Britain's Secret Treasures

by Mary-Ann Ochota

  The north and west areas under Viking control later became known as the Danelaw, and the frontier between Angles and Saxons (who had been in Britain since the 400s AD) and the new Viking colonies ran roughly from London to Chester, following a series of rivers and Roman roads. Parts of the modern A5 still follow the divide.

  The Viking influence over these areas can be traced in place names (for example, a place name ending in –by means settlement, e.g. Derby, –thorpe means secondary settlement, e.g. Scunthorpe, –wick, means bay, e.g. Berwick), as well as in the genetic makeup of the modern population, where a significant proportion of men from families that haven’t recently moved to the area share DNA with men in Norway and Denmark, the so-called ‘Viking genes’.

  The extent of Viking control was huge, and many Anglo-Saxon rulers capitulated to the powerful Viking leaders, paying tribute taxes and providing support during military offensives. But the battered Kingdom of Wessex would not be beaten. Conducting a war of resistance for more than twenty years, King Alfred ultimately defended his lands against the Viking colonists. After Alfred’s death in 899AD, his son Edward the Elder conquered territory from the Scandinavian settlers, all the while building on a grand new idea – a single Kingdom of the English, united under one English king. This had never existed before.

  Edward’s son Athelstan came to power in 925AD and began a concerted drive for power and territory. He forced submission from local rulers in parts of Cornwall, Wales and Scotland in quick succession, and took control of the Kingdom of Northumbria in 927AD. Occupying York, he was declared ‘King of All Britain’.

  Athelstan defeated a coalition army of Vikings, Welsh and Scots at the Battle of Brunaburh in 937AD, a devastating conflict which took the lives of many thousands on both sides, and was known as ‘The Great Battle’. Athelstan’s victory further strengthened his position as the king of a united land. But when Athelstan died in 939AD aged around 45, the men of York immediately declared the Viking leader Olaf Guthfrithsson as their king. Athelstan’s half-brother Edmund, who became King Edmund I (reigned 939–946AD), and his younger brother, the succeeding king, Eadred (reigned 946–955AD), were again forced into battle to try and regain control of the north.

  Eric Bloodaxe, the last Viking King of Northumbria, was expelled from the region in 954AD, and the people of Northumbria declared their loyalty to King Eadred. Although the Vikings continued to thrive in parts of what are now Scotland, Cumbria, Ireland, North Wales and the Isle of Man, the Kingdom of England was definitively united once again.

  Vale of York Viking Hoard

  The Viking world in one vessel

  Date: Around 928AD, Viking

  Where, when and how found: Vale of York near Harrogate, North Yorkshire; 2007; Metal detecting

  Finders: David and Andrew Whelan

  Official valuation: £1,082,800

  Where is it now? Acquired by British Museum and York Museums Trust

  www.britishmuseum.org

  www.yorkmuseumtrust.org.uk

  Visit: Jorvik Viking Centre, York; Danelaw Living History Centre, Murton Park, Yorkshire

  www.jorvik-viking-centre.co.uk

  www.murtonpark.co.uk

  Father and son, David and Andrew Whelan, had been metal detecting for years when they made the discovery of a lifetime. They were searching a field that had never revealed anything more interesting than a Victorian button before, but it had recently been ploughed and the men decided it was worth a search. After ten minutes, David got a signal. As he dug down, he unearthed fragments of lead, then a round thing tumbled out of the loosened soil. About 12cm in diameter, covered in thick mud, David thought he’d found an old bit of toilet ballcock.

  When he put his glasses on, however, he immediately realised that this ‘ballcock’ was engraved all over, and that the loose items on top of it were coins. David recognised some of the coins – they were from rulers more than one thousand years ago, including a distinctive silver penny from King Edward the Elder, who reigned from 899–924AD. Judging by its weight, it was clearly full of metal. David and Andrew found more fragments of sheet lead and some bigger chunks of silver in the surrounding soil, then they carefully noted the findspot and refilled the hole. Importantly, and despite the obvious appeal, they didn’t empty the cup. They knew they’d found something very special, and they knew that archaeologists would be able to unpack the cup forensically so that all the information it held could be recorded and analysed. They promptly notified the British Museum of their discovery and reported it to the local coroner – they had found Treasure.

