THE remains of an early medieval boat have been shown to the public for the first time.

Richard Smith

THE remains of an early medieval boat have been shown to the public for the first time.

The county council's archaeological service brought the boat to an open day at Leiston High School.

Archaeologists wanted to give people the opportunity to view the remains which were found during excavations in advance of the onshore works for the Greater Gabbard Wind Farm, off Sizewell, in June.

The boat was one of the highlights of the event on Saturday and Duncan Allan, an outreach officer for the archaeological service, said: “There is always a fascination with archaeology and the people there were very excited about what had been found.

“The boat is probably from the 12th or 13th Century and the timbers from that period are very rare in this country, so we have such little information to go on.

“There is a possibility that what has been found is of national importance, the timbers are well preserved and we are waiting for detail from specialist labs on the date.”

The site where the remains of what was probably a small inshore fishing boat were found was part of the property of Leiston Abbey and is located outsize Sizewell.

Mr Allan said: “There is a possibility for display locally but we need funds for that. It maybe that the developer would be interested in sponsoring conservation and display, but that is something for the future.”