Viking-era brooch is the only silver one in England

A piece of folded silver discovered by a metal detectorist in Kelvedon, Essex, has been identified as a rare Viking-era brooch and declared treasure. It is the first substantial archaeological evidence of Viking presence in the area and the only nearly complete silver example of this type of brooch ever found in England.

The brooch is 25mm (one inch) long, 20mm (.8 inches) wide and 10mm (.4 inches) thick. It weighs 9.23 grams (about one third of an ounce). It is rectangular and folded into a smaller rectangle. It is broken at one end, so not quite complete, and the silver is split at the fold point. The back is smooth and undecorate, but the outer side is richly decorated. The top and bottom of the long side are bordered with solid semispherical bosses encircled by wire. It also features panels of varying widths separated by corded wires that contain three or two of the semispherical bosses.

There are no directly comparable examples of this kind of silver brooch in England. The closest are fragments of hacksilver in the Cuerdale Hoard, an assemblage of more than 8,600 objects totaling almost 40 kilos (88 pounds) silver that was discovered by workmen in 1840 in northwestern England. Two of the hacksilver pieces in that hoard also feature panels of bosses divided by corded wire and borders of bosses encircled by individual wire.

The filigree wire decoration and bosses point to the Cuerdale fragments and the Kelvedon brooch as being the remains of an equal-armed brooch of late Merovingian and Carolingian design from the early 9th century. They were domed in the center and flared slightly outwards at the ends. A pin was mounted on the back of the flat ends. They are found primarily in the Meuse/Lower Rhine area where they were produced. The few examples that have been found outside of the northwest Frankish territory, were found in Viking contexts, like the Cuerdale Hoard. Notable complete examples were found in the Lerchenborg Hoard in Denmark and in Domburg, the Netherlands.

The discovery has also shed light on Viking movements in that part of Essex.

“Previously, we had had only slight suggestions of Viking activity here from a piece of possible hackgold, made from an object with Anglo-Saxon runes, and some Danish coins found in the late 19th Century,” said Miss Rogerson.

Vikings armies were known to camp close to Anglo-Saxon settlements and would have found the River Blackwater “easily navigable”.

“We know they navigated the River Blackwater during the Battle of Maldon in AD991, so the site of the find would have been a strategic one,” she added.

The brooch will now be examined by a valuation committee. It will be offered to a local museum in exchange for a payment in the amount they determine is a fair market value. That fee will be divided between the finder and the landowner. The Braintree Museum in Braintree, Essex, is hoping to acquire the piece.

* This article was originally published here