Harrogate Hoard: Viking Gold

A reminder of our Viking past was recently discovered lurking beneath a Yorkshire field; what is now being called the ‘Harrogate Hoard’ is an archaeological find of global significance. Said by experts to be the most important Viking find in Britain in 150 years, the finders, metal detectorists David and Andrew Whelan, called the discovery a ‘thing of dreams’.

The hoard was found by father and son David and Andrew Whelan while metal detecting near Harrogate in 2007. David described the find as a "ball covered with mud". Picture: British Museum Trustees.

Some 100 of the 617 coins in the hoard have now been cleaned. Conservators are delighted with their condition. Picture: British Museum Trustees.

 
The hoard consists of 617 silver coins and 65 other items, including ornaments, ingots and precious metal, which were hidden in a gilt silver vessel lined with gold (variously identified as a cup, bowl, or pot) made in France or Germany around 900 and decorated with "vines, leaves and six hunting scenes showing lions, stags, and a horse". The lions were lionesses, with no mane. The vessel is thought to have been used to hold communion bread for a wealthy church or monastery in northern France and to have been acquired either in a Viking raid or as tribute.