1,400-Year-Old Pagan ‘Cult House’ Discovered in England

An archeological dig in England has unearthed what appears to be a 1,400 year old temple where early Anglo-Saxon kings once worshipped pre-Christian Pagan gods.

The remains were found in the town of Rendlesham, in Suffolk, amid a community archeology project that has already made some remarkable discoveries, including a hall indicative of royalty, thought to be the kingdom of East Anglia, which existed in the 6th Century C.E. in what is now Suffolk and Norfolk.

The newly uncovered building is 33 feet long and 16 feet wide. Christopher Scull, a professor at Cardiff University and University College London, and an archeologist on the dig, said in a statement that the building appears to have been "unusually high and robustly built for its size," suggesting "it was constructed for a special purpose," like worship.

"The results of excavations at Rendlesham speak vividly of the power and wealth of the East Anglian kings, and the sophistication of the society they ruled," said Scull. "The possible temple, or cult house, provides rare and remarkable evidence for the practice at a royal site of the pre-Christian beliefs that underpinned early English society."

At the time it was used, the "cult house" would have had none of the connotations of modern-day cults — rather, a cult house instead refers to any building that was consecrated and used for pre-Christian worship.

The East Anglian royals would have worshipped a pantheon of pagan gods based on the Germanic pagan tradition. Chief among them was Woden, or Odin, who was associated with royalty.  

Other evidence adds to the theory that this site held special significance for East Anglian royals: metal objects, including a decorative horse harness, and other artifacts have been found there. Rendlesham was also mentioned in the writings of The Venerable Bebe, a 7th Century monk and scholar who later became the patron saint of English writers and historians.  

They were not the first peoples there, either: Incredibly, evidence of human settlement in the area goes as far back as 6,000 years to the Neolithic era.