  Forensic cup work

  The cup was brought to the British Museum, X-rayed and then carefully excavated in 1cm layers in a process that took a whole week.

  Altogether, it was revealed that the hoard comprised a gold arm ring, around 65 pieces of silver including arm rings, ingots and jewellery fragments, 617 silver coins, the fragments of lead that had probably once been a makeshift cover on the top of the cup, and the cup itself – exquisitely decorated silver with a thin covering of bright gold.

  The coins and jewellery came from places spanning the Viking world, from Ireland to the Middle East, and the coins date the hoard to around 928AD. As a whole, the Vale of York Hoard tells of the incredible rise and fall of Viking power in England.

  Raiders, traders and settlers

  The popular image of the Vikings is of shaggy-haired, axe-wielding barbarians arriving on British shores for a bit of beserker frenzy, slave-taking and the plunder of undefended monasteries, before sailing back east with their loot.

  Although in the early period, around the 790s and 800s AD, this was mostly accurate, by the 860s and 870s AD the Vikings had changed their focus from hit-and-run raiding, to permanent settlement and military control. Still feared and violent, they nonetheless adopted local customs and the local religion, Christianity, and maintained trading links with the equally violent Anglo-Saxon kings in the south, the Irish Sea Vikings in the north-west of Britain and in Ireland, as well as links across continental Europe and to the Middle East.

  “By the 900s AD, the Anglo-Saxon kings were seeking to unite England under one king, something which had never been done before”

  By the 900s AD, the Anglo-Saxon kings were seeking to unite England under one king, something which had never been done before. King Athelstan, the grandson of Alfred the Great, began a great and brutal campaign to oust the Vikings, unite the smaller kingdoms and seize ultimate control of all England.

  Burying the hoard

  This dynamic political and military landscape is the backdrop to the moment when someone took their valuables into a field and buried them. That person never came back for them, and we can only speculate on the reasons why.

  Unlike some other hoards in this book, it’s very unlikely that the Vale of York treasure was meant to stay in the ground – there’s no evidence of Viking traditions for making ritual deposits or offerings of precious metals. Much more likely is that it was hidden for safekeeping and its hiding place was lost or forgotten, or the person planning to retrieve it fled the area, or was killed.

  The area around the findspot was excavated, and the surrounding field was surveyed, but there’s no evidence of further activity or buildings that could help explain why the burial spot was chosen.

  The remaining pieces of the unsolvable puzzle come from the contents of the hoard itself.

  The cup

  At 9.2cm high and weighing 371g, the cup is engraved solid silver, thinly coated with gold inside and out, a process known as ‘gilding’. It was most likely the spoil of a raiding party. It dates to the mid-800s AD, which means that the cup was almost 100 years old when it was buried. It may have been used to hold consecrated bread during a mass – if so, it would originally have had a lid. A cup very similar to the Vale of York cup was found in a Viking hoard at Halton Moor in Lancashire in 1815. That hoard was dated to the 1020s, so that means the Halton Moor cup was almost two hundred years old when it was buried. C
learly these were treasured artefacts, rather than just raided for their precious metal.

  The decoration includes six ‘roundel’ shapes, with a single animal inside each – a lion, a big cat, a deer, a stag, a form of antelope and a horse or wild ass. All the animals are running, but the predators are leaping forwards and the prey species are fleeing, heads turned back. The animal roundels bear a striking resemblance to metalwork and textiles from Persia. Between the roundels are leaf designs typical of Frankish Empire craftsmen, from an area that’s now mainly in France and west Germany. The cup represents the transfer of ideas and artefacts from the Near East artists to Frankish metalworkers to Viking settlers in what’s now Yorkshire – a global network of influence and contact.

