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	Contents
Arreton Down Hoard		1700-1500 BC	Arreton Down, Isle of Wight 50°40′55″N 1°14′13″W / 50.68196°N 1.23703°W	1735	British Museum, London	7 bronze spear-heads, 4 axes, 1 dagger, 1 halberd [1]
Auchnacree Hoard		23rd to 21st century BC	Auchnacree Angus 56°45′N 2°53′W / 56.75°N 2.88°W	1921	Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh	2 bronze knives 3 bronze axeheads 1 bronze armlet[2]
Beachy Head Hoard		1400-750 BC	Beachy Head, East Sussex 50°44′37″N 0°13′58″E / 50.7436494°N 0.2327261°E	1824	British Museum, London	4 gold penannular bracelets [3]
Beaumaris Hoard		1400-1100 BC	Beaumaris, Anglesey 53°16′02″N 4°05′35″W / 53.267093°N 4.093126°W	1849	British Museum, London	2 gold penannular bracelets [4]
Bexley Hoard		1000-750 BC	Bexley, London 51°27′36″N 0°06′29″E / 51.45996°N 0.108089°E	1906	British Museum, London	17 gold penannular bracelets (one broken in half) [5]
Boughton Malherbe Hoard		9th century BC	Boughton Malherbe Kent 51°13′N 0°41′E / 51.21°N 0.69°E	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.[6][7]
Burnham-on-Crouch Hoard		Bronze Age	Burnham-on-Crouch Essex 51°37′41″N 0°48′54″E / 51.628°N 0.815°E	2010	Colchester and Ipswich Museums	pottery vessel filled with bronze axes and other metalwork[8]
Burton Hoard		13th to mid 12th century BC	Burton, Wrexham Clwyd 53°06′18″N 2°57′54″W / 53.105°N 2.965°W	2004	National Museum Cardiff	2 bronze palstaves 1 bronze chisel 1 gold torc 1 gold twisted-wire bracelet 1 gold necklace pendant 4 gold beads 3 gold rings 1 pottery vessel[9]
Chrishall Hoard		1300-800 BC	Chrishall, Essex 52°01′58″N 0°06′26″E / 52.032798°N 0.107231°E	c. 1853	British Museum, London	5 bronze axes, 3 swords, 1 ingot, 1 spear-head [10]
Collette Hoard[note 1]		10th to 9th century BC	Berwick upon Tweed Northumberland 55°46′16″N 2°00′25″W / 55.771°N 2.007°W	2005	Great North Museum, Newcastle upon Tyne	6 socketed axes, 6 gold lock rings, and various bracelets, rings and pins[12]
Corbridge Hoard		Middle Bronze Age	Corbridge Northumberland 54°57′43″N 1°59′46″W / 54.962°N 1.996°W	1835	Blackgate Museum Bailiffgate Museum	fragments of two spearheads pieces of dagger blades a flanged axe[13]
Crundale Hoard		8th to 9th century BC	Crundale Kent 51°12′07″N 0°58′26″E / 51.202°N 0.974°E	2003	Museum of Canterbury	188 fragments (including axe, chisel, palstave, hammer, gouge, knife, sickle, sword, bracelet, ring, and ingots)[14]
Duddingston Loch Hoard		950–750 BC	Duddingston Loch Edinburgh 55°56′N 3°09′W / 55.94°N 3.15°W	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.[15][16]
Gaerwen Hoard		1000-750 BC	Gaerwen, Anglesey 53°15′15″N 4°18′09″W / 53.254243°N 4.302382°W	1852	British Museum, London	2 gold lock rings, 2 gold penannular bracelets [17]
Fittleworth Hoard		1400-1100 BC	Fittleworth, West Sussex 50°57′56″N 0°33′50″W / 50.965636°N 0.563789°W	1995	British Museum, London	2 gold penannular bracelets, 35 gold bars, 2 fragments of a torc, 2 rings [18]
Heathery Burn Cave Hoard		1000-750 BC	Heathery Burn Cave, County Durham 54°45′56″N 2°01′15″E / 54.765549°N 2.020794°E	1866	British Museum, London, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, Yorkshire Museum, York	1 gold penannular braclet, 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 items [19]
Heights of Brae Hoard		8th to 7th century BC	Heights of Brae Dingwall, Highland 57°36′58″N 4°28′34″W / 57.616°N 4.476°W	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).[20]
