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How to Build a Saxon Ship: Research, decisions, techniques and rewards Tim Kirk
Event details
(Re)awaken your interest in the earliest years of England!
The Sutton Hoo Ship’s Company - based in Woodbridge, Suffolk - is reconstructing the giant 90ft-long ship discovered under a mound at the royal burial ground of Sutton Hoo in 1939.
Join Master Shipwright Tim Kirk to find out about the ship’s design and build - the research, decisions and techniques involved - and discover how the project celebrates Anglo-Saxon craftsmanship, the art of rowing and the possibility of power under sail.
You may also be interested in attending a related talk on the Sutton Hoo ship - Getting Around in the Seventh Century: Researching early travel in Britain, Europe and the Mediterranean. There will be family-friendly activities as well - Sutton Hoo: Exhibition and woodwork.
Over 90 volunteers are employed in researching and building the ship - and more are needed. If you are interested in volunteering, get in touch with the Sutton Hoo Ship's Company!
Image credit: © Sutton Hoo Ship’s Company
About the speaker
Tim Kirk (Master Shipwright) has been around boats and the sea since he was eight years old, when his father built a 'Mirror Dinghy'. By the age of sixteen he was teaching sailing through school and inner city boys clubs. After A levels he worked in the Production Development Department of a major pharmaceutical company. In 1996/97 he re-trained as a boatbuilder at the International Boatbuilding Training College in Lowestoft and has been in the trade since then, working for some of the major yards in East Anglia on various projects, including a new waterwheel for the Woodbridge Tidemill in 2011. He built his own 15-metre yacht, which has been his home for the past 13 years. In 2018, he began to study for a BA in Archaeology at University of Wales Trinity Saint David in Lampeter. He loves sailing and hill-walking, and is fascinated to see the long-held plans to recreate King Raedwald’s ship coming to fruition.
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