Investigation 3d Snape

A personal account - Paul Constantine

Anglo-Saxon Ships Discovered.

The Anglo-Saxon period is generally regarded as being from 410AD when the Romans ‘departed’, to 1066 when the Normans arrived. 600 years is a long time and during that time the whole Anglo-Saxon culture evolved. We can surmise that the craft they used also evolved, but our problem is that we have so few examples – arguably we have only 3 that are most frequently quoted, Snape, Sutton Hoo and Graveney in 'possible' chronological order, due to the doubts about Snape.

Before we take a quick look at Snape and Graveney, it may be worth understanding that the whole 600 years might be thought of unofficially, in terms of Early, Middle and Late Anglo-Saxon.

The most intriguing period, historically/nautically speaking, might be the Early – first 200 years, when the Anglo-Saxon ‘culture’ migrated itself across the North Sea, established itself and became the predominant political force in a large part of the country. It is during this period that we would like to know more about what the vessels looked like that transported the people. The problem is that we have not discovered any near-complete examples to illustrate these craft from this early period. We have a 200year hole in our knowledge. This is the major significance of the Sutton Hoo ship, which is dated right on the boundary of the Early and the Middle periods. The discovery broke the 400year black hole of knowledge at the time of its discovery. Prior to its discovery, we had virtually no indication of what an Anglo-Saxon ship might look like, despite the number of very tentative, provisional datings for Snape (see below).

Even now, we probably still do not have an example of the boats that brought the people across the sea. The Sutton Hoo ship was surely too large and too impractical as a rowed, Royal ‘war-galley’, to represent the many, ‘probably-much-smaller’ craft used for commerce and everyday transport that performed the true task of the heavy lifting. I would suggest from reviewing many craft that the 'work-horse boats at this time would be about 40-45ft in length.

So, what do we know of these other two craft, Snape and Graveney?

The Snape Ship Burial

Location. Snape is a small hamlet at the head of navigation on the River Alde, 6miles inland from Aldeburgh. It is more famous for Snape Maltings which in 1967 was converted into an internationally-famous Concert Hall.

1827 The first recorded excavation of the Snape ship-burial site had taken place in 1827, when seven or eight gentlemen from London, opened up several of the barrows at the site, discovering "quantities of gold rings, brooches, chains etc." OR ' by some gentlemen who were supposed by,the inhabitants to have come from London '. Of the waggon-load of vases and other things then said to have been taken away, nothing can now be traced.' (Bruce-Mitford. The Snape Boat Grave. This document contains the most detailed, comprehensive and accurate resumé of the information available, relating to the excavation, upon which other reports are based.)

1862 The ship burial was documented in 1862 by Septimus Davidson the landowner. He was a city solicitor and former legal adviser to the government of the Ottoman Empire. He was curious about the historic mounds that lay on his land, rather like Mrs Pretty at Sutton Hoo. He was assisted by three others: local surgeon Dr Nicholas Hele and two other men known only as Francis Francis and 'Mr C'. None of them had any training in excavating. The area was a cemetery containing many graves and several mounds (8 -10). Subsequently, there have been a number of investigations which have mainly unearthed ceramic pots associated with burials.

The most significant find in1862 was a gold ring with an onyx stone, missed by the earlier treasure hunters. It has been said that the 1862 excavators were not treasure hunters, but Septimus Davidson kept this ring, the only find of any real value, for himself. It was returned years later to Bruce-Mitford and then the British Museum by his grand-daughter. (See bottom of page.) Most remaining finds are held in the Aldeburgh Museum where there is/was also, a 'surmised', ground-plan-shaped model (see right).

Dimensions and Dates. The boat is thought to be about 46-48ft x  9ft-9ins-10ft. (14 x 3m) Clinker built with rivetted construction. The rivets were spaced at intervals of approximately 5.5ins (140 mm) Nine planks each side. The rivets were of iron with domed heads and diamond roves. The boat was positioned on an east to west axis. The ship burial was tentatively, relatively-dated from some artefacts as 550AD. John Haywood in Dark Age Naval Power dates it to ‘about 600 from its grave goods with no evidence of the means of propulsion’. The Snape Parish Council website dates the ship 650AD. Bruce-Mitford makes the case for dating the ring (see below), which he did not receive until 1950 as possibly later - late 7C. We reluctantly have to admit that actually, the ship cannot be dated with any certainty. 

