Three quarters of a century after he made one of the great archaeological discoveries of all time, the life of Basil Brown is being celebrated at his home museum.
Mr Brown was the Ipswich Museum archaeologist called in by Edith Pretty to investigate strange mounds at a field near her home at Sutton Hoo in the late 1930s.
His work uncovered what is now the world famous Anglo-Saxon burial site.
Now two of his notebooks have gone on display in a special display room that has been created to tell his story – and that of the museum – in the British find of the century.
The notebooks are on display until early in the New Year – they cannot be on permanent show because they would be damaged by the light – but their contents are part of a major project to digitise museum documents in association with the Suffolk Records Office.
Caleb Howgego has been working on this project, and felt it was vital that the local role in the Sutton Hoo find was recognised.
He said: “Basil Brown was a fascinating character and his work at Sutton Hoo was absolutely crucial. He recognised the importance of the mounds and would not give up until he had found the answers.
“This display shows his importance. We can’t leave the notebooks on display indefinitely, but they are fascinating in themselves – he wrote them up as he carried on the work.”
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