Hollingbourne Hoard		10th to 9th century BC	Hollingbourne Kent 51°16′01″N 0°38′28″E / 51.267°N 0.641°E	2003	Maidstone Museum & Art Gallery	12 bronze axes and axe fragments 2 bronze sword hilt fragments 6 bronze sword blade fragments 2 bronze spearhead fragments 14 bronze ingots[21]
Hollingbury Hoard		1400-1250 BC	Hollingbury, East Sussex 50°51′32″N 0°08′42″W / 50.8589774°N 0.145044°W	1825	British Museum, London	4 bronze armlets, 3 rings, 1 palstave, 1 torc [22]
Husband's Bosworth Hoard		Late Bronze Age	Husbands Bosworth Leicestershire 52°27′11″N 1°03′22″W / 52.453°N 1.056°W	1801	unknown	4 looped and socketed celts 2 socketed celts 3 socketed gouges 2 spearheads 1 flat ferrule[23]
Isleham Hoard		8th century BC	Isleham Cambridgeshire 52°20′35″N 0°26′28″E / 52.343°N 0.441°E	1959	West Stow Anglo-Saxon Village Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge	6,500 pieces of worked and unworked bronze[24]
Lambourn Hoard		14th to 12th century BC	Lambourn Berkshire 51°30′32″N 1°31′52″W / 51.509°N 1.531°W	2004	West Berkshire Museum	2 gold armlets 3 gold bracelets[25]
Langdon Bay Hoard		13th century BC	In the English Channel at Langdon Bay Kent 51°07′48″N 1°21′04″E / 51.13°N 1.351°E	1974	British Museum, London[note 2]	360 items of scrap metal, including bronze axes of a French type[27]
Langton Matravers Hoard		7th century BC	Langton Matravers, near Swanage Dorset 50°36′32″N 2°00′22″W / 50.609°N 2.006°W	2008	Dorset County 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[28]
Lewes Hoard		16th to 12th century BC	near Lewes East Sussex 51°04′N 2°05′W / 51.06°N 2.08°W	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[29]
Lockington Hoard		21st to 20th century BC	Lockington Leicestershire 52°50′53″N 1°18′29″W / 52.848°N 1.308°W	1994	British Museum, London	fragments of 2 Beaker style pots 1 copper alloy dagger 2 embossed gold-sheet armlets[30]
Manorbier Hoard		10th to 9th century BC	Manorbier Dyfed 51°39′N 4°48′W / 51.65°N 4.80°W	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[31]
Marston St. Lawrence Hoard		1300-800 BC	Marston St. Lawrence, Northamptonshire 52°04′42″N 1°13′15″W / 52.078284°N 1.220759°W	c.1897	British Museum, London	4 bronze spear-heads, 2 swords, 2 stone whetstones, 1 bracelet, 1 ferrule [32]
Meldreth Hoard		1300-800 BC	Meldreth, Cambridgeshire 52°06′04″N 0°00′24″E / 52.101092°N 0.006779°E	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 chisel [33]
Mickleham Hoard		10th to 11th century BC	Mickleham Surrey 51°16′05″N 0°19′16″W / 51.268°N 0.321°W	2003		2 socketed axes 1 chape[34]
Migdale Hoard		23rd to 20th century BC	Bonar Bridge Sutherland 57°54′14″N 4°19′37″W / 57.904°N 4.327°W	1990	Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh	1 bronze axe head sets of bronze bangles and anklets a set of jet and cannel coal buttons bronze hair ornaments fragments of a bronze headdress[35]
Milton Keynes Hoard		mid 12th to late 9th century BC	Monkston, Milton Keynes Buckinghamshire 52°02′10″N 0°42′00″W / 52.036°N 0.700°W	2000	British Museum, London	2 gold torcs 3 gold bracelets 1 bronze fragment 1 pottery vessel[36]
Moor Sand Hoard		13th century BC	Off Prawle Point, near Salcombe Devon 50°12′00″N 3°43′30″W / 50.200°N 3.725°W	1977	British Museum, London	six bronze swords or sword fragments and two bronze palstaves[27]
Morvah Hoard		1000-750 BC	Morvah, Cornwall 50°09′40″N 5°38′18″W / 50.161148°N 5.638244°W	1884	British Museum, London	6 gold penannular bracelets [37]
