elevating its national significance. New routes were created through a historic landscape via an architecture of storytelling, enabling the visitor to make an emotional connection with a historic environment. The journey includes new thresholds, interpretive moments and major exhibition displays, as well as a radical new intervention in the form of a 17m-high new-build viewing tower. The Viewing Tower, designed with exceptional levels of architectural and archaeological sensitivity and sustainability, is located in the heart of Top Hat Wood, giving visitors a never-before-seen view over the burial mounds, as well as back towards the river, re-connecting the site to the river, from where the burial ship was originally dragged.

By taking visitors through the landscape and creating positions or pause points to engage with chosen text or else being asked to sit facing a particular direction, looking at the same timeless view people would have done for generations before, it was possible to engage people’s senses and direct them to the past. Throughout the visitor journey, the story is told slowly, with different aspects such as the site’s archaeology and the various characters through history being drawn out. By the time the visitor reaches the tower, they are ready to understand the content and true context of the burial mounds. Climbing to see the relationship of the site to the water and the landscape could become a magical experience. The project – with particular focus on the new-build tower – won a RIBA East and then a RIBA National Award in 2022, one of only 29 buildings to do so.