london179 The Great Hall Many objects from the Sutton Hoo burial would have been used in a great hall belonging to the local rulers, although none has yet been located in the area. We know from the historian Bebe (writing in about 731), however, that there was a royal villa or manor a few miles northeast of the cemetery. The great hall was the focal point of early Anglo-Saxon kingship and was a powerful statement of wealth and status. It was grandly built with massive timbers and was lavishly decorated and hung with textiles. The hall was an impressive royal space where the king's supports gathered and where the rituals of kingship took place -- gift-giving as a reward for service, ceremonial feasting and law enforcement. The objects that would have been used in the great hall include pieces from the board games that Anglo-Saxons were passionate about, a lyre to accompany storytelling and drinking horns that were handed from guest to guest during ceremonial drinking. Their burial with the dead king symbolized the courtly side of his life.