Melsonby Hoard saved and to be displayed at Yorkshire Museum

The Yorkshire Museum has acquired the Melsonby Hoard after receiving £192,096 from the National Heritage Memorial Fund along with £74,000 in donations from members of the public.

Kathryn Blacker, chief executive of York Museums Trust, said the hoard is a “significant piece of Yorkshire’s history” and the trust is “delighted” to acquire it for the nation.

The hoard, as The Press has reported, lay untouched in two ditches near the village of Melsonby, north of Richmond, since the middle of the first century until it was found by detectorist Peter Heads in 2021.

An Iron Age artefact from the Melsonby Hoard which will go on show at the Yorkshire Museum in York after being saved (Image: Gareth Buddo/Yorkshire Museums Trust) It comprises more than 800 items including chariot wheels, ceremonial spears and pony harnesses.

Professor Tom Moore, head of archaeology at Durham University, examined the hoard and said it could lead to a revaluation of the wealth and status of the elite living in northern Britain 2,000 years ago. He described it as a “once-in-a-lifetime discovery”.

The archaeologist said the destruction of “so many high-status objects” was “rarely seen in Iron Age Britain” and “demonstrates that the elites of northern Britain were just as powerful as their southern counterparts”.

Iron Age artefacts from the Melsonby Hoard which will go on show at the Yorkshire Museum in York after being saved (Image: Gareth Buddo/Yorkshire Museums Trust) “Whoever is doing this is incredibly wealthy and it challenges the idea that northern Britain was a backwater, when it clearly was not,” he said.

“It has connections to continental Europe and the Roman Empire.

“It shows they are of the same status, if not more powerful than the elites in southern Britain.”

Museum ‘committed’ to research and conserving Iron Age finds

Ms Blacker said the York Museums Trust is “committed” to researching and conserving the “unprecedented finds” to “improve our understanding of our shared past and securing them for future generations”. 

“Thanks to the incredible support of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, as well as generous donations from members of the public, the hoard will remain here in Yorkshire, to be made available for everyone to see and to enjoy,” she said.

Dr Andrew Woods, left, and Dr Adam Parker examining some of the Iron Age artefacts, found in the Melsonby Hoard (Image: Gareth Buddo/Yorkshire Museums Trust) Dr Andrew Woods, head of research and collections at York Museums Trust, said the hoard will be put on display “over the coming years”, adding: “We cannot wait to share it with our visitors.”

Simon Thurley, chair of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, said: “We are delighted to count the Melsonby Hoard as part of the growing and timeless collection of UK heritage that belongs to all of us forever.”

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Cllr Pete Kilbane, deputy leader of City of York Council and its executive member for culture, added: “Thanks to all the organisations and public who have supported the project so far. 

“It feels like we are writing the next chapter in understanding our shared history, and York is at the centre of that story.”