Reflections on a '9th-century' Northumbrian Metalworking Tradition: A Silver Hoard from Poppleton, North Yorkshire

A study devoted to a major new Late Anglo-Saxon silver hoard discovered by metal-detectorists in the environs of York. Examination of the range of objects represented leads to a reappraisal of the function of one of commonest categories of contemporary dress accessory, and adds an interesting, morphologically distinct, addition to the corpus of twenty or so silver disc-brooches to have survived from the Late Anglo-Saxon England. A structured analysis of stylistic vocabulary of the objects, drawing upon parallels embodied within the expanded corpus of metal-detector finds from northern England, provides grounds for the identification and detailed characterisation of a flamboyant Northumbrian expression of the Trewhiddle style. In addition to securing the provenance of the hoard and that of stylistically-related portable media to Northumbria, this newly-recognised artistic sub-genre is used to question previously-held assumptions on the homogeneity of art styles current in Late Anglo-Saxon England.