Her decision to excavate her land in 1938 uncovered what is arguably the most extraordinary archaeological find of British history: the remains of a 27-metre (89ft) ship from the sixth or seventh century, complete with iron rivets plus an iron-headed axe, the remains of a masked helmet wrapped in cloth, various objects from the eastern Mediterranean and what appeared to be a human body, buried with its horse and possibly a dog. Their part of Suffolk (near Woodbridge) had long been an area of interest for archaeologists, and the tantalising possibility that an ancient burial might lurk beneath the mounds was enough to keep Pretty’s mind occupied during the long, often aimless days spent pottering around the house. The death of Pretty’s husband, Frank, in 1934 had left her alone with her four-year-old son, Robert, in their 15-bedroom Edwardian manor. Gazing out over her 500-acre Suffolk estate, widow Edith Pretty would have been able to see three large mounds of soil protruding from the ground, with no obvious explanation as to why they were there.
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