List of hoards in Great Britain
Anglo-Saxon hoards
Table:
Hoard
Image
Date
Place of discovery
Year of discovery
Current Location
Contents

Appledore Hoard

mid 11th century

Appledore
Kent
51°01′52″N 0°47′24″E﻿ / ﻿51.031°N 0.790°E﻿ / 51.031; 0.790﻿ (Appledore Hoard)

1997

British Museum, London

490 pennies (1997)
12 silver pennies of Edward the Confessor (1998)[3]

Bamburgh Hoard

mid 9th century

Bamburgh
Northumberland
55°36′14″N 1°43′19″W﻿ / ﻿55.604°N 1.722°W﻿ / 55.604; -1.722﻿ (Bamburgh Hoard)

1999 and 2004

Museum of Antiquities, Newcastle

384 base metal stycas
copper alloy fragments
bronze folding balance[4][5]

Beeston Tor Hoard

9th century

Beeston Tor
Staffordshire
53°04′59″N 1°50′41″W﻿ / ﻿53.08312°N 1.84470°W﻿ / 53.08312; -1.84470﻿ (Beeston Tor Hoard)

1926

British Museum, London

49 pennies, two silver brooches, three finger rings and assorted fragments[6]

Brantham Hoard

10th century

Brantham
Suffolk
51°58′08″N 1°03′47″E﻿ / ﻿51.969°N 1.063°E﻿ / 51.969; 1.063﻿ (Brantham Hoard)

2003

Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

90 silver pennies[7]

Canterbury-St Martin's hoard

late 6th or early 7th century

Canterbury
Kent
51°16′41″N 1°05′38″E﻿ / ﻿51.278°N 1.094°E﻿ / 51.278; 1.094﻿ (Canterbury-St Martin's hoard)

1840s

World Museum, Liverpool

8 items, including 3 gold coins, and two pieces of jewellery[8]

Crondall Hoard

mid 7th century

Crondall
Hampshire
51°13′48″N 0°51′43″W﻿ / ﻿51.230°N 0.862°W﻿ / 51.230; -0.862﻿ (Crondall Hoard)

1828

Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

100 small gold coins and 2 cloisonné pins[9]

Harkirke (or Harkirk) Hoard

early 10th century

Crosby
Merseyside
53°30′07″N 3°01′12″W﻿ / ﻿53.502°N 3.020°W﻿ / 53.502; -3.020﻿ (Harkirk(e) Hoard)

1611

unknown[note 1]

~300 Viking and Kufic coins[10]

Ipswich Hoard (1863)

10th century

Ipswich
Suffolk
52°03′32″N 1°09′22″E﻿ / ﻿52.059°N 1.156°E﻿ / 52.059; 1.156﻿ (Ipswich Hoard (1863))

1863

150 coins (75 now known)[11]

Lenborough Hoard

mid 11th century

Lenborough, near Padbury
Buckinghamshire
51°58′37″N 0°58′52″W﻿ / ﻿51.977°N 0.981°W﻿ / 51.977; -0.981﻿ (Lenborough Hoard)

2014

5,251½ coins in a lead bucket, including coins of Ethelred the Unready and Canute[12]

Pentney Hoard

early 9th century

Pentney
Norfolk
52°41′42″N 0°32′42″E﻿ / ﻿52.695°N 0.545°E﻿ / 52.695; 0.545﻿ (Pentney Treasure)

1978

British Museum, London

6 silver disc brooches[13]

Staffordshire Hoard

7th or 8th century

Hammerwich
Staffordshire
52°39′18″N 1°54′25″W﻿ / ﻿52.655°N 1.907°W﻿ / 52.655; -1.907﻿ (Staffordshire Hoard)

2009

Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery
Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent

more than 1,500 items (about 5 kg (11 lb) of gold and 1.3 kg (2.9 lb) of silver), mostly sword fittings and decorative parts of weaponry, but also two gold crosses and an inscribed gold strip[14]

Trewhiddle Hoard

late 9th century

Trewhiddle
Cornwall
50°19′44″N 4°48′14″W﻿ / ﻿50.329°N 4.804°W﻿ / 50.329; -4.804﻿ (Trewhiddle Hoard)

1774

British Museum, London

114 Anglo-Saxon coins, and various items of silverware, including a scourge, a chalice and a Celtic penannular brooch[15]

West Yorkshire Hoard

11th century

Leeds
West Yorkshire
53°48′N 1°33′W﻿ / ﻿53.8°N 1.55°W﻿ / 53.8; -1.55﻿ (West Yorkshire Hoard)

2008–2009

5 items of 7th to 11th century gold jewellery (a cabochon ring, a filigree ring, a niello finger ring, a filigree and granular ring, and a piece of a cloisonné bracelet), an ingot of gold, and a lead spindle whorl.[16]

Based on the given table together with the background passages below.

State the answer to the question: Which historically significant item was found in the hoard in the city located on the River Stour ? Provide just your answer in a JSON object {"answer": "YOUR ANSWER"}. Use only the information given.

