📣 𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗡𝗘𝗪𝗦 | 'It's Coming Home'

[Hereford Voice]

The Herefordshire Hoard is coming home! Hereford Voice can reveal today.

The Herefordshire Hoard is an Anglo-Saxon and Viking age hoard buried around 878. The items recovered to date include a gold arm bangle with beast head clasp, a magnificent pendant made from a rock crystal sphere encased within a gold decorative cage, a gold octagonal ring with black inlay, a silver ingot and twenty nine coins mostly of Alfred the Great of Wessex and Ceolwulf II of Mercia.

 
Credit British Museum - A 9th century gold octagonal ring 

Hereford Museum had until the end of July to raise the funds to acquire it, we have and Hereford Voice understands from a reliable source that they have done it! 

The Hoard was at risk of being bought by private collectors and be lost to the public. It may even have ended up abroad!

Thankfully this successful campaign and the kind public donations received from hundreds of people and additional funds raised from professional bodies in grants and donations has secured this 'Viking Treasure' and the hoard will soon be coming home to Herefordshire.

Credit British Museum - A 5th to 7th century crystal pendant

The Story of the Viking Treasure 

* The Herefordshire Hoard is one of the most significant early medieval treasures ever discovered in Britain. Its discovery was revealed through reports from the Crown Court in Worcester. In November 2019, four men were found guilty of concealing, stealing and selling the ‘Viking’ treasure they had recovered illicitly from a field in Eye, near Leominster in Herefordshire four years earlier. The men were sentenced to a combined jail term of more than 23 years, ranging from 12 months to 10 years.

A dragon's head bracelet

The small portion of the hoard recovered so far includes three gold ornaments, a silver ingot, and 29 silver coins. But photos recovered by police during their investigations suggest that, when complete, the hoard had contained several more ingots and around 300 coins. It is possible that the collection also contained other objects, but the quality of the recovered photos makes this uncertain. The combination of intact ornaments, bullion, and a mixture of Anglo-Saxon, Frankish and Islamic coins suggests this was a Viking hoard deposited around 878.

Just 31 coins were recovered but the majority of an estimated 300 is still missing.

At the time the hoard was buried in the late ninth century, Britain was divided into different kingdoms, including Wessex and Mercia. Those kingdoms were individually fighting for survival against the Viking invaders. Coins from Mercia and Wessex, which form part of the Herefordshire Hoard, share some similar designs. This suggests an alliance between Wessex and Mercia that was most likely formed to strengthen their battle against the Vikings.

Silver Ingot

Significance of the Herefordshire Hoard

The Herefordshire Hoard re-writes English history

• The coins show an alliance between Alfred the Great of Wessex and Ceolwulf II of Mercia, revealing clues into the politics of the period when the idea of a unified England was taking shape.
   
• Ceolwulf II is recognised for the first time as a significant ruler and king of Mercia equal to Alfred of Wessex
   
• The hoard is the first evidence of likely activity of the Viking Great Army in Herefordshire.

The objects themselves are beautiful, the result of great craftsmanship.

The Herefordshire Hoard is of national importance and currently kept in the British Museum, but we can today reveal that enough funds have now been raised with the 'Bringing the Hoard home to Herefordshire' campaign! so that it will now be available to the public of Herefordshire to see in Hereford where it belongs!  

Positive Hereford

Above is just a small selection of the Herefordshire Hoard which you will soon be able to view at the Hereford Museum and Art Gallery. How is that for some really Positive News!

Remember Where You Heard It First..

 

[Hereford Voice]

TV’s Time Team star Sir Tony Robinson has shown his support to bring the hoard home to Herefordshire.

As well as playing Baldrick in the television series Blackadder, and presenting Around the World by Train, Sir Tony is an amateur historian and archaeologist with a keen interest in Anglo Saxon England.

Learning about the campaign to bring the hoard home to Herefordshire, Sir Tony says:

“I’ve always been fascinated by Alfred the Great and his battles alongside his Mercian allies against the great Viking Army. The Herefordshire Hoard offers a fantastic insight into this world and even gives us solid evidence about a previously unrecognised alliance between Alfred and the King of Mercia. It’s a hoard of national importance and should certainly have pride of place in Hereford Museum.”

[K.Butt]

This is brilliant news 

[Victor Wright]

Brilliant news, this will be a big attraction to the city 

[Frank Smith]

Very good, looking forward to viewing, not seen it yet. 

[Alex]

Nice to see some positive news. I take it that the hoard will be based at the Hereford Museum in Broad St? 

[M. Preece]

10 hours ago, Alex said:

Nice to see some positive news. I take it that the hoard will be based at the Hereford Museum in Broad St? 

Yes I read it was going in the museum, good news.