  The coins and silver

  The silver pieces in the hoard are ingots, fragments of jewellery used as currency (‘hack-silver’), and arm- and neck-rings. One neck-ring fragment is probably from north Russia, where men traditionally made rings to a specific weight from melted-down coins and gave them to their wives. Another arm ring is not more than a crudely curved rod, again made to deliberate weight. These arm rings are known as ‘bullion-rings’, and they’re thought to have been used as tokens of loyalty from leaders to their subjects, cast from a specific weight of silver that could then be used for exchange.

  “Most of the 617 coins in the hoard are Anglo-Saxon silver pennies struck in England, but there were also four Frankish deniers and fifteen Islamic dirhams”

  Most of the 617 coins in the hoard are Anglo-Saxon silver pennies struck in England, but there were also four Frankish deniers and fifteen Islamic dirhams from both the Middle East and Afghanistan. The Anglo-Saxon coins are from the reigns of Alfred the Great (r. 871–899), his son Edward the Elder (r. 899–924) and Edward’s son Athelstan (r. 924–939).

  The hoard also contains several Anglo-Viking coins. Some of these show a Viking sword as the main design. They were issued in the name of St Peter, the patron saint of York, but include the hammer of the Viking god Thor as the final ‘I’ in Petri (‘Peter’). This is clear evidence for the hybrid culture of British Vikings – combining new and old religious symbols.

  One single coin in the hoard declares Athelstan as ‘King of All Britain’ (REX TOTIUS BRITANNIAE), pictured, and was struck in late 927 or 928AD. The fact that there is only one coin of this type and age, and that it isn’t worn, leads experts to believe that the hoard was buried when this coin was very new. The fact that this timing links with Athelstan’s conquest of Northumbria is notable. Anglo-Saxon sources imply that Athelstan ruled peacefully in the years immediately following his conquest, but history books are never neutral. It’s quite possible that this incredibly precious hoard is the sum of a Viking warrior’s wealth buried in a time of continued discord and fear.

  See also:

  Llanbedrgoch Viking Treasure

  West Yorkshire Ring Hoard

  Saltfleetby Spindle Whorl

  Hadrian’s Wall Coins

  A dropped purse that redefines Roman Britain

  Date: 406–408AD, Roman

  Where, when and how found: Great Whittington, Northumberland; 2007; metal detecting

  Finder: Barry Seger

  Where is it now? Returned to finder

  Visit: Hadrian’s Wall, a UNESCO World Heritage Site

  www.visithadrianswall.co.uk

  Birdoswald Fort, managed by English Heritage

  www.english-heritage.org.uk

  These eight bronze Roman coins, discovered by metal detectorist Barry Seger in 2007, have changed our understanding of Roman activity in the north of Britain, giving us more information about the twilight years of the Roman occupation of Britain.

  Roman Britain began to change noticeably in the later 300s AD: The archaeological record shows towns declining, activity dispersing into the countryside, and no new villas being built. There was increased military pressure as Angles and Saxons from the continent, Picts from Scotland, and Scotti and Irish from Ireland began raiding in greater numbers. These peoples wanted precious goods, livestock and land, and Britannia’s coastal communities had plenty of everything.

  The slow but inevitable decline of the wider Roman Empire continued – economically, it was teetering – tax collection systems were failing, and food supplies in the large cities were insecure. The eastern and western empires split in the 390s, and in 405AD, ‘Barbarian’ attacks on the north of Italy forced troops to be withdrawn from the far provinces, including Britannia, and mobilised to defend the core territories and the Eternal City itself, Rome.

  It’s often said that the official end of Roman Britain was when the Romanised Britons petitioned Rome for assistance against their attackers in 409–410AD, but instead of help and reinforcement troops, Emperor Honorious sent letters to the cities of Britain saying no back-up would be coming, and urged them to defend themselves. These letters are known as the Rescript of Honorious, although recent controversial scholarship has suggested that they were never sent to Britannia, a distant and relatively unimportant province, and are more likely to have been sent to Brettia, in southern Italy. The scribe recording the events may have made a simple error in his writing.

