A metal detectorist who took up the hobby just six weeks earlier has dug up a gold and silver Viking sword pommel in a field near Brigstock in Northamptonshire.
Andy Green, a 56 year old electrician, was searching farmland outside Corby when his machine gave a signal. He assumed the object working its way out of the soil was an old bullet casing, right up until gold started to show through the earth.
The find has since been declared treasure at a coroner's inquest, as we covered in our original report on the gold Viking sword discovery. A Northamptonshire museum is expected to try to acquire it.
Beginner's luck leads to rare Viking treasure
Green was walking the field with a group of detectorists when his machine beeped. Few people were near him at the time.
He began digging and saw the tips of several metal lobes poking out of the soil. The shape suggested a bullet casing. Then the gold decoration appeared.
Green said his hands were shaking as he lifted the object out. The rest of the group knew something had happened when they spotted him sitting on the ground, laughing.
He puts the whole thing down to beginner's luck, and hopes the story nudges a few more people into trying the hobby. Plenty of experienced detectorists go decades without turning up ancient gold.
What exactly did the metal detectorist find?
Green did not find a complete Viking sword.
The object is the pommel from the end of a sword handle. A pommel sits at the bottom of the hilt, balances the weapon, and gives the maker somewhere to show off.
This one is silver dressed with gold, almost 75mm long, with five lobes picked out in patterns of fine gold wire. Every visible surface was worked by someone who knew exactly what they were doing.
That level of craftsmanship points away from an ordinary fighting sword. Specialists believe the weapon belonged to a wealthy or important figure, or was handed over as a gift by someone with real power.
Viking weapons were tools first, but the best of them did the same job as jewellery. A decorated sword told everyone in the room where its owner stood.
The pommel dates back around 1,000 years
Archaeologists date the Brigstock pommel to between AD900 and AD1120.
By then, Scandinavian raiders and traders had settled across large parts of England. Much of the north and east fell under the Danelaw, where Danish law and Scandinavian custom took root.
Corby and the villages around it have their own links to Danish settlement, which makes the location of the find a good fit with the history.
England's soil keeps producing physical evidence from this period. Recent examples we have reported include a 2,000 year old Roman mosaic ranked among the best preserved in Britain and the prehistoric secrets pulled from Loch Bhorgastail on the Isle of Lewis.
A possible connection to Gotland in Sweden
A Viking sword specialist examined the pommel after it was reported through the Portable Antiquities Scheme.
The style may be tied to Gotland, a Swedish island with a deep Viking history. The pommel could have been made there and carried to England, or made here by a Gotland trained craftsman who had crossed the North Sea.
Either way, the object is a reminder of how connected that world was. Goods moved, and so did the people who knew how to make them. Viking communities sat inside trading and political networks that ran from Britain across Scandinavia.
A second gold object may belong to the same sword
There is a twist.
In 2018, a different detectorist found a small gold loop in the same area, made from three strands of beaded gold wire twisted together. It was recorded through the Portable Antiquities Scheme, but no museum took it at the time.
After the inquest, an expert looked at the loop again and suggested it may have come from another part of the same sword hilt.
If that is right, two people searching the same land a year apart each pulled up a piece of one prestigious Viking weapon. The rest of the sword has not been found. More of it may still sit in the surrounding fields, or centuries of ploughing may have scattered it for good.
Why the discovery was declared treasure
Finds like this must go through a legal process in England.
The Treasure Act 1996 covers certain objects made of precious metal, along with groups of coins and some prehistoric metalwork. A coroner examines the circumstances and rules on whether the object qualifies.
The Brigstock pommel has now been declared treasure, which gives a museum the chance to acquire it. Official guidance on reporting treasure finds is published on gov.uk.
A Northamptonshire museum is reported to be interested. If it succeeds, the pommel would stay close to where it was found and become part of the public record of Viking Northamptonshire.
Metal detecting and British archaeology
Detectorists have been behind some of Britain's biggest archaeological finds, from Roman coins and Anglo Saxon jewellery to Viking hoards and stranger things entirely, like the flat packed Roman bed unearthed in London.
The hobby comes with obligations. Detectorists need the landowner's permission before searching private land, and significant finds should be reported so archaeologists can study the object and log exactly where it came from.
The location can matter as much as the object. It helps experts trace settlement patterns, trade routes and events. Pull an artefact out without recording its context and that information is gone for good.
Green sees it the same way. For him the point is not ownership. It is getting these objects out of the path of the plough and playing a small part in a much longer story.
One of Britain's most striking recent finds
An ordinary field, a brand new hobbyist, and a decorated gold pommel that sat underground for around 1,000 years. Add the separate gold loop and the possible Swedish connection, and the Brigstock find has earned its place in the recent run of British treasure stories.
Nobody knows who owned the sword, why it was broken up, or whether more of it is still down there. What the find does prove is that British fields are still holding on to plenty of history, and that one signal from a metal detector can bring a piece of it back up.
Frequently asked questions
Where was the Viking sword pommel found?
The gold and silver pommel was found in fields near Brigstock, outside Corby in Northamptonshire.
Who found the Viking artefact?
Andy Green, a 56 year old electrician who had been metal detecting for around six weeks.
Was a complete Viking sword discovered?
No. The find is the decorated pommel from the end of a Viking sword handle, not the full weapon.
How old is the sword pommel?
Experts date it to between roughly AD900 and AD1120.
What is the Viking pommel made from?
Silver, decorated with patterns worked in fine gold wire across five lobes.
Why is the find important?
The craftsmanship suggests the sword belonged to a wealthy or powerful individual, and the style may link it to Gotland in Sweden.
Was anything else from the sword found?
A gold loop found nearby in 2018 may have come from another part of the same sword hilt.
What happens to treasure found through metal detecting?
Potential treasure must be reported. A coroner decides whether it qualifies under the Treasure Act 1996, and museums then get the chance to acquire it.
