The Pentney Hoard is an Anglo-Saxon jewellery hoard, discovered by a gravedigger in a Pentney,

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

churchyard in 1978. The treasure consists of six silver openwork disc brooches, five made entirely of silver and one composed of silver and copper alloy. The brooches are decorated in the 9th century

Trewhiddle style Trewhiddle style is a distinctive style in Anglo-Saxon art that takes its name from the Trewhiddle Hoard, discovered in Trewhiddle, Cornwall in 1770. Trewhiddle ornamentation includes the use of silver, niello inlay, and zoomorphic, plant and ge ...

. The hoard is now in 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 ...

Description

The hoard consists of six silver, circular brooches. Five of the brooches are made entirely of silver; the sixth brooch was created with a copper alloy base and a silver overlay. There are two single brooches, which include the largest and smallest items of the hoard, and two non-identical pairs. The pairs are similar in layout but have different decorative details. All brooches are centrally arranged in a cross-shaped pattern. The smallest brooch, stylistically, belongs to the late 8th century. The five larger brooches can be dated to the early ninth century. All items in the hoard are intricately decorated in the

. The brooches were in very good condition when they were discovered. Evidence suggests that all the brooches were made in the same workshop. All of the brooches except for the smallest were complete, with an intact pin, spring and hinge components.

Single brooches

The largest brooch is a silver disc with an intricate openwork pattern and inlaid with black

niello Niello is a black mixture, usually of sulphur, copper, silver, and lead, used as an inlay on engraved or etched metal, especially silver. It is added as a powder or paste, then fired until it melts or at least softens, and flows or is push ...

. This () brooch is an excellent example of the

. The outer edge of the brooch contains eight panels of intertwined creatures. The center of the brooch is ornamented with stylised animal and plant decorations. The back of the brooch is undecorated. The pin and spring hardware are intact and decorated with two stylised beasts. The smallest brooch differs from the other brooches in size, construction and ornamentation. It is constructed with a

quincunx A quincunx ( ) is a geometry, geometric pattern consisting of five points arranged in a cross, with four of them forming a Square (geometry), square or rectangle and a fifth at its center. The same pattern has other names, including "in saltire" ...

of rivets that connect the face to the gilded base plate. The () brooch consists of an openwork silver sheet metal face with simple decorations of entwined plants, that cover a gilded copper alloy backplate. The back of the brooch is undecorated and the pin hardware is damaged. The smallest brooch appears to be the only brooch that has been worn.

Non-identical pairs

Four of the disc brooches belong to two non-identical pairs. All four items are made in silver sheet metal with an openwork design. They are embellished with intricate plant, animal and geometric ornamentation in panels surrounding a central cross-shaped area. All of the brooches were originally topped with multiple bossed rivets; many of the bosses are missing. One set of brooches () is decorated with scalloped edges and extensive beading. Each brooch of this pair consists of an outer band that is divided into eight sections of plant and geometric shapes. The central area is ornamented with four lobes and multiple panels filled with exotic beasts and stylised plants. The backplates of each item are undecorated, and the riveted pins are intact. The other brooch pair () has a simpler openwork design and extensive

inlay. Each brooch contains an outer band with alternating panels of plant and animal engravings carved into the silver. The central area of the brooch has a simple cross-shaped arrangement with five riveted bosses. The setting is divided into four panels of entangled beasts inlaid with niello. Brit Mus 17sept 005-crop

Each brooch of this pair has an undecorated backplate with a riveted pin attachment.

History

In 1978, William King, a sexton for the church of St.

Mary Magdalene Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to crucifixion of Jesus, his cr ...

in Pentney,

was digging a grave and noticed a circular piece of metal embedded in the soil. In removing the metal, he uncovered five additional metal discs. King gave the artefacts to the church rector who saved them in the parish chest. Three years later, the new church rector, John Wilson, found the discs and gave them to the

Norwich Castle 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 ...

museum. The

was asked to evaluate the brooches. It was determined that the hoard items were

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 ...

silver disc brooches. The finds were declared

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 ...

and property of

the Crown The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...

. The hoard contents were purchased by the

. As discoverer of the hoard, King was awarded £137,000, £25,000 of which he gifted to the church. In 1980, a re-excavation and metal detecting of the original gravesite was undertaken. One silver boss was found and it was suggested that it was a boss from one of the four brooches missing bosses. The 1980 work revealed that the hoard had been uncovered at a depth of less than 1.52 m (5 ft). The five largest items of the hoard, based on a comparison of similarly styled brooches, were judged to have been made between 800—840 AD. The smallest brooch, also based on style, was believed to be from the late eighth century. It has been proposed by scholars that the hoard could have been buried in the middle of the 9th century, during the

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. 9� ...

raids on

East Anglia East Anglia is an area of the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, with parts of Essex sometimes also included. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, ...

. There was an alternative suggestion that the placement of the six discs in the churchyard had an unknown reason not connected to the

invasion of

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 ...

Trewhiddle Style

Trewhiddle Trewhiddle is a small settlement in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It lies in the civil parish of Pentewan Valley and the parish, ecclesiastical parish of St Austell. The nearest town is St Austell, approximately one mile to the north. ...

is a 9th-century art style named after the animated decorative elements of the Trewhiddle Hoard. The discovered treasure contained a number of objects, including Anglo-Saxon coins, a silver chalice, and other gold and silver pieces. Characteristics of the Trewhiddle style are: the use of silver, niello inlay, and

zoomorphic The word ''zoomorphism'' derives from and . In the context of art, zoomorphism could describe art that imagines humans as non-human animals. It can also be defined as art that portrays one species of animal like another species of animal or art ...

, plant and geometric designs, often interlaced and intricately carved into small panels.

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