Viking Treasure Hoard

A campaign has been launched to ensure a 1,000-year-old Viking hoard found buried in a Dumfries and Galloway field stays in the local area.

The objects were found inside a pot unearthed in 2014 and include rare items such as a gold bird-shaped pin, an enamelled Christian cross and silk from modern-day Istanbul as well as silver and crystal.

The items date from the ninth and 10th centuries and are part of a wider hoard of about 100 pieces, which experts say is the most important Viking discovery in Scotland for more than a century.

A campaign has been launched to ensure a 1,000-year-old Viking hoard, including this cross, found buried in a Dumfries and Galloway field stays in the local area"

A campaign has been launched to ensure a 1,000-year-old Viking hoard, including this cross, found buried in a Dumfries and Galloway field stays in the local area

THE VIKING TREASURE 

The objects were found inside a pot unearthed in 2014 and include rare items such as a gold bird-shaped pin, an enamelled Christian cross and silk from modern-day Istanbul as well as silver and crystal. 

The cross is engraved with decorations that, experts say, are highly unusual and may represent the four Gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. 

It was found amongst dozens of silver arm-rings and ingots two feet below the surface.

The hoard was found on Church of Scotland land after an amateur metal detector painstakingly searched the unidentified area in Dumfries and Galloway for more than a year.

Among the findings were a metal vessel, and an early Christian solid silver cross, thought to date from the Ninth or Tenth centuries. 

The cross is engraved with decorations that, experts say, are highly unusual and may represent the four Gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. 

It was found among dozens of silver arm-rings and ingots two feet below the surface, deeper than his detector was thought to reach. 

The Galloway Viking Hoard Campaign (GVH) is backing local council proposals for the 'extraordinary' treasure to have its permanent home in a specially-designed exhibition space at the new Kirkcudbright Art Gallery rather than at the National Museums Scotland in Edinburgh.

Campaigners have highlighted a growing trend for archaeological and cultural items to be exhibited locally rather than in capital cities. 

This helps to boost cultural tourism and enrich a region's ability to celebrate its own distinctive history.

The objects were found inside a pot unearthed in 2014 (pictured) and include rare items such as a gold bird-shaped pin (pictured below), an enamelled Christian cross and silk from modern-day Istanbul as well as silver and crystal

The cross is engraved with decorations that, experts say, are highly unusual and may represent the four Gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John

GVH campaigner Cathy Agnew said: 'Remarkable finds have so often been whisked away from the communities where they were discovered only to become a small feature in a large national museum.

'This is a very old-fashioned approach and in 2017 we should be making sure that regions fully benefit from their cultural riches.

'Having a collection of this kind in Dumfries and Galloway would act as a powerful magnet to bring in visitors from all over the country and overseas, benefiting the local economy by encouraging them to spend time here visiting historic sites.'

David Devereux, GVHC vice chair, told the BBC: 'Some of the items in the hoard are of breathtaking beauty and could become icons for the region, spurring people across the world to discover more about its distinctive past - and the people, lives, cultures and kingdoms that existed before Scotland was born.'

People are being asked to send letters of support ahead of two meetings - the first on March 7 and second on March 23 - that will discuss the future of the items.

The cross was found amongst dozens of silver arm-rings and ingots around two feet below the surface

By Shevali Best