Appledore is a village and civil parish in the Ashford District of Kent , England . The village centre is on the northern edge of the Romney Marsh , 12 miles ( 19 km ) south-west of Ashford town . The northerly part of this village is Appledore Heath .
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties . It borders Greater London to the north-west , Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west . The county also shares borders with Essex along the estuary of the River Thames ( connected by land via High Speed 1 and the Dartford Crossing ) , and with the French department of Pas-de-Calais through the Channel Tunnel . The county town is Maidstone . Kent was among the first British territories conquered and settled by Anglo-Saxons . Canterbury Cathedral in Kent has been the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury , leader of the Church of England , since the Reformation . Prior to that it was built by Catholics , dating back to the conversion of England to Catholicism by Saint Augustine that began in the 6th century . Before the English Reformation the cathedral was part of a Benedictine monastic community known as Christ Church , Canterbury , as well as being the seat of the Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury . The last Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury was Reginald Pole . Rochester Cathedral is also in Kent , in Medway . It is the second-oldest cathedral in England , with Canterbury Cathedral being the oldest . Between London and the Strait of Dover , which separates it from mainland Europe , Kent has seen both diplomacy and conflict , ranging from the Leeds Castle peace talks of 1978 and 2004 to the Battle of Britain in World War II .
The British Museum , in the Bloomsbury area of London , United Kingdom , is a public institution dedicated to human history , art and culture . Its permanent collection of some eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence , having been widely sourced during the era of the British Empire . It documents the story of human culture from its beginnings to the present . [ a ] It was the first public national museum in the world . The British Museum was established in 1753 , largely based on the collections of the Irish physician and scientist Sir Hans Sloane . It first opened to the public in 1759 , in Montagu House , on the site of the current building . Its expansion over the following 250 years was largely a result of expanding British colonisation and has resulted in the creation of several branch institutions , the first being the Natural History Museum in 1881 . In 1973 , the British Library Act 1972 detached the library department from the British Museum , but it continued to host the now separated British Library in the same Reading Room and building as the museum until 1997 . The museum is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Digital , Culture , Media and Sport , and as with all national museums in the UK it charges no admission fee , except for loan exhibitions . Its ownership of some of its most famous objects originating in other countries is disputed and remains the subject of international controversy , most notably in the case of the Parthenon Marbles .
The English penny ( plural pence ) , originally a coin of 1.3 to 1.5 grams ( 0.042 to 0.048 troy ounces ; 0.046 to 0.053 ounces ) pure silver , was introduced c. 785 by King Offa of Mercia . These coins were similar in size and weight to the continental deniers of the period and to the Anglo-Saxon sceats which had preceded it . Throughout the period of the Kingdom of England , from its beginnings in the 9th century , the penny was produced in silver . Pennies of the same nominal value , one 240th of a pound sterling , were in circulation continuously until the creation of the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707 .
Edward the Confessor [ a ] ( Old English : Ēadƿeard Andettere [ æːɑdwæɑrˠd ɑndetere ] ; Latin : Eduardus Confessor [ ɛdʊˈardʊs kõːˈfɛssɔr ] , Ecclesiastical Latin : [ eduˈardus konˈfessor ] ; c. 1003 - 5 January 1066 ) , also known as Saint Edward the Confessor , was among the last Anglo-Saxon kings of England . Usually considered the last king of the House of Wessex , he ruled from 1042 to 1066 . Edward was the son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy . He succeeded Cnut the Great 's son - and his own half brother - Harthacnut . He restored the rule of the House of Wessex after the period of Danish rule since Cnut ( better known as Canute ) conquered England in 1016 . When Edward died in 1066 , he was succeeded by Harold Godwinson , who was defeated and killed in the same year by the Normans under William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings . Edgar the Ætheling , who was of the House of Wessex , was proclaimed king after the Battle of Hastings in 1066 , but never ruled and was deposed after about eight weeks . Historians disagree about Edward 's fairly long ( 24-year ) reign . His nickname reflects the traditional image of him as unworldly and pious . Confessor reflects his reputation as a saint who did not suffer martyrdom , as opposed to King Edward the Martyr . Some portray Edward the Confessor 's reign as leading to the disintegration of royal power in England and the advance in power of the House of Godwin , due to the infighting that began after his heirless death . Biographers Frank Barlow and Peter Rex , on the other hand , portray Edward as a successful king , one who was energetic , resourceful and sometimes ruthless ; they argue that the Norman conquest shortly after his death tarnished his image .
Bamburgh ( /ˈbæmbərə/ BAM-bər-ə ) is a village and civil parish on the coast of Northumberland , England . It had a population of 454 in 2001 , decreasing to 414 at the 2011 census . The village is notable for the nearby Bamburgh Castle , a castle which was the seat of the former Kings of Northumbria , and for its association with the Victorian era heroine Grace Darling , who is buried there . The extensive beach by the village was awarded the Blue Flag rural beach award in 2005 . The Bamburgh Dunes , a Site of Special Scientific Interest , stand behind the beach . Bamburgh is popular with holidaymakers and is within the Northumberland Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty .
