About Me and My Works
After early experiences in archaeology and woodturning, I graduated from the University of East Anglia with a first in English Literature in 1983 and went on to research into the origins of the Old English epic of Beowulf. Supervised by Professor Michael Lapidge at the Dept of Anglo-Saxon, Norse, & Celtic at the University of Cambridge. I was awarded my Ph.D. in 1991 and published my book,The Origins of Beowulf and the pre-Viking Kingdom of East Anglia, with Boydell and Brewer in 1993.
Since 1986 I have also been working as a free lance tutor in Wuffing and Early Medieval Studies (Old English Literature, Language, History, & Archaeology), running courses (for current and forthcoming ones seemy course pages ) and guiding site-tours to Sutton Hoo, Rendlesham, and sites throughout eastern England.
I am available for bookings for lectures and for individual or group tours of Wuffing and early medieval sites of interest <samnewton@anglianet.co.uk.
I have led many groups in car convoys and or aboard coaches on day or half-day excursions. Usually I lead from the front on my motorbike - thanks to Jane Newick for the above picture of me and BMW K75RT at Sutton Hoo in July 1999.
For example, I have conducted tours to the following sites (grouped by area):
East Suffolk
The Wuffing burial-mounds of Sutton Hoo
The Snape ship-burial site and Anglo-Saxon cemetery
The site of the hall of the Wuffing kings at Rendlesham
The lost site of St Felix's minster at Dommoc
St Botolf's minster at Iken
King Anna's Burial Place at Blythburgh
Framlingham Castle
Orford Castle
The East Anglian Kingdom's South-Western Approaches
The Fleam Dyke and the Devil's Dyke near Newmarket
The likely site of the Battle of Assendun (1016)
St Botolf's church at Hadstock
The Bartlow Hills
The Waveney Valley
The site of St Fursey's minster at Cnobheresburh
Bungay Castle
The East Anglian episcopal minster site at South Elmham
Central Norfolk
The Roman walls of Venta Icenorum near Norwich
St Wihtbuth's Well at East Dereham
The East Anglian episcopal minster site at North Elmham
West Suffolk and the Fenlands
St Æthelthryth's Foundation at Ely
The Site of the Mildenhall Treasure Hoard
The Site of the Thetford Treasure Hoard
Thetford Castle
The Abbey of St Edmund at Bury
The Kingdom of the East Saxons
The Site of the Battle of Maldon (991)
St Cedd's minster at Bradwell-on-Sea
Cheshunt Field, Colchester (major late Iron Age and Roman site)
Full List of My Publications
(1) "The Seventh-Century Royal House of East Anglia: A Genealogy", Saxon, 10 (1989), pp.6-7.
(2) "Beowulf and the East Anglian Royal Pedigree", The Age of Sutton Hoo, ed. M.O.H.Carver (Boydell, Woodbridge, 1992), pp.65-74.
(3) The Origins of Beowulf and the pre-Viking Kingdom of East Anglia (Brewer, Cambridge, 1993, 1994, 1999) - see my book-section for reviews.
(4) "The Sutton Hoo Society Trip to Northern Suffolk", Saxon, 19 (1993), pp.6-7.
(5) "Sutton Hoo and Beowulf", Saxon, 21 (1994), pp.1-3.
(6) "The Sutton Hoo Society Visit to East Anglia's South-Western Approaches", Saxon, 21 (1994), p.5.
(7) "Wes þu, Eadwin, hæl! (An Old English Salute to Edwin Gifford)", Saxon, 21 (1994), pp.4-5.
(8) "The Sutton Hoo Society Visit to Norfolk", Saxon, 23 (1995), pp.6-7.
(9) "The 1996 Sutton Hoo Society Visit to Thetford, Ely, and Bury St Edmunds", Saxon, 25 (1997), pp.5-6.
(10) "The Sutton Hoo Society Outing to Sutton Hoo and related sites in S.E.Suffolk", Saxon, 27 (1997), pp.6-7.
(11) "King Arthur: a military history (Review Article)" Newsletter of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology & History, 48 (1999), p.12.
(12) "AD 999" (with Paul Sieveking), Fortean Times, 129 (Dec. 1999), pp.40-44.
(13) "An Autumn Excursion to the Kingdom of the East Saxons", Saxon, 31 (1999), pp.2-3. (15) "The Reckoning of King Rædwald" (work in progress).
Presentations
My academic presentations include the following: the Oxford Sutton Hoo Research Conferences (1987, 1988); the Sutton Hoo Fiftieth Anniversary Conferences [Snape, Oxford, & York] (1989); King's College London Fontes Anglo-Saxonici (1993); Leeds International Medieval Congress (1994, 1997); 3rd University of Rome [Visiting Professorship] (1996); and a contribution to the Channel 4 TV program AD1000 (broadcast Jan.31st.1999).
