Cuerdale Hoard

The Cuerdale Hoard was found just across the River Ribble from Preston in Cuerdale, a small suburb of Preston which includes some excellent views across the river valley.

The BBC website has a good account of the finding of the hoard. In summary it was in 1840 that some labourers found the largest ever, outside Russia, hoard of Viking gold. It was declared treasure trove. The treasure had been buried in a lead case around the year 900 on the route between York and the Irish Sea. The reason for it being buried is speculated and not known.

So if you go to Jorvich in York recall that these jolly fellows followed the A59 across the Pennines to Preston before going across the Irish Sea.

The BBC site has 5 pages on the subject. It states that the content of the hoard is over 7,000 coins, demonstrating the international scale of Viking activity. Most of the coins come from England, both official Anglo-Saxon issues (about 1,000) and coins of the Danelaw (about 5,000). There are alsoabout 1,000 Frankish coins, a handful of early Scandinavian coins, about 50 Kufic dirhams from all over the Islamic world, a few imitations of Kufic coins from eastern Europe, and a single Byzantine coin. Link to BBC site.

The Metal Detector site 'UK Detector Net' says that 3000 of the coins were minted for King Cnut, 1800 for King Eadmund, and 800 for King Alfred.

The British Museum holds the hoard and a page on the subject is on its website.