In the week the Ashmolean Museum was awarded £1.1m to acquire the famous treasure trove found in the The Watlington Hoard, Judy Dewey from Wallingford Museum sheds some light on its true significance

YOU may, perhaps, have read about the exciting hoard of Viking treasure that was discovered a year or so ago near Watlington by Jim Mather with his metal detector.

Fortunately he was using the device responsibly and knew that what he had found was likely to be of great significance.

With help from the Portable Antiquities Scheme, based at the British Museum, the hoard was very carefully removed in a large block of the soil in which it had been buried and the area around it was carefully searched and recorded to give it proper context.

The lump of treasure-laden clay was apparently placed for transport on a metal tray, closely-wrapped in good quality cling-film and finally taken to the British Museum in a suitcase!

There it was 'excavated' in laboratory conditions.

What was finally revealed was an amazing collection of rare Anglo-Saxon coins of King Alfred 'the Great' of Wessex (871-99) and King Ceolwulf II of Mercia (874-79), as well as silver Viking arm-rings and ingots.

In total there were about 200 coins, seven items of jewellery and 15 ingots.

I was delighted to be present at the Oxford Coroner's Court, alongside others, when the hoard was officially declared Treasure.

Wallingford Museum was contacted early on about this find because of Wallingford’s strong links with the time of King Alfred, in whose reign the massive earthwork and ditch that surrounds the core of the town was built to create a fortified centre against attacks by the Vikings.

The hoard, found only a few miles from the town, relates closely to the critical moment when, in the words of Gareth Williams of the British Museum, "Alfred of Wessex decisively defeated the Vikings, and Ceolwulf II, the last king of Mercia, quietly disappeared from the historical record in uncertain circumstances.

"Alfred and his successors then forged a new kingdom of England by taking control of Mercia, before conquering the regions controlled by the Vikings".

Wallingford certainly played its part in all that.

The hoard is a wonderful addition to our knowledge of this distant period of our history and it is excellent news that the Ashmolean Museum has been awarded a Heritage Lottery grant towards its acquisition.

We can look forward to hearing more of the fascinating story of this hoard and its relation to our local history.