Northumberland ( /nɔːrˈθʌmbərlənd/ ) is a unitary authority and historic county in North East England . The northernmost county of England , the unitary authority borders Cumbria to the west , County Durham and Tyne and Wear to the south and the Scottish Borders to the north . To the east is the North Sea coastline with a path 103 kilometres ( 64 mi ) long . The county town is Alnwick , although the county council is based in Morpeth . The county of Northumberland included Newcastle upon Tyne until 1400 , when the city became a county of itself . Northumberland expanded greatly in the Tudor period , annexing Berwick-upon-Tweed in 1482 , Tynedale in 1495 , Tynemouth in 1536 , Redesdale around 1542 and Hexhamshire in 1572 . Islandshire , Bedlingtonshire and Norhamshire were incorporated into Northumberland in 1844 . Tynemouth and other settlements in North Tyneside were transferred to Tyne and Wear in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972 . Lying on the Anglo-Scottish border , Northumberland has been the site of a number of battles . The county is noted for its undeveloped landscape of high moorland , now largely protected as the Northumberland National Park . Northumberland is the least densely populated county in England , with only 62 people per square kilometre .
The Museum of Antiquities was an archaeological museum at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne , England . It opened in 1960 and in 2009 its collections were merged into the Great North Museum : Hancock .
The styca ( pronounced [ stykɑ ] ; pl . stycas ) was a small coin minted in pre-Viking Northumbria , originally in base silver and subsequently in a copper alloy . Production began in the 790s and continued until the 850s , though the coin remained in circulation until the Viking conquest of Northumbria in 867 . The coin 's name derives from Old English styċċe , meaning piece .
The Beeston Tor Hoard is an Anglo-Saxon jewellery and coin hoard discovered in 1924 at Beeston Tor in Staffordshire . The hoard consists of forty-nine coins , two silver brooches with Trewhiddle style decoration , three finger rings , and miscellaneous fragments . The coins date the burial of the hoard to approximately 875 AD .
Beeston Tor ( grid reference SK105540 ) is a limestone cliff in Staffordshire . It overlooks the confluence of the River Hamps with the River Manifold , and is a popular venue for rock climbing ( seasonal restrictions for rock climbing apply ) . There was a small station here , of the same name , opened by the narrow gauge ( 2 ' 6 ) Leek and Manifold Valley Light Railway on 27 June 1904 , whilst being entirely operated by the North Staffordshire Railway . The station had no siding - unlike most of the stations on the line - but there was a refreshment room . The line closed in 1934 , and the route of the railway past the station is now designated the Manifold Way , an 8-mile walk- and cycle-path which runs from Waterhouses to Hulme End .
Staffordshire ( /ˈstæfərdʃɪər , -ʃər/ ; postal abbreviation Staffs . ) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands of England . It borders Cheshire to the northwest , Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east , Warwickshire to the southeast , West Midlands and Worcestershire to the south , and Shropshire to the west . The largest settlement in Staffordshire is Stoke-on-Trent , which is administered as an independent unitary authority , separately from the rest of the county . Lichfield , a smaller settlement , is a cathedral city . Other major settlements include Stafford , Burton upon Trent , Cannock , Newcastle-under-Lyme , Rugeley , Leek , and Tamworth . Smaller towns include Stone , Cheadle , Uttoxeter , Burntwood/Chasetown , Eccleshall , Biddulph , Penkridge and the large villages of Wombourne , Kinver , Tutbury , Alrewas , Barton-under-Needwood , Stretton and Abbots Bromley . Cannock Chase AONB is within the county as well as parts of the National Forest and the Peak District national park . Wolverhampton , Walsall , West Bromwich and Smethwick are within the historic county boundaries of Staffordshire , but since 1974 have been part of the West Midlands county . Apart from Stoke-on-Trent , Staffordshire is divided into the districts of Cannock Chase , East Staffordshire , Lichfield , Newcastle-under-Lyme , South Staffordshire , Stafford , Staffordshire Moorlands , and Tamworth .
A penny is a coin ( pl . pennies ) or a unit of currency ( pl . pence ) in various countries . Borrowed from the Carolingian denarius ( hence its former abbreviation d. ) , it is usually the smallest denomination within a currency system . Presently , it is the formal name of the British penny ( abbr . p ) and the informal name of the American one cent coin ( abbr . ¢ ) as well as the informal Irish designation of the 1 cent euro coin ( abbr . c ) . It is the informal name of the cent unit of account in Canada , although one cent coins are no longer minted there . The name is also used in reference to various historical currencies also derived from the Carolingian system , such as the French denier and the German pfennig . It may also be informally used to refer to any similar smallest-denomination coin , such as the euro cent or Chinese fen . The Carolingian penny was originally a 0.940-fine silver coin weighing 1/240 pound .
A brooch /ˈbroʊtʃ/ or , in US English also /ˈbruːtʃ/ , somewhat frequently broach ( of which it is a variant ) , is a decorative jewelry item designed to be attached to garments , often to hold them closed . It is usually made of metal , often silver or gold or some other material . Brooches are frequently decorated with enamel or with gemstones and may be solely for ornament or serve a practical function as a clothes fastener . The earliest known brooches are from the Bronze Age . As fashions in brooches changed rather quickly , they are important chronological indicators . Many of the ancient European brooches found in archaeology are usually referred to by the Latin term fibula .
Brantham is a village and civil parish in the Babergh district of Suffolk , England . It is located close to the River Stour and the border with Essex , around 2 miles ( 3 km ) north of Manningtree , and around 9 miles ( 14 km ) southwest of Ipswich .
Suffolk ( /ˈsʌfək/ ) is an East Anglian county of historic origin in England . It has borders with Norfolk to the north , Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south . The North Sea lies to the east . The county town is Ipswich ; other important towns include Lowestoft , Bury St Edmunds , Newmarket , and Felixstowe , one of the largest container ports in Europe . The county is low-lying but it has quite a few hills ( especially more to the west ) , and has largely arable land with the wetlands of the Broads in the north . The Suffolk Coast and Heaths are an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty .
The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities museum of the University of Cambridge . It is located on Trumpington Street opposite Fitzwilliam Street in central Cambridge . It was founded in 1816 under the will of Richard FitzWilliam , 7th Viscount FitzWilliam ( 1745-1816 ) , and comprises one of the best collections of antiquities and modern art in western Europe . With over half a million objects and artworks in its collections , the displays in the Museum explore world history and art from antiquity to the present . The treasures of the museum include artworks by Monet , Picasso , Rubens , Vincent van Gogh , Rembrandt , Cézanne , Van Dyck , and Canaletto , as well as a winged bas-relief from Nimrud . Admission to the public is always free . The museum is a partner in the University of Cambridge Museums consortium , one of 16 Major Partner Museum services funded by Arts Council England to lead the development of the museums sector .
