There are cemeteries of a similar date at Rendlesham and Ufford. South of Woodbridge, there are 6th-century burial grounds at Rushmere, Little Bealings, and Tuddenham St Martin and circling Brightwell Heath, the site of mounds that date from the Bronze Age. It formed a path of entry into East Anglia during the period that followed the end of Roman imperial rule in the 5th century. On the opposite bank, is the small harbour town of Woodbridge, which stands about 7 mi (11 km) from the North Sea and just a little below the lowest convenient fording place. Sutton Hoo, which lies along the banks of the tidal estuary of the River Deben, lends its name to the small Suffolk village of Sutton and its parish. Hoo was recorded in the Domesday Book as Hoi/ Hou. The same ending survives in a few other placenames, notably Plymouth Hoe and Fingringhoe. Sut combined with tun means the "southern farmstead" or "settlement" and hoh refers to a hill "shaped like a heel spur". Sutton Hoo derives its name from Old English.
The site is in the care of the National Trust. The nearby visitor centre contains original artefacts, replicas of finds and a reconstruction of the ship burial chamber. This site also has burials, but the tops of their mounds had been obliterated by later agricultural activity. It was discovered and partially explored in 2000 during preliminary work for the construction of an Exhibition Hall for tourists. The newer burial ground is situated on a second hill-spur about 500 metres (1,600 ft) upstream of the first. They appear as a group of approximately 20 earthen mounds that rise slightly above the horizon of the hill-spur when viewed from the opposite bank. The cemeteries are located close to the River Deben estuary and other archaeological sites. The poem is partly set in Götaland in southern Sweden, which has archaeological parallels to some of the finds from Sutton Hoo. The ship burial has prompted comparisons with the world of the Old English poem Beowulf. Those found in the burial chamber include a suite of metalwork dress fittings in gold and gems, a ceremonial helmet, a shield and sword, a lyre, and silver plate from the Byzantine Empire. The artefacts comprise what is considered the greatest treasure ever discovered in the United Kingdom.
During the 1960s and 1980s, the wider area was explored by archaeologists and many other individual burials were revealed. The site was first excavated by Basil Brown under the auspices of the landowner Edith Pretty, but when its significance became apparent, national experts took over. Gold shoulder clasp, with inlays of garnets and glass
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