The Isleham 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 more than 6,500 pieces of worked and unworked bronze, dating from the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

, found in 1959 by William 'Bill' Houghton and his brother, Arthur, at

Isleham Isleham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Cambridgeshire. It is part of the Fens. It has three pubs. Geography Isleham is located in the Fens of south-east Cambridgeshire. The western parish boundary is formed by the Croo ...

, near

Ely Ely or ELY may refer to: Places Ireland * Éile, a medieval kingdom commonly anglicised Ely * Ely Place, Dublin, a street United Kingdom * Ely, Cambridgeshire, a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, England ** Ely Cathedral ** Ely Rural District, a ...

, in the English county of

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

. It is the largest Bronze Age hoard ever discovered in England and one of the finest. It consists in particular of swords, spear-heads, arrows, axes,

palstave {{Short description, European Bronze Age axe A palstave is a type of early bronze axe. It was common in the middle Bronze Age in northern, western and south-western Europe. In the technical sense, although precise definitions differ, an axe is gener ...

s, knives, daggers, armour, decorative equipment (in particular for horses) and many fragments of sheet bronze, all dating from the

Wilburton-Wallington Phase The Wilburton-Wallington Phase is the name given by archaeologists to a metalworking stage of the Bronze Age in Britain spanning the period between c. 1140 BC and c. 1020 BC. The Wilburton complex was present in the south of Britain and the Walli ...

of the late

(about 1000

BCE Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the ...

). The swords show holes where

rivets A rivet is a permanent mechanical fastener. Before being installed, a rivet consists of a smooth cylindrical shaft with a head on one end. The end opposite to the head is called the ''tail''. On installation, the rivet is placed in a punched ...

or studs held the wooden

hilt The hilt (rarely called a haft or shaft) of a knife, dagger, sword, or bayonet is its handle, consisting of a guard, grip and pommel. The guard may contain a crossguard or quillons. A tassel or sword knot may be attached to the guard or pomme ...

s in place. The greater part of these objects have been entrusted to St Edmundsbury Borough Council Heritage Service and some are on display at

West Stow West Stow is a small village and civil parish in West Suffolk, England. The village lies north of Bury St. Edmunds, south of Mildenhall and Thetford and west of the villages of Culford and Ingham in the area known as the Breckland. This are ...

Anglo-Saxon Village outside Bury St Edmunds, while other items are held by the

Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge The Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, also known as MAA, at the University of Cambridge houses the university's collections of local antiquities, together with archaeological and ethnographic artefacts from around the world. The museum ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge beca ...

.{{cite web , title=Monument no. 377660 , url=http://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=377660&sort=4&search=all&criteria=isleham%20hoard&rational=q&recordsperpage=10 , publisher=

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

, work=Pastscape , accessdate=2010-07-14

References

History of Cambridgeshire Treasure troves of Bronze Age Britain Archaeological sites in Cambridgeshire Treasure troves in England 1959 in England 1959 archaeological discoveries

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 ...

See also

References