The Canterbury-St Martin 's hoard is a coin-hoard found in the 19th century at Canterbury , Kent dating from the 6th century . The group in the World Museum , Liverpool consists of eight items , including three gold coins mounted with suspension loops for use as pendants . One of these is the Liudhard medalet , the earliest surviving Anglo-Saxon coin . Another coin is in the Bibliotheque Nationale .
Canterbury ( /ˈkæntərbəri/ ( listen ) , /-bɛri/ ) is a historic English cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site , situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury , a local government district of Kent , England . It lies on the River Stour . The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of the Church of England and the worldwide Anglican Communion owing to the importance of St Augustine , who served as the apostle to the pagan Kingdom of Kent around the turn of the 7th century . The city 's cathedral became a major focus of pilgrimage following the 1170 martyrdom of Thomas Becket , although it had already been a well-trodden pilgrim destination since the murder of St Alphege by the men of King Canute in 1012 . A journey of pilgrims to Becket 's shrine served as the frame for Geoffrey Chaucer 's 14th century classic The Canterbury Tales . Canterbury is a popular tourist destination : consistently one of the most-visited cities in the United Kingdom , the city 's economy is heavily reliant upon tourism . The city has been occupied since Paleolithic times and served as the capital of the Celtic Cantiaci and Jute Kingdom of Kent . Many historical structures fill the area , including a city wall founded in Roman times and rebuilt in the 14th century , the ruins of St Augustine 's Abbey and a Norman castle , and the oldest extant school in the world , the King 's School . Modern additions include the Marlowe Theatre and the St Lawrence Ground , home of the Kent County Cricket Club . There is also a substantial student population , brought about by the presence of the University of Kent , Canterbury Christ Church University , the University for the Creative Arts , and the Girne American University Canterbury campus . Canterbury remains , however , a small city in terms of geographical size and population , when compared with other British cities .
World Museum is a large museum in Liverpool , England which has extensive collections covering archaeology , ethnology and the natural and physical sciences . Special attractions include the Natural History Centre and a planetarium . Entry to the museum is free . The museum is part of National Museums Liverpool .
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside , England . As of 2018 , the population is approximately 494,814 . Liverpool is the ninth-largest English district by population , and the largest in Merseyside and the Liverpool City Region . It lies within the United Kingdom 's sixth-most populous urban area . Liverpool 's metropolitan area is the fifth-largest in the United Kingdom , with a population of 2.24 million . Liverpool is on the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary , and historically lay within the ancient hundred of West Derby in the southwest of the county of Lancashire in North West England . It became a borough in 1207 and a city in 1880 . In 1889 , it became a county borough independent of Lancashire . Its growth as a major port was paralleled by the expansion of the city throughout the Industrial Revolution . Along with handling general cargo , freight , and raw materials such as coal and cotton , the city merchants were involved in the Atlantic slave trade . In the 19th century , it was a major port of departure for English and Irish emigrants to North America . Liverpool was home to both the Cunard and White Star Line , and was the port of registry of the ocean liners RMS Titanic , RMS Lusitania , RMS Queen Mary , and RMS Olympic .
Crondall /krʌndəl/ is a village and large civil parish in the north east of Hampshire in England , in a similar location to the Crondall Hundred surveyed in the Domesday Book of 1086 . The village is on the gentle slopes of the low western end of the North Downs range , and has the remains of a Roman villa . Despite the English Reformation , Winchester Cathedral ( or its Dean and Chapter ) held the chief manors representing much of its land from 975 until 1861 . A large collection of Anglo-Saxon and Merovingian coins found in the parish has become known as the Crondall Hoard .
Hampshire ( /ˈhæmpʃər/ , /-ʃɪər/ ( listen ) ; postal abbreviation Hants . ) [ note 1 ] is a county in southern England . The county town is the city of Winchester . Its two largest cities , Southampton and Portsmouth , are administered separately as unitary authorities ; the rest of the county is governed by Hampshire County Council . First settled about 14,000 years ago , Hampshire 's history dates to Roman Britain , when its chief town was Winchester . When the Romans left Britain , the area was infiltrated by tribes from Scandinavia and mainland Europe , principally in the river valleys . The county was recorded in the 11th century Domesday Book , divided into 44 hundreds . From the 12th century , the ports grew in importance , fuelled by trade with the continent , wool and cloth manufacture in the county , and the fishing industry , and a shipbuilding industry was established . By the 16th century , the population of Southampton had outstripped that of Winchester . By the mid-19th century , with the county 's population at 219,210 ( double that at the beginning of the century ) in more than 86,000 dwellings , agriculture was the principal industry and 10 per cent of the county was still forest . Hampshire played a crucial military role in both World Wars . The Isle of Wight , historically part of Hampshire , became a separate ceremonial county in 1974 .
The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology ( /æʃˈmoʊliən/ , /ˌæʃməˈliːən/ ) on Beaumont Street , Oxford , England , is the world 's first university museum . Its first building was erected in 1678-1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University of Oxford in 1677 . The present building was erected 1841-1845 . The museum reopened in 2009 after a major redevelopment . In November 2011 , new galleries focusing on Egypt and Nubia were unveiled . In May 2016 , the museum opened new galleries of 19th-century art .
