The Furness Hoard is a
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
Viking
Vikings were 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 settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9â ...
silver coins and other artefacts dating to the 9th and 10th Century that was discovered in
Furness
Furness ( ) is a peninsula and region of Cumbria, England. Together with the Cartmel Peninsula it forms North Lonsdale, Historic counties of England, historically an exclave of Lancashire. On 1 April 2023 it became part of the new unitary author ...
,
Cumbria
Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...
,
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
in May 2011 by an unnamed
metal detectorist.
The exact location of the find, as well as the names of the finder and the landowner, have not been made public.
Description
The hoard comprises 92 silver coins, including two Arabic
dirhams
The dirham, dirhem or drahm is a unit of currency and of mass. It is the name of the currencies of Morocco, the United Arab Emirates and Armenia, and is the name of a currency subdivision in Jordan, Libya, Qatar and Tajikistan. It was historicall ...
, several silver ingots, and one silver bracelet.
The hoard is thought to have been deposited in about AD 955.
Significance
This is the largest Viking hoard ever to have been found in the Furness area, and has been described as a "missing link" because it is the first significant archaeological evidence of
Norse inhabitation in the area even though many local place names, such as
Barrow,
Yarlside,
Roa Island and
Ormsgill
Ormsgill is an area, current Town Council ward and former district-level ward of Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England. It is bordered by Hindpool, Parkside, Hawcoat, Roanhead and Walney Channel. The population of the ward in 2001 stood at 5, ...
, are
Old Norse
Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...
in origin.
Display
The hoard has been held at the
Dock Museum
The Dock Museum is situated in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England. Most of its exhibits concern the history of the town, focusing on the shipbuilding industry at VSEL (now BAE Systems), the steelworks industry — of which Barrow once had th ...
in
Barrow-in-Furness
Barrow-in-Furness is a port town and civil parish (as just "Barrow") in the Westmorland and Furness district of Cumbria, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the county of Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borou ...
since discovery, and the Dock Museum has indicated that it hopes to acquire the hoard after it has been valued by the
Treasure Valuation Committee
The Treasure Valuation Committee (TVC) is an advisory non-departmental public body of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) based in London, which offers expert advice to the government on items of declared treasure in England, Wale ...
.
See also
*
List of hoards in Great Britain
The list of hoards in Britain comprises significant Archaeology, archaeological hoards of coins, jewellery, precious and scrap metal objects and other valuable items discovered in Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales). It includes both hoa ...
*
Cuerdale Hoard
The Cuerdale Hoard is a hoard of more than 8,600 items, including silver coins, English and Carolingian jewellery, hacksilver and ingots. It was discovered on 15 May 1840 on the southern bank of a bend of the River Ribble, in an area called ...
*
Penrith Hoard
The Penrith Hoard is a dispersed hoard of 10th century silver penannular brooches found at Flusco Pike, Newbiggin Moor, near Penrith in Cumbria, and now in the British Museum in London. The largest "thistle brooch" was discovered in 1785 and ...
*
Silverdale Hoard
*
Vale of York Hoard
*
Spillings Hoard
Footnotes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Furness Hoard
Hoards of jewellery
Treasure troves in England
Viking treasure troves
History of Cumbria
2011 archaeological discoveries
Metal detecting finds in England
2011 in England