The great problems with this boat stem from the inexperience of the excavators. Enthusiasm and a careful approach do not entirely substitute what we now recognise as the meticulous methods required of professional archaeologists. In 1862 there was no training available; they excavated because they were curious and probably hoped to find treasure. In 1938 at Sutton Hoo we might see some parallels when Basil Brown, Bert Fuller and Tom Sawyer began work (see Ship Discovery this website) on strange mounds for Mrs Pretty, but times had moved on by then and Cambridge academics soon moved in. The biggest problem for the Snape dig was that the people were unable to produce drawings, so they employed an artist who clearly had little knowledge of boats or the dig and may have only seen craft with transoms, for that is what he tried to draw. The neat rivet lines give an impression of pristine rivets, but in fact they were just rough, rusty nodules, one of which was later x-rayed by Rupert Bruce-Mitford to try to discover its shape. Both Bruce Mitford and therefore, Martin Carver credit Hele the surgeon, an original 1862 excavator, for ownership of the drawing.

This drawing cannot represent a ship of this era. The extreme rocker in the front elevation and the flat bottom with corners, in the end elevation, are nonsense. A pointed stern has been sketched in, so the supposed length remains unknown. If this drawing was an accurate image, the boat could not have been of Scandinavian parentage. Reluctantly, we just have to admit that we do not know what the Snape ship looked like in detail, other than that it could have been about 40-50ft long, clinker built and iron rivet fastened.

People have spent time examining the evidence and trying to make sense of it, attempting to give it some worth, but the material is just not present. Charles Green examined it in his book about the Sutton Hoo ship

Ref. Charles Green (Sutton Hoo: The Excavation of a Royal Ship-Burial. Pg. 63-65. 1963)

‘The drawings show the boat to have had a flat floor which made a sharp angle with the outward-curving sides. It also had a broad slightly rounded stern. The published plan immediately raises doubt of its accuracy. Seventeen rows of clench-nails are shown, six rows on either side and five on the flat floor, one of them running along the keel line in the middle of the floor.’

Explanation Note. A line of rivets in the middle of the keel would indicate no keel, or a lack of understanding about boat construction, or five lines diagrammatically drawn into a blank space, symmetrically – one in the middle and two either side.

Even more remarkable is the disposition of the clench-nails in the stern, for these are shown running right round the square stern in a quite impossible fashion. Septimus Davidson said, ‘The plan, not having been made by a professional surveyor, may not be minutely accurate, especially as to the position of the rivets at the smaller end.’

‘The exact boat shape shown in the cross-section is hardly credible as it stands.’

oooOOooo

Explanation Note. (Volume 1. Bruce-Mitford Page 106) 'Charles Green goes on (1963) to produce a 'corrected boat shape for the Snape ship. See also the drawing that another 'stern' has been added, thus extending the length of the boat

The front elevation cannot be treated seriously by shipwright or archaeologist. It wasn’t that shape.'

Sutton Hoo Ship Burial Volume 1. Rupert Bruce- Mitford.

Snape ship burial – ‘old excavation carried out unscientifically’ ‘The Snape burial had been ransacked’

Pg 158. ‘Six strakes on either side of the trench in which the rivets were horizontal, and, in between, a floor on which the rivets were vertical’  ‘the first 3 or 4 strakes either side of the keel – a more or less flat bottom.’

Explanatory Note. The ‘3 or 4 either side of the keel’ description by Septimus Davidson was also noted by Charles Green. This inaccuracy when compared with a drawing showing five rows of rivets in the bottom of the boat makes the original information totally unreliable. Did the boat have no keel and 4 planks, or six, or 8 bottom planks?

Recent Site Damage

Rural East Suffolk In Old Photographs  ·(extracts)

Christine Sheehan 3 June 2025 ·

'Snape Ship Burials

(Credit to William Filmer - Sankey and Snape Historical Society.)

The site has been 'disturbed ' three times in its history. The first time in 1827, originally by grave robbers. Secondly, by the owner of that land at the time, Septimus Davidson, in 1862.

The third time was an official excavation sponsored by Snape Historical Society, with the permission of the landowner and tenants, started excavating in 1985, with a team led by William Filmer - Sankey.

Deborah Iden (Volunteer)

I prefer to think of the excavations as the fourth 'disturbance'. The third was the ongoing agricultural use of the site. I believe it first came under the plough during the second world war. Early attempts to break up the sandy soils involved the use of a sub-soiler, which seriously impacted the upper levels of the site. Subsequent years of ploughing allowed the erosion of the exposed hilltop site. By the time it was excavated in the 1980's many of our finds were at very shallow depths. The rabbits didn't help much, either.'

oooOOooo

The letter written 24 November 1950 to the British Museum offering to return the ring retained by Septimus Davidson

oooOOooo