Rendlesham[needs IPA] is a village and civil parish near Woodbridge, Suffolk, United Kingdom. It was a royal centre of authority for the king of the East Angles. The proximity of the Sutton Hoo ship burial may indicate a connection between Sutton Hoo and the East Anglian royal house, the Wuffingas. The king of Essex, Swithhelm (son of Seaxbald) who reigned from 660 to around 664, was baptised at Rendlesham by Bishop Cedd with King Æthelwold of East Anglia acting as his godfather. He died around the time of the great plague of 664 and may have been buried at the palace of Rendlesham.
An archaeology project has identified a large settlement of more than 124 acres (50 hectares).[2]
Its name is recorded in Old English about 730 AD as Rendlæsham, which may mean "Homestead belonging to [a man named] Rendel", or it may come from a theorized Old English word *rendel = "little shore".
The Church of St Gregory the Great in Rendlesham is a Grade I listed medieval church. Rendlesham Hall, a large manor house, was demolished in 1949.[3]
An East Suffolkelectoral ward called Rendlesham & Orford exists. The former Rendlesham ward included Campsea Ashe and at the 2011 Census had a total population of 3,388.[6]