The Gilling sword is an Anglo-Saxon sword, dating from the late 9th to early 10th centuries AD, found by a schoolboy in a river in 1976 and subsequently 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 ...

Discovery

The sword was discovered on 9 April 1976 by nine-year-old Gary Fridd on the north side of Gilling Beck, in

Gilling West Gilling West is a village about north of Richmond, North Yorkshire, Richmond in North Yorkshire, England. It is located in the List of civil parishes in North Yorkshire, civil parish of Gilling with Hartforth and Sedbury. It is named "West" to ...

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 ...

. At the Coroner's inquisition for

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 he ...

, held in September of the same year, a police officer identified the find spot as "33 feet () east of a bridge and two feet from the water's edge". He also identified that a mechanical excavator had recently been working in the area where the sword was found, offering a reason for its unusual discovery. The sword was not declared treasure and became the property of the finder. The finder appeared on the children's television programme ''

Blue Peter ''Blue Peter'' is a British children's television entertainment programme created by John Hunter Blair. It is the longest-running children's TV show in the world, having been broadcast since October 1958. It was broadcast primarily from BBC ...

'' to talk about his discovery and both he and the sword were awarded ''Blue Peter'' badges. The sword was purchased at auction by the Yorkshire Museum in 1977.

Description

The whole sword measures in length, with a maximum width of across the guard. The sword blade is

bifacial A hand axe (or handaxe or Acheulean hand axe) is a prehistoric stone tool with two faces that is the longest-used tool in human history. It is made from stone, usually flint or chert that has been "reduced" and shaped from a larger piece by kna ...

(double edged) and the hilt is decorated in silver with a combination of geometric and floriate (depicting flowers, leaves and foliage) designs. The blade itself measures in length from the guard. It tapers gradually from the guard, where it measures wide. The blade has a shallow fuller along its length and traces of pattern-welding are visible on its surface. The pommel is decorated with strips of silver and five matching strips are visible across the grip.

Significance

The form and decoration of the Gilling sword places it within a group of late Anglo-Saxon swords classified as 'type L'; regarded as typical Anglo-Saxon swords of the Viking period and it has been compared to a similar example from

Fiskerton, Lincolnshire Fiskerton is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. The 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 Census recorded the population of the civil parish as 1,209. It is about east of Lin ...

. The sword may originally have derived from a grave, which had been disturbed by the mechanical excavator mentioned in the Coroner's report.

Public display

The sword is in the collection of the Yorkshire Museum. It appeared in the exhibition "The Vikings in England", which was opened by the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales (, ; ) is a title traditionally given to the male heir apparent to the History of the English monarchy, English, and later, the British throne. The title originated with the Welsh rulers of Kingdom of Gwynedd, Gwynedd who, from ...

on 30 March 1982 and was seen by over 235,000 visitors before it closed in October of the same year. This exhibition was awarded the

European Museum of the Year The European Museum of the Year Award (EMYA) is presented each year by the European Museum Forum (European Museum Forum, EMF) under the auspices of the Council of Europe. The EMYA is considered the most important annual award in the European mus ...

Special Exhibition Award as a result of the presentation of the exhibition in the Museum and for additional educational projects organised by the curator Elizabeth Hartley. When the Museum was closed in 2010 for a major refurbishment, the Gilling sword (along with the other key objects from the Museum) were displayed at 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 ...

. It returned to the Yorkshire Museum for the new exhibition opening on 1 August 2010. In 2013, it was included in the permanent medieval exhibition "Capital of the North". In 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 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 ...

, with the tour starting at the Yorkshire Museum and subsequently including Atkinson Art Gallery and Library in Southport,

Norwich Castle Museum Norwich Castle is a medieval royal fortification in the city of Norwich, in the English county of Norfolk. William the Conqueror (1066–1087) ordered its construction in the aftermath of the Norman Conquest of England. The castle was used as a ...

, 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 ...

. The sword went back on display at the Yorkshire Museum in September 2019.

Assassin's Creed

The Gilling sword (titled the 'Bedale-Gilling Sword') appears as an unlockable reward in the computer game '' Assassin's Creed: Valhalla''. It was released in an update in October 2021 called the 'Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Discovery Tour' - a nonviolent educational experience within the game. Maxime Durand, one of designers of the update for

Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Anno'', '' Assassin's Creed'', ' ...

, said on Twitter that they worked with Sue Brunning (curator of Early Medieval Europe Collections at the British Museum and a specialist in early medieval swords) on the project.

References

{{reflist, 30em Medieval European swords 1976 in England Anglo-Saxon art Medieval European metalwork objects History of North Yorkshire Collection of the Yorkshire Museum 1976 archaeological discoveries Individual weapons Archaeological discoveries in the United Kingdom