Archaeologists believe they have found the lost temple of King Rædwald.

Archaeologists working close to the village of Rendlesham, in Suffolk, England, believe they may have uncovered a lost temple built by King Rædwald, who ruled the Kingdom of East Anglia (which roughly covers the modern counties of Norfolk and Suffolk) between about 599 and 624 AD. The location is close to the site where the famous Suton Hoo Ship Burial, believed to be that of King Rædwald, was discovered in 1939, and is part of a local archaeology project which uncovered a large timber royal hall in 2022.

A probable Anglo Saxon temple complex uncovered by archaeologists near the village of Rendlesham, in Suffolk, England. Suffolk County Council.

King Rædwald is recorded as having built a large cult-house (temple), in which an alter to Christ was placed alongside alters to several pre-Christian gods, by the Venerable Bede, an English monk and historian who lived roughly a century after the king. The structure uncovered by archaeologists in Suffolk resembles Anglo Saxon cult-houses which have been excavated in other parts of England, leading to the conclusion that this is likely to have been King Rædwald's lost temple.

The Kingdom of East Anglia was founded in the sixth century by either (King?) Wehha or his son King Wuffa, and survived as independent kingdon until 918 AD, when it's then ruler, King Guthrum II, was killed in battle and East Anglia was incorporated into the larger Kingdom of England. Rædwald was the grandson of Wuffa, and is the first King of East Anglia about which anything more than a name is recorded. During his reign the kingdom appears to have gone through a period of stability and prosperity, which was lost in a series of civil wars after his death, with eight kings between 625 and 655, most of whom were killed in battle by rivals.

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Fireball meteor over East Anglia.

Witnesses across southern England and parts of northwestern Europe have reported witnessing a fireball meteor at about 18.55 pm GMT on Tuesday 24 September 2019. The object first appeared over the county of Essex in England, and passed northeast disappearing somewhere over west Suffolk. The object was seen from the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France, though the majority of the recorded sightings came from southern England. Many witnesses in London reported seeing the event despite thick cloud cover in the area at the time. A fireball is defined as a meteor (shooting star) brighter than the planet Venus. These are typically caused by pieces of rock burning up in the atmosphere, but can be the result of man-made space-junk burning up on re-entry. 

Fireball meteor seen in London through thick cloud cover on 24 September 2019. UK Meteor Observation Network/BBC.

Objects of this size probably enter the Earth's atmosphere several times a year, though unless they do so over populated areas they are unlikely to be noticed. They are officially described as fireballs if they produce a light brighter than the planet Venus. The brightness of a meteor is caused by friction with the Earth's atmosphere, which is typically far greater than that caused by simple falling, due to the initial trajectory of the object. Such objects typically eventually explode in an airburst called by the friction, causing them to vanish as an luminous object. However this is not the end of the story as such explosions result in the production of a number of smaller objects, which fall to the ground under the influence of gravity (which does not cause the luminescence associated with friction-induced heating).

 

Map showing areas where sightings of the meteor were reported, and the apparent path of the object (blue arrow). American Meteor Society.

These 'dark objects' do not continue along the path of the original bolide, but neither do they fall directly to the ground, but rather follow a course determined by the atmospheric currents (winds) through which the objects pass. Scientists are able to calculate potential trajectories for hypothetical dark objects derived from meteors using data from weather monitoring services.

 

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Earthquake in Norfolk.

On Saturday 16 March 2013, slightly after 7.00 am GMT, the British Geological Survey recorded a Magnitude 2.1 Earthquake in Norfolk, roughly 30 km southwest of Norwich, at a depth of 4 km. This is not a large enough magnitude to have caused any serious damage, but it is large enough that it may have been felt locally.

The location of the 16 March 2013 Earthquake. Google Maps.

The precise cause of earthquakes in the UK can be hard to determine. The country is not located close to any single large source of tectonic activity, so that most quakes are probably the result of the interaction of a number of stresses. 

Britain (along with the rest of Eurasia) is being pushed to the east by the expansion of the Atlantic Ocean, and to the north by the impact of Africa into Europe from the south. There are also smaller but more local centers of tectonic expansion beneath the North Sea, Rhine Valley and Bay of Biscay, all of which exert some stress upon rocks in the UK. Finally there is glacial rebound; until about 10 000 years ago much of the north of the UK was covered by a thick layer of glacial ice, which pushed the rocks of the lithosphere down into the underlying mantle. This ice is now gone, and the rocks are slowly springing back into there original position, causing the occasional Earthquake in the process.

Witness reports of Earthquakes can help scientists to understand these events, and the underlying geologic processes that cause them. If you felt this quake (or were in the are but did not, which is also useful information), then you can report it to the British Geological Survey here.

See also Earthquake near Nottingham, Earthquake in northern Leicestershire, Earthquake in northern Nottinghamshire, Earthquake off the coast of Holland and Earthquakes on Sciency Thoughts YouTube.

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