Oxford ( /ˈɒksfəd/ OKS-fəd ) is a university city in Oxfordshire , England , with a population of 155,000 . It is 56 miles ( 90 km ) northwest of London , 64 miles ( 103 km ) from Birmingham and 24 miles ( 39 km ) from Reading by road . The city is home to the University of Oxford , the oldest in the English-speaking world , and has buildings in every style of English architecture from late Anglo-Saxon . Oxford 's industries include motor manufacturing , education , publishing , information technology and science .
Cloisonné ( French pronunciation : ​ [ klwazɔne ] ) is an ancient technique for decorating metalwork objects . In recent centuries , vitreous enamel has been used , and inlays of cut gemstones , glass and other materials were also used during older periods . The resulting objects can also be called cloisonné . The decoration is formed by first adding compartments ( cloisons in French ) to the metal object by soldering or affixing silver or gold wires or thin strips placed on their edges . These remain visible in the finished piece , separating the different compartments of the enamel or inlays , which are often of several colors . Cloisonné enamel objects are worked on with enamel powder made into a paste , which then needs to be fired in a kiln . In antiquity , the cloisonné technique was mostly used for jewellery and small fittings for clothes , weapons or similar small objects decorated with geometric or schematic designs , with thick cloison walls . In the Byzantine Empire techniques using thinner wires were developed to allow more pictorial images to be produced , mostly used for religious images and jewellery , and by then always using enamel . By the 14th century this enamel technique had spread to China , where it was soon used for much larger vessels such as bowls and vases ; the technique remains common in China to the present day , and cloisonné enamel objects using Chinese-derived styles were produced in the West from the 18th century .
Crosby is a coastal town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton , in Merseyside , England . Historically in Lancashire , it is situated north of Bootle , south of Southport and Formby and west of Netherton .
Merseyside ( /ˈmɜːrzisaɪd/ MUR-zee-syde ) is a metropolitan county in North West England , with a population of 1.38 million . It encompasses the metropolitan area centred on both banks of the lower reaches of the Mersey Estuary and comprises five metropolitan boroughs : Knowsley , St Helens , Sefton , Wirral , and the city of Liverpool . Merseyside , which was created on 1 April 1974 as a result of the Local Government Act 1972 , takes its name from the River Mersey . Merseyside spans 249 square miles ( 645 km2 ) of land which border Lancashire ( to the north-east ) , Greater Manchester ( to the east ) , Cheshire ( to the south and south-east ) and the Irish Sea to the west . North Wales is across the Dee Estuary . There is a mix of high density urban areas , suburbs , semi-rural and rural locations in Merseyside , but overwhelmingly the land use is urban . It has a focused central business district , formed by Liverpool City Centre , but Merseyside is also a polycentric county with five metropolitan districts , each of which has at least one major town centre and outlying suburbs . The Liverpool Urban Area is the fifth most populous conurbation in England , and dominates the geographic centre of the county , while the smaller Birkenhead Urban Area dominates the Wirral Peninsula in the south . For the 12 years following 1974 the county had a two-tier system of local government ; district councils shared power with the Merseyside County Council . The county council was abolished in 1986 , and so its districts ( the metropolitan boroughs ) are now effectively unitary authority areas . However , the metropolitan county continues to exist in law and as a geographic frame of reference , and several county-wide services are co-ordinated by authorities and joint-boards , such as Merseytravel ( for public transport ) , Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service and the Merseyside Police ( for law-enforcement ) ; as a ceremonial county , Merseyside has a Lord Lieutenant and a High Sheriff . As the Lancashire county palatine boundaries remain the same as the historic boundaries , the High Sheriff of Merseyside , along with those of Lancashire and Greater Manchester are appointed within the Duchy and County Palatine of Lancaster .
Vikings [ a ] were Scandinavians , who from the late 8th to late 11th centuries , raided and traded from their Northern European homelands across wide areas of Europe , and explored westwards to Iceland , Greenland , and Vinland . The term is also commonly extended in modern English and other vernaculars to include the inhabitants of Norse home communities during what has become known as the Viking Age , 793-1066 AD . This period of Nordic military , mercantile and demographic expansion constitutes an important element in the early medieval history of Scandinavia , Estonia , the British Isles , France , Kievan Rus ' and Sicily . Facilitated by advanced sailing and navigational skills , and characterised by the longship , Viking activities at times also extended into the Mediterranean littoral , North Africa , and the Middle East . Following extended phases of ( primarily sea- or river-borne ) exploration , expansion and settlement , Viking ( Norse ) communities and governments were established in diverse areas of north-western Europe , Belarus , Ukraine and European Russia , the North Atlantic islands and as far as the north-eastern coast of North America . This period of expansion witnessed the wider dissemination of Norse culture , while simultaneously introducing strong foreign cultural influences into Scandinavia itself , with profound developmental implications in both directions . Popular , modern conceptions of the Vikings - the term frequently applied casually to their modern descendants and the inhabitants of modern Scandinavia - often strongly differ from the complex picture that emerges from archaeology and historical sources . A romanticised picture of Vikings as noble savages began to emerge in the 18th century ; this developed and became widely propagated during the 19th-century Viking revival . Perceived views of the Vikings as alternatively violent , piratical heathens or as intrepid adventurers owe much to conflicting varieties of the modern Viking myth that had taken shape by the early 20th century . Current popular representations of the Vikings are typically based on cultural clichés and stereotypes , complicating modern appreciation of the Viking legacy . These representations are not always accurate - for example , there is no evidence that they wore horned helmets , a costuming element that first appeared in Wagnerian opera .
Kufic script ( Arabic : الخط الكوفي ) is a style of Arabic script that gained prominence early on as a preferred script for Quran transcription and architectural decoration , and it has since become a reference and an archetype for a number of other Arabic scripts . It developed from the Nabataean alphabet in the city of Kufa , from which its name is derived . Kufic script is characterized by angular , rectilinear letterforms and its horizontal orientation . There are many different versions of Kufic script , such as square Kufic , floriated Kufic , knotted Kufic , and others .