New Bradwell (or Wolverton) Hoard		mid 12th to late 9th century BC	New Bradwell, Milton Keynes Buckinghamshire 52°03′54″N 0°47′53″W / 52.065°N 0.798°W	1879	Buckinghamshire County Museum	9 bronze socketed axes 3 broken axes 1 palstave 2 spearheads a leaf-shaped sword (broken into 4 pieces)[38]
Parc-y-Meirch Hoard		9th century BC	Dinorben hillfort, near Abergele Conwy 53°16′05″N 3°32′56″W / 53.268°N 3.549°W	pre-1868	National Museum Cardiff	over 100 items of bronze horse harness fittings[39]
Plymstock Hoard		2150-1600 BC	Plymstock, Devon 50°21′25″N 4°05′24″W / 50.356944°N 4.09°W	1869	British Museum, London	12 bronze axes, 3 daggers, 1 spear-head, 1 chisel [40]
Rossett Hoard		10th to 9th century BC	Rossett Wrexham 53°06′32″N 2°56′42″W / 53.109°N 2.945°W	2002	National Museum Cardiff	1 faceted axe 1 tanged knife 4 pieces of gold bracelet stored inside the axe[41]
Selborne Hoard		1400-1250 BC	Woolmer Forest near Selborne, Hampshire 51°05′02″N 0°51′31″W / 51.083993°N 0.858523°W	1840	British Museum, London	3 bronze armlets, 2 rings, 1 bracelet, 1 spear-head, 1 palstave [42]
St Erth hoards		8th to 9th century BC	St Erth Cornwall 50°09′58″N 5°26′13″W / 50.166°N 5.437°W	2002–2003	Royal Cornwall Museum	2 gold ornament fragments Bronze/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 lumps Bronze/copper hoard 2: 1 winged axe, 1 plate-like spill, 15 ingot fragments[43]
St Mellons Hoard		Late Bronze Age	St Mellons, Cardiff Glamorgan 51°31′08″N 3°06′50″W / 51.519°N 3.114°W	1983	National Museum Cardiff	25 bronze socketed axes and one casting jet[44]
Stogursey Hoard (1870)		8th century BC	Wick Farm, Stogursey Somerset 51°11′20″N 3°06′40″W / 51.189°N 3.111°W	1870	Museum of Somerset	20 sword fragments 29 socketed axes 37 socketed axe fragments 2 palstaves 2 gouges 2 knives or daggers 1 chape 20 spearheads 34 other bronze fragments[45]
Stretham Hoard		1300-1000 BC	Stretham, Cambridgeshire 52°21′00″N 0°13′14″E / 52.349933°N 0.220663°E	1850	British Museum, London, Hunt Museum, Limerick	1 gold torc, 1 gold bracelet, 6 ribbed rings, 1 bronze rapier [46]
Tarves Hoard		1000-850 BC	Tarves, Aberdeenshire 57°21′26″N 2°13′24″W / 57.3570858°N 2.2234368°W	1858	British Museum, London	3 bronze swords, 1 pommel, 1 chape and 2 pins [47]
Tisbury Hoard		9th to 8th century BC	Tisbury Wiltshire 51°04′N 2°05′W / 51.06°N 2.09°W	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[48]
Tisbury Treasure		1100-750 BC	Tisbury, Wiltshire 51°04′N 2°05′E / 51.06°N 2.09°E	Before 1897	British Museum, London	6 gold penannular bracelets [49]
Towednack Hoard		10th century BC	Towednack Cornwall 50°11′28″N 5°31′12″W / 50.191°N 5.520°W	1931	British Museum, London	2 twisted gold neckrings 4 gold bracelets 3 lengths of gold rod[50]
Urquhart Hoard		1400-1100 BC	Urquhart, Moray 57°39′07″N 3°11′46″W / 57.651853°N 3.19608°W	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 MM [51][52][53]
Walderslade Hoard		1000-750 BC	Walderslade, Kent 51°20′06″N 0°31′07″E / 51.33494°N 0.5187°E	1965	British Museum, London	2 gold penannular bracelets [54]
Wanlass Hoard		1100-750 BC	Wanlass, North Yorkshire 54°18′03″N 1°54′12″W / 54.300885°N 1.9032°W	1862	British Museum, London	4 gold penannular bracelets [55]
Whalley Hoard		1000-750 BC	Whalley, Lancashire 53°49′28″N 2°24′12″W / 53.82454°N 2.403295°W	1966	British Museum, London	1 gold penannular braclet, 1 gold lock-ring, 2 axes, 1 knife, 1 sword blade, 1 socketed gouge and 1 lead stud [56]

