Shark Teeth
Piecing together the past along an ever-changing coastline
Archaeology Collection
The Felixstowe Museum Archaeology Collections spans several millennia of life and communities in this region of Suffolk and East Anglia. Displays includes relics from the natural world as well as everyday items that provide clues to domestic life from as far back as Paleolithic times.
The Archaeology Collection is located in the Trewick Room within the historic Ravelin Block.
When mammoths & dinosaurs roamed Suffolk…
Long before Felixstowe was a formidable fortress against invasion, a fashionable Victorian and Edwardian resort or the vibrant seaside town as we now enjoy it, the earth’s oldest creatures roamed the ‘Colneis Peninsula’.
The Colneis Peninsula is home to today’s Felixstowe, the hamlet of Felixstowe Ferry and the villages of Falkenham, Kirton, Trimley St Mary, Trimley St Martin and Walton.
What’s more, we have some stunning objects in our Archaeology Collection to prove it!
Here’s a flavour of what’s in store & more
We thought we’d share just a small selection of interesting artefacts from our Archaeology Collection to whet your appetite…
Ancient Stonework
Ancient Wheat
Mammoth Tooth
Mysterious Tablet
Romanesque Stone Head
Samian Bowl
Ancient Pottery
Fascinating ancient finds by the spadeful
Look out for the huge mammoth tooth found at Landguard Point – it gives you an idea of the ginormous scale of these elephant-like creatures which once inhabited this area.
We’ve got fossilised dinosaur poo too ! Known as coprolite, it is found in abundance throughout the estuaries and hinterland of the peninsula.
Learn how coprolite helped to grow Suffolk’s economy and made some local landowners and industrialists wealthy.
Treasures from our Roman settlers
Thousands of years after prehistoric creatures became extinct, this peninsula was occupied by the Romans.
Ancient roof tiles and building material fragments provide clues to their buildings constructed here. These included a fort, now submerged beneath the waves on Felixstowe’s northern beach. The coins, pots and jewellery that the Romans left behind give us insight to their daily lives.
So important were many of the early Roman finds in the Felixstowe and Walton areas that they have been shared with other museums. However, Felixstowe Museum is proud to retain an important collection of first to fourth century Roman artefacts.
A castle lost under the waves
The Romans came to Felixstowe, and to help defend their Empire created a playing card shaped fort called Walton Castle near Felixstowe.
When the Romans left, the fort fell into disrepair. Over time, the fort was reoccupied with new fortifications and even, just possibly, an important Anglo-Saxon church.
You won’t find any of these buildings in Felixstowe today, as the North Sea began to swallow the ruins of Walton Castle hundreds of years ago. However, at very low tide, you can just about spot the ruins underneath the waves.
If you want to guarantee seeing Felixstowe’s Roman past, come to the Museum where you can see coins, ballista balls, roof tiles, and more that help to tell the story!
What links the builders of Framlingham Castle to a shed in Felixstowe?
Long after the Roman fort of Walton Castle, the Bigods of Framlingham Castle fame constructed their own motte and bailey in Felixstowe. They were rich and powerful enough to establish a priory and manor house in Walton too.
The ruins of Walton Hall were investigated by local historian, Tom Felgate in the 1960s, and were thankfully preserved and cleared of vegetation at the millennium.
When Tom Felgate passed away thirty years after the original investigations, his shed was opened for the first time to reveal a wealth of meticulously catalogued material. A reconstruction with the original finds still inside is on display at the Museum.
What other Felixstowe Museum collections will you dig?
