The Bedale Hoard is a hoard of forty-eight

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

and

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

items dating from the late 9th to early 10th centuries AD and includes necklaces, arm-bands, a sword pommel, hacksilver and

ingot An ingot is a piece of relatively pure material, usually metal, that is Casting, 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 procedu ...

s. It was discovered on 22 May 2012 in a field near Bedale,

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...

, by metal detectorists, and reported via the Portable Antiquities Scheme. Following a successful public funding campaign, the hoard was acquired by the

Yorkshire Museum The Yorkshire Museum is a museum in York, England. It was opened in 1830, and has five permanent collections, covering biology, geology, archaeology, numismatics and astronomy. History The museum was founded by the Yorkshire Philosophical Soci ...

for £50,000.

The hoard contains 48 items of

and

and was declared "treasure" under the Treasure Act 1996. In addition to 29

s, the hoard contained an

iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...

sword pommel inlaid with foil plaques, four gold hoops or bands from the hilt of the sword, six small gold rivets, four silver collars and neck-rings (one cut into two pieces), one silver arm, one fragment of a "Permian" ring, and one silver penannular brooch.

Sword fittings

Sword Pommel from the Bedale Hoard YORYM 2014 149 1-1

The large,

sword pommel survived along with the guard, four gold hoops from the hilt and six gold rivets. The pommel is broadly triangular and is inlaid with plaques of gold foil decorated with incised animal interlace with nicked edges in the late

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

Trewhiddle style, which can be dated to the late 9th century. The form of the pommel is typical of Petersen's late-9th-century type L. Silver is far more usual as a decoration on sword pommels of this date and the extensive use of gold foil on the present find is unique.

Neck-rings

Large silver necklace from the Bedale Hoard YORYM 2014 149 37

The largest neck collar from the hoard consists of four twisted cables of

, each a different size, hammer-welded together into flat terminals. The outermost cable consists of six thick, plaited rods and the inner three "hollow" ropes each consists only of three coiled strands of double-twisted rods. Whilst the individual components of the collar can be paralleled, this "West Viking" variant is unique. International trade associated with this hoard is best demonstrated by the "Permian"-style ring fragment, a type imported from Russia during the early part of the Viking period. Graham-Campbell, G. 2011. ''The Cuerdale Hoard and related Viking-Age silver and gold from Britain and Ireland in the British Museum''. London: British Museum. 88–89 Two complete six-plait cable neck-rings are also present in the hoard, as is a triple-strand neck-ring cut into half and used as hacksilver.

Ingots

Twenty-nine ingots of silver (with a variety of minor alloys) were found with the hoard, many of which have testing-nicks. Three have crosses incised upon them. They range from in weight.

Significance

The hoard represents the scale of international connections in the

early medieval The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th to the 10th century. They marked the start of the Middle Ages of Europ ...

period, with Russian and IrishTownend, M. 2014. ''Viking Age Yorkshire''. Pickering: Blackthorn Press influences among the

and Anglo-Scandinavian elements. The lack of coinage in this hoard shows the

bullion Bullion is non-ferrous metal that has been refined to a high standard of elemental purity. The term is ordinarily applied to bulk metal used in the production of coins and especially to precious metals such as gold and silver. It comes from ...

-weight economy in use in the late 9th century AD. It is earlier than both the Cuerdale Hoard and the Vale of York Hoard.

Public display

The hoard was first placed on permanent public display in the Yorkshire Museum in 2014. From 2017 it formed part of a touring exhibition titled 'Viking: Rediscover the Legend' and is displayed alongside the Vale of York Hoard and the Cuerdale Hoard, with the tour starting at the Yorkshire Museum and subsequently including Atkinson Art Gallery and Library in Southport,

Aberdeen Art Gallery Aberdeen Art Gallery is the main visual arts exhibition space in the city of Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1884 in a building designed by Alexander Marshall Mackenzie, with a sculpture court added in 1905. In 1900, it received the art ...

, Norwich Castle Museum, and the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. Nottingham's main campus (University Park Campus, Nottingh ...

References

{{coord, 54.29, -1.59, display=title 2012 in England Anglo-Norse England Anglo-Saxon archaeology Hoards of jewellery Medieval European metalwork objects Metal detecting finds in England Collection of the Yorkshire Museum Viking treasure troves Treasure troves in England Archaeological sites in North Yorkshire 2012 archaeological discoveries Bedale