There are two notable Ipswich Hoards . The first was a hoard of Anglo-Saxon coins discovered in 1863 . The second was a hoard of six Iron Age gold torcs that was discovered in 1968 and 1969 . The latter hoard has been described as second only to the Snettisham Hoard in importance as a hoard from the Iron Age , and is held at the British Museum .
Ipswich ( /ˈɪpswɪtʃ/ ( listen ) ) is a historic county town in Suffolk , England . The town is located in East Anglia about 10 miles away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea . Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line railway and the A12 road , it is 66 miles ( 106 km ) north-east of London , 54 miles ( 89 km ) east-southeast of Cambridge , and 45 miles ( 72 km ) south of Norwich . Ipswich is surrounded by two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty ( AONB ) ; Suffolk Coast and Heaths and Dedham Vale . Ipswich 's modern name is derived from the medieval name Gippeswic , likely taken either from an Old Saxon personal name or from an earlier name given to the Orwell Estuary ( although unrelated to the name of the River Gipping ) . It has also been known as Gyppewicus and Yppswyche . The town has been continuously occupied since the Saxon period , and is contested to be one of the oldest towns in the United Kingdom . Ipswich was a settlement of great economic importance to England throughout its history , particularly in trade . The town 's historical dock , present-day Ipswich Waterfront , was known as the largest and most important dock in the kingdom . Ipswich is a non-metropolitan district and is a large settlement despite its town status . The urban development of Ipswich overspills the borough boundaries significantly , with 75% of the town 's population living within the borough at the time of the 2011 Census , when it was the fourth-largest urban area in the United Kingdom 's East of England region , and the 42nd-largest urban area in England and Wales . In 2011 , the town of Ipswich was found to have a population of 133,384 , while the Ipswich built-up area is estimated to have a population of approximately 180,000 in 2011 .
The Lenborough Hoard is a hoard of more than 5,000 late Anglo-Saxon silver coins , dating to the eleventh century , that was found at Lenborough in Buckinghamshire , England in 2014 . It is believed to be one of the largest hoards of Anglo-Saxon coins ever found in Britain .
Lenborough consists mainly of barn conversions and farm houses and connects by footpath to the Buckingham Industrial Estate .
Padbury is a village and also a civil parish within Aylesbury Vale district in Buckinghamshire , England . It is located on the A413 main road that links Buckingham with Winslow .
Buckinghamshire ( /ˈbʌkɪŋəmʃər , -ʃɪər/ ) , abbreviated Bucks. , is a ceremonial county in South East England which borders Greater London to the south east , Berkshire to the south , Oxfordshire to the west , Northamptonshire to the north , Bedfordshire to the north east and Hertfordshire to the east . Buckinghamshire is one of the home counties and towns such as High Wycombe , Amersham , Chesham and the Chalfonts in the east and southeast of the county are parts of the London commuter belt , forming some of the most densely populated parts of the county . Development in this region is restricted by the Metropolitan Green Belt . Other large settlements include the county town of Aylesbury , Marlow in the south near the Thames and Princes Risborough in the west near Oxford . Some areas without direct rail links to London , such as around the old county town of Buckingham and near Olney in the northeast , are much less populous . The largest town is Milton Keynes in the northeast , which with the surrounding area is administered as a unitary authority separately to the rest of Buckinghamshire . The remainder of the county is administered by Buckinghamshire County Council as a non-metropolitan county , and four district councils . In national elections , Buckinghamshire is considered a reliable supporter of the Conservative Party . A large part of the Chiltern Hills , an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty , runs through the south of the county and attracts many walkers and cyclists from London . In this area older buildings are often made from local flint and red brick . Many parts of the county are quite affluent and like many areas around London this has led to high housing costs : several reports have identified the market town of Beaconsfield as having among the highest property prices outside London . Chequers , a mansion estate owned by the government , is the country retreat of the incumbent Prime Minister .
Æthelred II ( Old English : Æþelræd , pronounced [ æðelræːd ] ; [ n 1 ] c. 966 - 23 April 1016 ) , known as the Unready , was King of the English from 978 to 1013 and again from 1014 until his death . His epithet does not derive from the modern word unready , but rather from the Old English unræd meaning poorly advised ; it is a pun on his name , which means well advised . Æthelred was the son of King Edgar and Queen Ælfthryth . He came to the throne at about the age of 12 , following the assassination of his older half-brother , Edward the Martyr . His brother 's murder was carried out by supporters of his own claim to the throne , although he was too young to have any personal involvement . The chief problem of Æthelred 's reign was conflict with the Danes . After several decades of relative peace , Danish raids on English territory began again in earnest in the 980s . Following the Battle of Maldon in 991 , Æthelred paid tribute , or Danegeld , to the Danish king . In 1002 , Æthelred ordered what became known as the St. Brice 's Day massacre of Danish settlers . In 1013 , King Sweyn Forkbeard of Denmark invaded England , as a result of which Æthelred fled to Normandy in 1013 and was replaced by Sweyn . However , he returned as king for two years after Sweyn 's death in 1014 . Æthelred 's 37-year combined reign was the longest of any Anglo-Saxon king of England , and was only surpassed in the 13th century , by Henry III .