  It’s quite possible that the influence of Rome at Hadrian’s Wall came to an end before 409AD – particularly if soldiers were no longer being paid or drilled by their commanders. Some of them may well have switched to working for local communities as hired security or mercenaries, extorted protection money from other locals, or simply sought work labouring and trading alongside the natives.

  The coins

  This background makes Barry’s find intriguing. Of the eight coins he discovered, the latest one is a type only issued between 406–408AD. It was struck in one of the eastern mints of the Roman Empire, possibly Constantinople, Cyzicus, Antioch or Alexandria, cities which are in modern-day Turkey and Egypt. Although these coins are common finds in the east Mediterranean, only one other has ever been discovered in Britain. The final, and most startling, detail is that the coins were found north of Hadrian’s Wall.

  The coins were found close together, and not in conjunction with any pottery. There are only eight of them, so they’re likely to have been a lost coin purse made from cloth or leather that has long-since rotted away, rather than a hoard or intentional deposit.

  The coins don’t appear to be worn enough to have travelled such a long distance through normal monetary exchanges, so they probably arrived with a soldier or a trader who had travelled from the Mediterranean to the edge of the crumbling Roman Empire. This suggests that military and trade networks were continuing to function until much later than previously thought and it clearly shows that the area around Hadrian’s Wall hadn’t been abandoned. At least as late as 406AD, Northumberland had a distinct Roman presence – not just local Roman soldiers, but incomers travelling from the Mediterranean who were willing to go north of the Wall.

  “When Romans had greater control over the area, local people may have been forced to accept Roman Coinage, but by 406AD, the balance of power shifted”

  But as the Empire was failing, local people might not have accepted these coins as ‘legal’ tender anymore. Made from bronze, rather than precious metal, the coins had negligible value in themselves. When Romans had greater control over the area, local people may have been forced to accept Roman coinage, but by 406AD, the balance of power had shifted. These exotic coins may well have been worthless – a small consolation to the person who dropped his or her purse 1,600 years ago.

  See also:

  Crosby Garrett Helmet

  Staffordshire Moorlands Ilam Pan

  Hallaton Treasure

  County Durham River Assemblage

  Over 5,000 artefacts at a Roman river crossing

  Date/period: 90–400AD, Roman

  Where, when and how found: River Tees, County Durham;1985– present; underwater visual searching and metal detecting

  Finders: Bob Middlemass and Rolfe Mitchinson

  Where are th
ey now? Currently being catalogued as a potential Treasure case. It is hoped that they will be acquired by a museum in the North East

  Visit: Piercebridge Roman Bridge and Roman Fort sites, Piercebridge, near Darlington, County Durham

  www.english-heritage.org.uk

  Other Piercebridge finds at Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle

  www.thebowesmuseum.org.uk

  Get involved: The Nautical Archaeology Society holds talks, events and practical skills training for underwater and foreshore archaeology

  www.nauticalarchaeologysociety.org

  Bob Middlemass and Rolfe Mitchinson have spent the last thirty years diving along a river that seems to be full of archaeological finds. They’ve recovered over 5,000 artefacts, and believe there are still more to discover. Each find is carefully reported, and Bob and Rolfe’s commitment is helping us build a rich picture of life and belief in ancient County Durham.

  The majority of the finds date from Roman Britain, from around 90AD to 400AD, and are likely to have been offerings or sacrifices. The items shown here are an 8cm-high copper-alloy cupid figurine, popular along the northern frontier, and an elaborate gold and glass finger ring. Brooches and coins are also present, as well as more everyday items like fragments of Roman pottery, which may have been lost or rubbish tossed in the river.

  Rivers have always been significant to people – as a source of fresh water and food, as a means to travel easily, as well as a way to defend and control your borders. But rivers are also rich with symbolic and spiritual power, and have been associated with the supernatural across cultures and throughout history.