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Edith May Pretty (née Dempster; 1 August 1883 – 17 December 1942) was an English landowner on whose land the Sutton Hoo ship burial was discovered after she hired Basil Brown, a local excavator and amateur archeologist, to find out if anything lay beneath the mounds on her property.
- Robert Dempster Pretty
- Landowner, benefactor, magistrate
- Why Was The Location called "Sutton hoo"?
- Was Edith Pretty A Widow?
- Was Basil Brown A Professional Archaeologist?
- Does Actress Carey Mulligan Resemble Edith pretty?
- Is The Movie's Romance Between Peggy Piggott and Rory Lomax Real?
- Was Edith Pretty Involved in Spiritualism?
- Is The Fleeting Romance Between Edith Pretty and Basil Brown Real?
- Did Basil Brown Really Discover A 7Th-Century Anglo-Saxon Burial Ship?
- Did Journalists Really Descend on The Sutton Hoo Dig site?
- Did A Burial Mound Cave in on Basil Brown?
In researching The Dig's historical accuracy, we learned that the name "Sutton" is a compound noun derived from the Old English words sut (south) and tun (a settlement or farm). "Hoo" means hill or a raised area of land often overlooking water, and the land was referred to as the Hoo Farm by the mid-19th century. This was likely due to the burial m...
Yes. At the time Edith Pretty (portrayed by Carey Mulligan) hired local archaeologist Basil Brown to excavate the mounds on her Sutton Hoo estate in southeast Suffolk, she had been a widow for several years. Her husband, Frank Pretty, had died of stomach cancer on his 56th birthday in 1934. They had one son, Robert Dempster Pretty, who she had give...
Like in The Digmovie, the true story confirms that Basil Brown was not considered to be a professional archaeologist. He was a local, self-taught, amateur archaeologist. However, it could be argued that in terms of experience, he was just as qualified as the professionals who would later end up taking over the Sutton Hoo dig. He had spent years exp...
In researching The Digtrue story, we immediately discovered that one of the biggest liberties the movie takes is that despite aging her a little with makeup, actress Carey Mulligan is approximately 20 years younger than the real Edith Pretty was at the time of the excavation of the Sutton Hoo burial mounds. Mulligan was approximately 34 at the time...
No. In conducting The Dig fact check, we discovered that Johnny Flynn's character, photographer Rory Lomax, who is the cousin of Edith Pretty (Carey Mulligan), is entirely fictional. The romance with Peggy Piggott (Lily James) is fictional as well. It was likely inspired by the fact that Peggy Piggott's 1936 marriage to Stuart Piggott (portrayed by...
Yes. The movie only alludes to Edith's interest in spiritualism when she asks Basil Brown (Ralph Fiennes) if he saw anything while he was momentarily buried alive following a cave-in at the site. The informal religious movement known as spiritualism was still popular in the 1930s, and Edith had befriended a faith healer named William Parish. Spirit...
No. The flirtations with romance that we see between Edith Pretty (Carey Mulligan) and Basil Brown (Ralph Fiennes) in The Digmovie appear to have no basis in history. From what we can tell, their relationship was never more than platonic. Basil was married to Dorothy 'May' Brown, who worked as a domestic servant. May even wrote a letter to Edith Pr...
Yes. Among the 18 ancient burial mounds on Edith Pretty's 526-acre Sutton Hoo estate was a 7th-century Anglo-Saxon ship, which is thought to have been the final resting place of King Rædwald of East Anglia (c. 560 - c. 624). Unlike in the movie, the discovery of the Anglo-Saxon burial ship in Mound 1 didn't come as a complete surprise. In real life...
Yes. While it's not highlighted in the movie, the excavation of the Sutton Hoo burial mounds sparked significant interest and resulted in a flood of journalists descending on the site. This happened after Ipswich Museum curator Guy Maynard gave the story to the press without the permission of archaeologist Charles Phillips, who had taken over leadi...
No. While it makes for a suspenseful moment in The Digmovie and novel, the true story seems to lack any record of Basil Brown being nearly buried alive. As John Preston stated in his novel's author's note, "Certain changes have been made for dramatic effect." While there was no mention of a cave-in happening in real life, there was worry that a hil...
Trustees of the British Museum. Suffolk archaeologist Basil Brown was assisted by members of Edith Pretty's staff. He wrote regular letters to his wife from the dig, one of which described...
Jan 17, 2021 · 16 January 2021. By Katy Prickett,BBC News. Netflix. Carey Mulligan as Sutton Hoo landowner Edith Pretty with Ralph Fiennes as archaeologist Basil Brown. The Anglo-Saxon treasures unearthed...
Edith Pretty (née Dempster, 1883-1942) Edith Pretty was the owner of the estate and instigated the excavation. Born into a wealthy family, she spent her youth touring the world and witnessed several excavations which gave her a life-long interest in archaeology. She married her husband, Major Frank Pretty, and moved to Sutton Hoo in 1926.
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Feb 5, 2021 · The Dig, the new Netflix film starring Carey Mulligan as Pretty and Ralph Fiennes as Brown, is adapted from a 2016 novel of the same name by John Preston, nephew of Peggy Piggott, a junior...
She consulted the curator of the Ipswich Corporation Museum, Guy Maynard, and appointed local amateur archaeologist Basil Brown to start the work. Pretty oversaw the excavations herself for two years, and when the largest mound unearthed what looked like a huge ship burial, she knew it was of enormous historic significance.