Cnut Sweynsson ( /kəˈnjuːt/ ; Old English : Cnut cyng ; Old Norse : Knútr inn ríki ; died 12 November 1035 ) , known as Cnut the Great or Canute , was king of Denmark , England and Norway ; together often referred to as the North Sea Empire . Yet after the deaths of his heirs within a decade of his own , and the Norman conquest of England in 1066 , this legacy was lost . He is popularly invoked in the context of the legend of King Canute and the tide , which often misrepresents him as a deluded monarch believing he has supernatural powers , contrary to the original legend which portrays a wise king who rebuked his courtiers for their fawning behaviour . As a Danish prince , Cnut won the throne of England in 1016 in the wake of centuries of Viking activity in northwestern Europe . Scotland submitted to him in 1017 . His later accession to the Danish throne in 1018 brought the crowns of England and Denmark together . Cnut sought to keep this power-base by uniting Danes and English under cultural bonds of wealth and custom , as well as through sheer brutality . After a decade of conflict with opponents in Scandinavia , Cnut claimed the crown of Norway in Trondheim in 1028 . The Swedish city Sigtuna was held by Cnut ( he had coins struck there that called him king , but there is no narrative record of his occupation ) . Dominion of England lent the Danes an important link to the maritime zone between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland , where Cnut , like his father before him , had a strong interest and wielded much influence among the Norse-Gaels . Cnut 's possession of England 's dioceses and the continental Diocese of Denmark - with a claim laid upon it by the Holy Roman Empire 's Archdiocese of Hamburg-Bremen - was a source of great prestige and leverage within the Catholic Church and among the magnates of Christendom ( gaining notable concessions such as one on the price of the pallium of his bishops , though they still had to travel to obtain the pallium , as well as on the tolls his people had to pay on the way to Rome ) . After his 1026 victory against Norway and Sweden , and on his way back from Rome where he attended the coronation of the Holy Roman Emperor , Cnut , in a letter written for the benefit of his subjects , deemed himself King of all England and Denmark and the Norwegians and of some of the Swedes .
The Pentney Hoard is an Anglo-Saxon jewellery hoard , discovered by a gravedigger in a Pentney , Norfolk churchyard in 1978 . The treasure consists of six silver openwork disc brooches , five made entirely of silver and one composed of silver and copper alloy . The brooches are decorated in the 9th century Trewhiddle style . The hoard is now in the British Museum .
Pentney is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk , located about 8 miles ( 13 km ) south east of King 's Lynn placing it about halfway between King 's Lynn and Swaffham on the A47 road . It covers an area of 10.39 km2 ( 4.01 sq mi ) and had a population of 387 in 184 households at the 2001 census , increasing to 544 at the 2011 Census . For the purposes of local government , it falls within the district of King 's Lynn and West Norfolk . It is in the valley of the River Nar , a tributary of the River Great Ouse . The age of the village is unknown , but it dates at least to the 3rd or 4th centuries CE , from which time there is evidence of a Romano-British local pottery industry . A Roman road and settlement in Pentney ran close to the river Nar The name suggests that Pentney was at one time an island : one theory for the etymology is Penta 's / Penda 's Island , from the Anglo-Saxon Pendan-ig , the ig being equivalent to Old Norse ey = island ( Pentney is on drained waterlands ) .
Norfolk ( /ˈnɔːrfək/ ) is a county in East Anglia in England . It borders Lincolnshire to the northwest , Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest , and Suffolk to the south . Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea and to the north-west , The Wash . The county town is Norwich . With an area of 2,074 square miles ( 5,370 km2 ) and a population of 859,400 , Norfolk is a largely rural county with a population density of 401 per square mile ( 155 per km2 ) . Of the county 's population , 40% live in four major built up areas : Norwich ( 213,000 ) , Great Yarmouth ( 63,000 ) , King 's Lynn ( 46,000 ) and Thetford ( 25,000 ) . The Broads is a network of rivers and lakes in the east of the county , extending south into Suffolk . The area is not a national park although it is marketed as such . It has similar status to a national park , and is protected by the Broads Authority .
The Staffordshire Hoard is the largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold and silver metalwork yet found [ update ] . It consists of over 3,500 items , amounting to a total of 5.1 kg ( 11 lb ) of gold , 1.4 kg ( 3 lb ) of silver and some 3,500 pieces of garnet cloisonné jewellery . The hoard was most likely deposited in the 7th century , and contains artefacts probably manufactured during the 6th and 7th centuries . It was discovered in 2009 in a field near the village of Hammerwich , near Lichfield , in Staffordshire , England . The location was in the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia at the time of the hoard 's deposition . The hoard is of radical importance in Anglo-Saxon archaeology . The artefacts are nearly all martial in character and contain no objects specific to female uses . The average quality of the workmanship is extremely high and especially remarkable in view of the large number of individual objects , such as swords and a helmet , from which many of the fragments in the hoard came . The hoard was purchased jointly by the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery for £3.285 million under the Treasure Act 1996 .
Hammerwich is a small village and civil parish in Lichfield District , Staffordshire , England , south-east of Burntwood .
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery ( BM & AG ) is a museum and art gallery in Birmingham , England . It has a collection of international importance covering fine art , ceramics , metalwork , jewellery , natural history , archaeology , ethnography , local history and industrial history . The museum/gallery is run by Birmingham Museums Trust , the largest independent museums trust in the United Kingdom , which also runs eight other museums around the city . Entrance to the Museum and Art Gallery is free , but some major exhibitions in the Gas Hall incur an entrance fee .
The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery is in Bethesda Street , Hanley , one of the six towns of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire . Admission is free . One of the four local authority museums in the City , the other three being Gladstone Pottery Museum , Ford Green Hall and Etruria Industrial Museum , The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery houses collections that bring together the identities that went into forming the area known as the Potteries . The museum holds a collection of Staffordshire ceramics . All the collections at this museum are categorized as Designated Collections . Galleries display fine and decorative arts , costume , local history , archaeology and natural science collections . There is a second world war aircraft on permanent display , a Supermarine Spitfire whose earlier Marks were designed by R. J. Mitchell who came from nearby Butt Lane . Since February 2010 , The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery has been the home of a number of artifacts from the Staffordshire Hoard . 52,500 visitors viewed 118 items at the Potteries Museum during a 23-day exhibition in February 2010 . Since Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and Stoke-on-Trent Museums have purchased the Hoard , items have been on permanent display at both venues . Over 80 pieces can be seen in The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery 's archaeology gallery . [ citation needed ] Redevelopment of the Saxon part to this gallery in the latter half of 2010 has set the Hoard within a more tangible context , using existing pieces from the museum 's collection of Staffordshire archaeology .
