List of Bronze Age hoards in Great Britain

The list of Bronze Age hoards in Britain comprises significant archaeological hoards of jewellery, precious and scrap metal objects and other valuable items discovered in Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) that are associated with the British Bronze Age, approximately 2700 BC to 8th century BC. It includes both hoards that were buried with the intention of retrieval at a later date (personal hoards, founder's hoards, merchant's hoards, and hoards of loot), and also hoards of votive offerings which were not intended to be recovered at a later date, but excludes grave goods and single items found in isolation.

List of hoards

Hoard Image Date Place of discovery Year of discovery Current Location ContentsAdabrock Hoard1000–800BCAdabroc, Isle of Lewis1910National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh2 bronze socketed axeheads, 1 spearhead, 1 gouge, 1 hammer, 3 razors, fragments of decorated bronze vessel, two whetstones and beads of glass, amber and gold. Arreton Down Hoard Isle of Wight 1735 British Museum, London 7 bronze spear-heads, 4 axes, 1 dagger, 1 halberdBritish Museum Collection Auchnacree Hoard Angus 1921 Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh 2 bronze knives3 bronze axeheads1 bronze armlet Beachy Head Hoard East Sussex 1824 British Museum, London 4 gold penannular braceletsBritish Museum Collection Beaumaris Hoard Anglesey 1849 British Museum, London 2 gold penannular braceletsBritish Museum Collection Bexley Hoard London 1906 British Museum, London 17 gold penannular bracelets (one broken in half)British Museum Collection Boughton Malherbe Hoard Kent 2011 Maidstone Museum & Art Gallery 352 bronze objects of types commonly found in northern France, comprising 75 bronze weapon fragments, 136 bronze tools and tool fragments, 42 bronze ornaments, and about 71 bronze ingots, moulds and miscellaneous objects. Burnham-on-Crouch Hoard Essex 2010 Colchester and Ipswich Museums pottery vessel filled with bronze axes and other metalwork Burton Hoard Clwyd 2004 National Museum Cardiff 2 bronze palstaves1 bronze chisel1 gold torc1 gold twisted-wire bracelet1 gold necklace pendant4 gold beads3 gold rings1 pottery vessel Chrishall Hoard Essex c. 1853 British Museum, London 5 bronze axes, 3 swords, 1 ingot, 1 spear-headBritish Museum Collection Collette Hoard Northumberland 2005 Great North Museum, Newcastle upon Tyne 6 socketed axes, 6 gold lock rings, and various bracelets, rings and pins Corbridge Hoard Northumberland 1835 Blackgate MuseumBailiffgate Museum fragments of two spearheadspieces of dagger bladesa flanged axe Crundale Hoard Kent 2003 Museum of Canterbury 188 fragments (including axe, chisel, palstave, hammer, gouge, knife, sickle, sword, bracelet, ring, and ingots) Driffield Hoard I East Riding of Yorkshire 2016 14 bronze socketed axes and 13 bronze ingot fragments. Driffield Hoard II East Riding of Yorkshire 2016 36 complete and 23 broken or fragmented socketed bronze axes, two nearly complete bun-shaped bronze ingots, and 91 bronze ingot fragments. Duddingston Loch Hoard Edinburgh 1778 Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh 44 bronze items consisting of the ring of a large cauldron and fragments of spearheads, swords and dagger blades; point of a bronze spearhead; contorted bronze sword, broken in two, with three rivet holes and a slot in the hilt plate; contorted point of a bronze sword; blade of a bronze sword broken off under the hilt and bent back at the point. Eggleston Hoard County Durham 2019 Several bronze spearheads and knives, as well as some amber and jet beads Fittleworth Hoard West Sussex 1995 British Museum, London 2 gold penannular bracelets, 35 gold bars, 2 fragments of a torc, 