Huxley Hoard – Viking jewellery hoard from around 900-910 found buried near Huxley, Cheshire, England

The Huxley Hoard is a hoard of Viking jewelry from around 900-910 found buried near Huxley, Cheshire, England. It consists of 21 silver bracelets, one silver ingot, and 39 lead fragments, weighing around 1.5 kilograms (3.3 lb) in total.

The bracelets might have been produced by Norse settlers in Dublin and possibly buried for safekeeping by Viking refugees settling in Cheshireand the Wirral in the early 900’s. It was discovered by Steve Reynoldson in November 1989 after he found fragments of lead 30 centimetres (12 in) underground using a metal detector.

 

5 flattened bracelets of the Huxley Hoard Source

 

Huxley Hoard. Silver bracelets. On display in the Museum of Liverpool .Source

The bracelets were folded flat, sixteen decorated by punched patterns, six with crosses stamped in their centre, and another six with centre cross and one at each end.

Two have lattice patterns, one an hourglass stamp around the edge, one chevrons with central and end crosses, and one (found as a twisted bar) a zig-zag pattern; the remaining four are plain. The lead fragments suggest the hoard could have been buried either in a lead sheet or a lead-lined wood box.

 

Silver bracelets on display in the Museum of Liverpool. Source

 

On display in the Museum of Liverpool.Source

 

22. Huxley hoard: one silver ingot. 24. Sharpening stone. Found in Moreton, Wirral. 25. Glass bead. Found in Hilbre, West Kirby. 26. Copper coin, styca. Found in Meols, Wirral. 27. Fitting from a scale balance. Found at Meols, Wirral. 28. Spike or ‘cresset’ lamp. Found in Irby, Wirral. On display in the Museum of Liverpool.Source

 

Huxley Hoard. Left: Silver bracelets. 22: One silver ingot. 23: Fragments of lead. Lead wrapped the silver or was part of the box in which the hoard was buried. On display in the Museum of Liverpool.Source

One of a cluster of hoards found in the Chester area, it was held by the British Museum until early 2007 before making a July 2007 debut at the Merseyside Maritime Museum. A Heritage Lottery Fund grant of £45,000  enabled its purchase by joint owners Grosvenor Museum, Cheshire Museums Service and National Museums Liverpool, which have it on display at theMuseum of Liverpool. It was the subject of a book published by the National Museums Liverpool in 2010.