Penrith Hoard
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Penrith Hoard is a dispersed
hoard A hoard or "wealth deposit" is an archaeological term for a collection of valuable objects or artifacts, sometimes purposely buried in the ground, in which case it is sometimes also known as a cache. This would usually be with the intention of ...
of 10th century silver
penannular brooch The Celtic brooch, more properly called the penannular brooch, and its closely related type, the pseudo-penannular brooch, are types of brooch clothes fasteners, often rather large; penannular means formed as an incomplete ring. They are especial ...
es found at Flusco Pike, Newbiggin Moor, near Penrith in
Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumb ...
, and now in the
British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
in London. The largest "thistle brooch" was discovered in 1785 and another in 1830, with the bulk of items being recovered in two groups close to each other by archaeologists in 1989. Whether all the finds made close to each other were originally deposited at the same time remains uncertain, but it is thought likely that at least the brooches were. The brooches are thought to have been deposited in about 930.


Discoveries

The earliest surviving finds were discovered in what was already called the "Silver Field" on Newbiggin Moor by a small boy in 1785, the name suggesting that earlier finds, now lost, had been made. In 1830 another smaller thistle brooch was found. Although the exact find spot is not known, this brooch is strongly suspected to have also come from the "Silver Field". The usual reason for a hoard being "dispersed" is that routine farming operations like ploughing can move some items of a single hoard before they are discovered. Later archaeological investigations in 1989 at the same spot revealed other silver items that confirmed that this was a dispersed hoard and not a solitary loss of one brooch. Two groups of items were found in nearby fields: one consisted of five Viking brooches, with fragments of two more, and the other of more than fifty items comprising coins,
ingot An ingot is a piece of relatively pure material, usually metal, that is cast into a shape suitable for further processing. In steelmaking, it is the first step among semi-finished casting products. Ingots usually require a second procedure of sh ...
s, jewellery and
hacksilver Hacksilver (sometimes referred to as hacksilber) consists of fragments of cut and bent silver items that were used as bullion or as currency by weight in antiquity. Use Hacksilver was common among the Norsemen or Vikings, as a result of both t ...
(jewellery and other silver pieces chopped up) of a very similar date. The brooches were declared to be "
treasure trove A treasure trove is an amount of money or coin, gold, silver, plate, or bullion found hidden underground or in places such as cellars or attics, where the treasure seems old enough for it to be presumed that the true owner is dead and the hei ...
" at an inquest held in Penrith on 23 July 1990, and entered the British Museum in 1991, joined by the other hoard in 2009.


Context

The penannular brooch, originally a common utilitarian clothes fastening—normally of
base metal A base metal is a common and inexpensive metal, as opposed to a precious metal such as gold or silver. In numismatics, coins often derived their value from the precious metal content; however, base metals have also been used in coins in the past ...
—in
Roman Britain Roman Britain was the period in classical antiquity when large parts of the island of Great Britain were under occupation by the Roman Empire. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410. During that time, the territory conquered was ...
, developed in the post-Roman period into highly elaborate and decorative marks of status in Ireland and Scotland. The brooches, worn by both men and women, were made in precious metals and often decorated with gems. When the
Vikings Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...
began to raid and settle the British Isles, they took to wearing these brooches, but now in plain silver. The thistle and bossed types represented in the hoard were the most popular styles, both developing out of earlier
Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...
styles. It has been speculated that the hoard, with items strongly suggesting an Irish connection, is connected with the events of 927, a date which matches the style of the finds. In that year "the kings of Strathclyde and Scotland came south to Penrith to pay homage to Athelstan". Also in the area with his army was the troublesome Norse-Gael
king of Dublin Vikings invaded the territory around Dublin in the 9th century, establishing the Norse Kingdom of Dublin, the earliest and longest-lasting Norse kingdom in Ireland. Its territory corresponded to most of present-day County Dublin. The Norse refe ...
,
Gofraid ua Ímair Gofraid ua Ímair or Guthfrith of Ivar ( non, Guðrøðr , la, Guthfridus, fl. from AD 918 until death in 934) was a Hiberno-Scandinavian (people of Gaelic and Scandinavian birth and Culture) and Viking leader who ruled Dublin and briefly Vik ...
, or Gothfrith. Athelstan made the kings, who had apparently been associating with pagan Vikings like Gothrith, renounce idolatry, but "Gothfrith and company had slipped away in order to attack
York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
". After briefly making himself
king of Northumbria Northumbria, a kingdom of Angles, in what is now northern England and south-east Scotland, was initially divided into two kingdoms: Bernicia and Deira. The two were first united by king Æthelfrith around the year 604, and except for occasional ...
there, he was chased out and replaced by Athelstan later in the year, and went back to Ireland. At some point during these manoevres the hoards may have been deposited.


Items discovered

The large thistle brooch soon passed to the
Leverian Museum The Leverian collection was a natural history and ethnographic collection assembled by Ashton Lever. It was noted for the content it acquired from the voyages of Captain James Cook. For three decades it was displayed in London, being broken up ...
, a private museum in
Leicester Square Leicester Square ( ) is a pedestrianised square in the West End of London, England. It was laid out in 1670 as Leicester Fields, which was named after the recently built Leicester House, itself named after Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester ...
in London. In 1787 a print of it was published, claiming that it was the insignia of the
Knights Templar , colors = White mantle with a red cross , colors_label = Attire , march = , mascot = Two knights riding a single horse , equipment ...
. It was bought by the British Museum in 1909 (M&ME 1909,6-24,2). The brooch discovered in 1830, the largest in the group illustrated, entered the museum in 1904 (M&ME 1904,1102.3). One terminal is missing, and the pin is 52 cm long. In 1989 two further incomplete thistle brooches and pieces from three bossed-type brooches were found, which are seen with the 1830 brooch in the group illustration above. The most complete of the 1989 group (illustrated left) has a
runic Runes are the letters in a set of related alphabets known as runic alphabets native to the Germanic peoples. Runes were used to write various Germanic languages (with some exceptions) before they adopted the Latin alphabet, and for specialised ...
futhark Runes are the letters in a set of related alphabets known as runic alphabets native to the Germanic peoples. Runes were used to write various Germanic languages (with some exceptions) before they adopted the Latin alphabet, and for specialis ...
scratched on the reverse of the hoop.British Museum collection database
brooch (M&ME 1991,0109.2). The other two have interlace around the bosses on the terminals. It is thought likely that all these brooches were originally deposited together and have been dispersed and damaged by ploughing.


Notes


References

* Graham-Campbell, James, "The Northern Hoards", in: Higham, N.J., Hill, David. ''Edward the Elder, 899-924'', 2001, Routledge, ,


Further reading

*Richardson, Ben. ''a Find of Viking-period silver brooches and fragments at Flusco, Newbiggin, Cumbria'', 1996, Transactions of the Cumberland & Westmoreland Antiquarian & Archeological Society, Volumes 96-97 {{DEFAULTSORT:Penrith Hoard Brooches Celtic brooches Medieval European objects in the British Museum Treasure troves in England Viking treasure troves 1785 archaeological discoveries 1989 archaeological discoveries 1830 archaeological discoveries 1989 in England 1830 in England 1785 in England Dacre, Cumbria