2 ringsBritish Museum Collection Gaerwen Hoard Anglesey 1852 British Museum, London 2 gold lock rings, 2 gold penannular braceletsBritish Museum Collection Havering hoard (undisclosed site) 2018 Unknown (exhibited at Museum of London Docklands from 3 April to 25 October 2020 and subsequently at Havering Museum) Swords, socketed axe heads, spear heads, knives, daggers, woodwork tools, bracelets, ingots, and other items, weighing more than 45 kg in total Heathery Burn Cave Hoard County Durham 1866 British Museum, London, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, Yorkshire Museum, York 1 gold penannular bracelet, 1 gold lock-ring, 36 bronze awls, 20 pins, 14 axes, 11 rings, 11 cheek-pieces, 10 bracelets, 10 spear-heads, 8 pendants, 7 vessels, 6 wheels, 6 spatulas, 2 toggles, 2 knives, 2 swords, 4 scoops or chisels, 4 phaleras, casting moulds, fittings, a bowl and a bucket plus other miscellaneous itemsBritish Museum Collection Heights of Brae Hoard Dingwall, Highland 1967 and 1979 Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh 3 gold cup-ended ornaments, 5 gold penannular armlets, and 1 corrugated gold band (a cup-ended ornament, a pennanular armlet and two additional items that are now lost were found during ploughing in 1967; the remaining seven items were found during archaeological investigation in 1979). Hollingbourne Hoard Kent 2003 Maidstone Museum & Art Gallery 12 bronze axes and axe fragments2 bronze sword hilt fragments6 bronze sword blade fragments2 bronze spearhead fragments14 bronze ingots Hollingbury Hoard East Sussex 1825 British Museum, London 4 bronze armlets, 3 rings, 1 palstave, 1 torcBritish Museum Collection Horsehope Craig Hoard Peeblesshire 1865 Tweeddale Museum and Gallery, Peebles and National Museum of Scotland 15 bronze rings, 2 socketed axes, 1 rapier, 28 objects in all, thought to be elements of horse harness and cart mountings Husband's Bosworth Hoard Leicestershire 1801 unknown 4 looped and socketed celts2 socketed celts3 socketed gouges2 spearheads1 flat ferrule Isleham Hoard Cambridgeshire 1959 West Stow Anglo-Saxon VillageMuseum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge 6,500 pieces of worked and unworked bronze Lambourn Hoard Berkshire 2004 West Berkshire Museum 2 gold armlets3 gold bracelets Langdon Bay Hoard Kent 1974 British Museum, London 360 items of scrap metal, including bronze axes of a French type Langton Matravers Hoard Dorset 2008 Dorset Museum, Dorchester 276 complete socketed bronze axes, 107 halves of socketed bronze axes and 117 fragments of socketed bronze axes in three adjacent pits and one pit further away Lewes Hoard East Sussex 2011 79 objects in a pottery vessel, including 3 bronze palstaves, 5 bronze bracelets, 8 bronze finger rings, 4 bronze tutuli (also known as Monkswood ornaments), 4 gold discs, 1 bronze pin, 19 amber beads and 4 bronze torcs Llanarmon-yn-Iâl Hoard Denbighshire 1982 Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales 1 socketed bronze axe, 2 gold bracelets, a broken gold link, and a gold ingot Lockington Hoard Leicestershire 1994 British Museum, London fragments of 2 Beaker style pots1 copper alloy dagger2 embossed gold-sheet armlets Manorbier Hoard Dyfed 2010 19 bronze and copper artefacts, including socketed axes, a gouge, a piece of a sword blade, a circular dish-headed pin, ingots and bronze casting bi-products Marston St. Lawrence Hoard Northamptonshire c.1897 British Museum, London 4 bronze spear-heads, 2 swords, 2 stone whetstones, 1 bracelet, 1 ferruleBritish Museum Collection Meldreth Hoard Cambridgeshire 1880 British Museum, London 25 bronze axes, 15 ingots, 5 spear-heads, 4 swords, 2 bucket handles, 1 gouge, 1 razor, 1 finger ring, 1 chiselBritish Museum Collection Mickleham Hoard Surrey 