Archaeologists Discover Rare 1,400-Year-Old 'Temple or Cult House'

The remains of what experts believe is a temple or "cult house" thought to date back to around 1,400 years ago have been uncovered in a field in England.

A community archaeology project identified the early medieval structure this summer near the village of Rendlesham in the county of Suffolk. It is located in the southeast of the country within a wider region known as East Anglia.

The rare, probable temple, which may have been a house of worship dedicated to pre-Christian beliefs, is located in a site that served as a royal settlement for the kings of East Anglia between the 6th and 8th centuries A.D. The settlement complex, which covers an area of around 50 hectares, is unique in the archaeology of England from this period in terms of its scale and complexity. The latest findings have shed new light on the ancient Kingdom of East Anglia and its rulers.

"The results of excavations at Rendlesham speak vividly of the power and wealth of the East Anglian kings, and the sophistication of the society they ruled. The possible temple, or cult house, provides rare and remarkable evidence for the practice at a royal site of the pre-Christian beliefs that underpinned early English society," Christopher Scull, the project's principal academic adviser, said in a press release. He is a researcher affiliated with Cardiff University in Wales and University College London in England.

"Its distinctive and substantial foundations indicate that one of the buildings, 10 meters [33 feet] long and 5 meters [16 feet] wide, was unusually high and robustly built for its size, so perhaps it was constructed for a special purpose," Scull added. "It is most similar to buildings elsewhere in England that are seen as temples or cult houses. Therefore, it may have been used for pre-Christian worship by the early Kings of the East Angles."

The Kingdom of East Anglia was a small, independent kingdom of the Angles. They were one of the main Germanic peoples, alongside the Saxons, who settled in Great Britain after the period of Roman occupation ended.

The kingdom was established in the 6th century but became a client state of Mercia, a neighboring power, before eventually being conquered by the Danes in 869 A.D. It was incorporated into the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Wessex in 918 A.D.

Christianity had taken root in Britain in the 4th century A.D. But after Roman rule ended in the early 5th century A.D., the religion faced a challenge from pagan beliefs brought to the island by the Anglo-Saxons who settled there.

Christianity did not disappear, however, persisting in areas where the Anglo-Saxons did not settle. Over time though, the religion spread across Britain, with many Anglo-Saxons, including the rulers, converting, thanks in large part to the work of missionaries.

The excavations at the Rendlesham site this summer also uncovered additional finds to the possible temple or cult house. The discoveries included evidence of 7th-century metalworking associated with royal occupation—such as a mould used for casting decorative horse harnesses. There were signs of much-earlier settlement, dating back to the Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age and Roman periods.

"This year's findings round off three seasons of fieldwork, which confirm the international significance of Rendlesham's archaeology and its fundamental importance for our knowledge of early England," Melanie Vigo di Gallidoro, Suffolk County Council's deputy cabinet member for Protected Landscapes and Archaeology, said in the press release.