See also

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

Notes

1. The Collette Hoard is named after Collette Minns, the eight-year-old daughter of the hoard's finder, John Minns.^[11]
2. The Langdon Bay Hoard is currently on loan to the Dover Museum.^[26]

Footnotes

1. British Museum Collection
2. "Hoard (part) from Auchnacree Lodge, Fern, Angus". National Museums Scotland. Retrieved 2010-07-14.
3. British Museum Collection
4. British Museum Collection
5. British Museum Collection
6. "Huge hoard of Bronze Age finds from Boughton Malherbe area discovered". Portable Antiquities Scheme. 7 December 2011. Retrieved 2011-12-10.
7. "KENT-15A293 - Bronze Age Hoard". Portable Antiquities Scheme. Retrieved 2011-12-10.
8. "Bronze Age Hoard from the Burnham on Crouch Area". Portable Antiquities Scheme. Retrieved 2010-10-25.
9. "The Burton Hoard, Wrexham: context and significance". National Museum Wales. Retrieved 2010-08-06.
10. British Museum Collection
11. "Hoard sheds new light on Bronze Age Northumbrians". Retrieved 2010-07-17.
12. "Hoard sheds new light on Bronze Age Northumbrians". Newcastle University. Retrieved 2010-07-14.
13. "Monument no. 20595". Pastscape. English Heritage. Retrieved 2010-07-23.
14. Gannon, Voden-Decker & Bland 2004b, pp. 22–33, 198
15. "Hoard of Bronze Metalwork". National Museums of Scotland. Retrieved 28 October 2014.
16. Coles, John M. (1959–60). "Scottish late Bronze Age metalwork: typology, distributions and chronology". Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 93: 117.
17. British Museum Collection
18. British Museum Collection
19. British Museum Collection
20. Clarke, D. V.; Kemp, M. M. B. (1984). "A hoard of late Bronze Age gold objects from Heights of Brae, Ross and Cromarty District, Highland Region" (PDF). Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 114: 189–198.
21. Gannon, Voden-Decker & Bland 2004b, pp. 35–38
22. British Museum Collection
23. "Bronze Age Hoard". Retrieved 2010-08-07.
24. "Monument no. 377660". Pastscape. English Heritage. Retrieved 2010-07-14.
25. Hitchcock 2006, pp. 21, 214, 228
26. "Bronze Age Boat Gallery". Dover Museum. Retrieved 2010-10-09.
27. "Questioning the wrecks of time". British Archaeology (91). November–December 2006.
28. Lewis 2009, pp. 55–57
29. "Record ID: SUSS-C5D042". Portable Antiquities Scheme. 6 April 2011. Retrieved 2012-07-19.
30. "2 embossed gold armlets". British Museum. Retrieved 2010-08-07.
31. "Pembrokeshire Coroner declares Bronze Age hoard treasure". Western Telegraph. 27 October 2011. Retrieved 2011-10-27.
32. British Museum Collection
33. British Museum Collection
34. Gannon, Voden-Decker & Bland 2004b, pp. 21–22, 182, 198
35. "Migdale Hoard". National Museums Scotland. Retrieved 2010-07-14.
36. "The Milton Keynes hoard". British Museum. Retrieved 2010-07-14.
37. British Museum Collection
38. "Monument no. 345096". Pastscape. English Heritage. Retrieved 2010-07-26.
39. "The Parc-y-Meirch hoard from Dinorben Bronze Age hillfort". Retrieved 2010-08-07.
40. British Museum Collection
41. "The Rossett and Burton Hoards" (PDF). Wrexham County Borough Council. Retrieved 2010-12-09.
42. British Museum Collection
43. Gannon, Voden-Decker & Bland 2004a, pp. 20–22
44. "A Research Framework for the Archaeology of Wales : Southeast Wales – Later Prehistoric, key sites". Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust. 22 December 2003. Retrieved 2010-08-07.
45. "Monument no. 191257". Pastscape. English Heritage. Retrieved 2010-08-10.
46. British Museum Collection
47. British Museum Collection
48. "Record ID: WILT-E8DA70". Portable Antiquities Scheme. 19 October 2011. Retrieved 2012-07-19.
49. British Museum Collection
50. "Monument no. 423260". Pastscape. English Heritage. Retrieved 2010-07-14.
51. British Museum Collection
52. National Museum of Scotland Collection
53. Marischal Museum Collection
54. British Museum Collection
55. British Museum Collection
56. British Museum Collection

References

• Barton, Caroline; Hitchcock, Fi, eds. (2008). Treasure Annual Report 2005/6 (PDF). Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
• Bland, Roger, ed. (2000). Treasure Annual Report 1998 - 1999 (PDF). Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
• Bland, Roger; Voden-Decker, Lisa, eds. (2002). Treasure Annual Report 2000 (PDF). Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
• Bland, Roger; Voden-Decker, Lisa, eds. (2003). Treasure Annual Report 2001 (PDF). Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
• Gannon, Anna; Voden-Decker, Lisa; Bland, Roger, eds. (2004a). Treasure Annual Report 2002 (PDF). Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
• Gannon, Anna; Voden-Decker, Lisa; Bland, Roger, eds. (2004b). Treasure Annual Report 2003 (PDF). Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
• Hitchcock, Fi, ed. (2006). Treasure Annual Report 2004 (PDF). Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
• Lewis, Michael, ed. (2009). Portable Antiquities and Treasure Annual Report 2007 (PDF). Department of Portable Antiquities and Treasure, British Museum. ISBN 978-0-9563795-1-1.