2003 2 socketed axes1 chape Migdale Hoard Sutherland 1900 Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh 1 bronze axe headsets of bronze bangles and ankletsa set of jet and cannel coal buttonsbronze hair ornamentsfragments of a bronze headdress Milton Keynes Hoard Buckinghamshire 2000 British Museum, London 2 gold torcs3 gold bracelets1 bronze fragment1 pottery vessel Moor Sand Hoard Devon 1977 British Museum, London six bronze swords or sword fragments and two bronze palstaves Morvah Hoard Cornwall 1884 British Museum, London 6 gold penannular braceletsBritish Museum Collection New Bradwell (or Wolverton) Hoard Buckinghamshire 1879 Buckinghamshire County Museum 9 bronze socketed axes3 broken axes1 palstave2 spearheadsa leaf-shaped sword (broken into 4 pieces) Ockham Hoard Guildford Museum six unlooped palstave axes of which four are ribbed examples, and two plain; two Sussex loop bracelets; and two spiral finger rings Peebles Hoard (unofficial name )(undisclosed site) near Peebles2020National Museums Scotland bronze horse harness fittings Plymstock Hoard Devon 1869 British Museum, London 12 bronze axes, 3 daggers, 1 spear-head, 1 chiselBritish Museum Collection Rossett Hoard Wrexham 2002 National Museum Cardiff 1 faceted axe1 tanged knife4 pieces of gold bracelet stored inside the axe Selborne Hoard Hampshire 1840 British Museum, London 3 bronze armlets, 2 rings, 1 bracelet, 1 spear-head, 1 palstaveBritish Museum Collection St Erth hoards Cornwall 2002–2003 Royal Cornwall Museum 2 gold ornament fragmentsBronze/copper hoard 1: 5 sword pieces, 3 socketed axe pieces, 1 socketed gouge piece, 1 knife fragment, 1 plate-like fragment, 16 ingot fragments or amorphous lumpsBronze/copper hoard 2: 1 winged axe, 1 plate-like spill, 15 ingot fragments St Mellons Hoard Glamorgan 1983 National Museum Cardiff 25 bronze socketed axes and one casting jet Stogursey Hoard (1870) Somerset 1870 Museum of Somerset 20 sword fragments29 socketed axes37 socketed axe fragments2 palstaves2 gouges2 knives or daggers1 chape20 spearheads34 other bronze fragments Stonnall Hoard Staffordshire 1824 Unknown 2 swords1 spearhead and 2 fragments of same4 ferrules2 cylinders3 rings2 pommels3 celts1 lump of copper1 lump of lead Stretham Hoard Cambridgeshire 1850 British Museum, London, Hunt Museum, Limerick 1 gold torc, 1 gold bracelet, 6 ribbed rings, 1 bronze rapierBritish Museum Collection Tarves Hoard Aberdeenshire 1858 British Museum, London 3 bronze swords, 1 pommel, 1 chape and 2 pinsBritish Museum Collection Tisbury Hoard Wiltshire 2011 114 bronze items, including weapons and tools (sword hilts, sword blades, spearheads, axeheads, gouges, chisels, sickles and knives), pieces of jewellery, razors and other miscellaneous items Tisbury Treasure Wiltshire Before 1897 British Museum, London 6 gold penannular braceletsBritish Museum Collection Towednack Hoard Cornwall 1931 British Museum, London 2 twisted gold neckrings4 gold bracelets3 lengths of gold rod Urquhart Hoard Moray 1857 British Museum, London, Marischal Museum, Aberdeen, National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh 36 or 37 originally, 7 gold ribbon torcs in BM, 3 in NMS and 1 in MMBritish Museum CollectionMarischal Museum Collection Walderslade Hoard Kent 1965 British Museum, London 2 gold penannular braceletsBritish Museum Collection Wanlass Hoard North Yorkshire 1862 British Museum, London 4 gold penannular braceletsBritish Museum Collection Whalley Hoard Lancashire 1966 British Museum, London 1 gold penannular bracelet, 1 gold lock-ring, 2 axes, 1 knife, 1 sword blade, 1 socketed gouge and 1 lead studBritish Museum Collection

See also

List of hoards in Britain List of Iron Age hoards in Britain List of Roman hoards in Britain

Notes

Footnotes

References