The Bossall-Flaxton hoard is a Viking period hoard comprising silver jewellery, hacksilver and c.270 coins dating to the early 10th century AD. It was found on land between

Bossall Bossall is a hamlet in North Yorkshire, England with fewer than 100 residents. The village was part of the Ryedale district between 1974 and 2023. It is now administered by North Yorkshire Council. The Church of St Botolph was built in the 12t ...

and Flaxton in

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 ...

, England.

Discovery

The hoard was first reported in the 1807 edition of ''

The Gentleman's Magazine ''The Gentleman's Magazine'' was a monthly magazine founded in London, England, by Edward Cave in January 1731. It ran uninterrupted for almost 200 years, until 1907, ceasing publication altogether in 1922. It was the first to use the term ''m ...

''. The writer, using the pseudonym 'Amicus', reports the discovery of the hoard in an arable field on 14 September 1807 of a lead box containing coins and associated it with some silver jewellery found in ploughsoil nearby.

At least 270 silver pennies were discovered in the hoard. The coins were subsequently dispersed and so a full catalogue has never been created. The 1807 account reported that "it appears evident from the pieces of Silver found with the Coins, that the whole was the plunder of a field of battle. Some of these appear separated or chopped off from others of them, and to be pieces of stirrups." These are interpreted as hacksilver associated with the hoard. A silver armlet decorated with punched decoration 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 ...

in 1824. Three coins are also in the Yorkshire Museum collection. At least one coin from the reign of Regnald (c.AD 919–921) is in the collection of the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

References

{{reflist 1807 in England Archaeological sites in North Yorkshire 1807 archaeological discoveries Coin hoards Medieval European objects in the British Museum Collection of the Yorkshire Museum

Discovery

Contents

References