Stoke-on-Trent ( often abbreviated to Stoke ) is a city and unitary authority area in Staffordshire , England , with an area of 36 square miles ( 93 km2 ) . Together with the neighbouring boroughs of Newcastle-under-Lyme and Staffordshire Moorlands , it is part of North Staffordshire . In 2016 , the city had a population of 261,302 . Stoke is polycentric , having been formed by the federation of six towns in 1910 . It took its name from Stoke-upon-Trent where the main centre of government and the principal railway station in the district were located . Hanley is the primary commercial centre . The other four towns are Burslem , Tunstall , Longton , and Fenton . Stoke-on-Trent is the home of the pottery industry in England and is commonly known as the Potteries , with the local residents known as Potters . Formerly a primarily industrial conurbation , it is now a centre for service industries and distribution centres .
Trewhiddle style is a distinctive style in Anglo-Saxon art that takes its name from the Trewhiddle Hoard , discovered in Trewhiddle , Cornwall in 1770 . The most outstanding metalwork produced in ninth century England was decorated in the animated , complex style . Trewhiddle ornamentation includes the use of silver , niello inlay , and zoomorphic , plant and geometric designs , often interlaced and intricately carved into small panels . Famous examples are : the Pentney Hoard , the Abindgdon sword , the Fuller Brooch , and the Strickland Brooch .
Trewhiddle is a small settlement in south Cornwall , England , United Kingdom . It lies in the civil parish of Pentewan Valley and the ecclesiastical parish of St Austell . The nearest town is St Austell , approximately one mile to the north . The Trewhiddle Hoard ( see below ) has given its name to a Trewhiddle style of decoration in Anglo-Saxon art of the 9th century .
Cornwall ( /ˈkɔːrnwɔːl , -wəl/ ; Cornish : Kernow [ ˈkɛrnɔʊ ] ) is a ceremonial county in South West England , bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea , to the south by the English Channel , and to the east by Devon , the River Tamar forming the border between them . Cornwall is the westernmost part of the South West Peninsula of the island of Great Britain . The southwesternmost point is Land 's End and the southernmost Lizard Point . Cornwall has a population of 568,210 and an area of 3,563 km2 ( 1,376 sq mi ) . The county has been administered since 2009 by the unitary authority , Cornwall Council . The ceremonial county of Cornwall also includes the Isles of Scilly , which are administered separately . The administrative centre of Cornwall is Truro , its only city . Cornwall is the homeland of the Cornish people and the cultural and ethnic origin of the Cornish diaspora . It retains a distinct cultural identity that reflects its history , and is recognised as one of the Celtic nations . It was formerly a Brythonic kingdom and subsequently a royal duchy . The Cornish nationalist movement contests the present constitutional status of Cornwall and seeks greater autonomy within the United Kingdom in the form of a devolved legislative Cornish Assembly with powers similar to those in Wales and Scotland . In 2014 , Cornish people were granted minority status under the European Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities , giving them recognition as a distinct ethnic group .
A scourge is a whip or lash , especially a multi-thong type , used to inflict severe corporal punishment or self-mortification . It is usually made of leather .
A chalice ( from Latin calix , mug , borrowed from Greek κύλιξ ( kulix ) , cup ) or goblet is a footed cup intended to hold a drink . In religious practice , a chalice is often used for drinking during a ceremony or may carry a certain symbolic meaning .
Celtic art is associated with the peoples known as Celts ; those who spoke the Celtic languages in Europe from pre-history through to the modern period , as well as the art of ancient peoples whose language is uncertain , but have cultural and stylistic similarities with speakers of Celtic languages . Celtic art is a difficult term to define , covering a huge expanse of time , geography and cultures . A case has been made for artistic continuity in Europe from the Bronze Age , and indeed the preceding Neolithic age ; however archaeologists generally use Celtic to refer to the culture of the European Iron Age from around 1000 BC onwards , until the conquest by the Roman Empire of most of the territory concerned , and art historians typically begin to talk about Celtic art only from the La Tène period ( broadly 5th to 1st centuries BC ) onwards . Early Celtic art is another term used for this period , stretching in Britain to about 150 AD . The Early Medieval art of Britain and Ireland , which produced the Book of Kells and other masterpieces , and is what Celtic art evokes for much of the general public in the English-speaking world , is called Insular art in art history . This is the best-known part , but not the whole of , the Celtic art of the Early Middle Ages , which also includes the Pictish art of Scotland . Both styles absorbed considerable influences from non-Celtic sources , but retained a preference for geometrical decoration over figurative subjects , which are often extremely stylised when they do appear ; narrative scenes only appear under outside influence . Energetic circular forms , triskeles and spirals are characteristic . Much of the surviving material is in precious metal , which no doubt gives a very unrepresentative picture , but apart from Pictish stones and the Insular high crosses , large monumental sculpture , even with decorative carving , is very rare . Possibly the few standing male figures found , like the Warrior of Hirschlanden and the so-called Lord of Glauberg , were originally common in wood . Also covered by the term is the visual art of the Celtic Revival ( on the whole more notable for literature ) from the 18th century to the modern era , which began as a conscious effort by Modern Celts , mostly in the British Isles , to express self-identification and nationalism , and became popular well beyond the Celtic nations , and whose style is still current in various popular forms , from Celtic cross funerary monuments to interlace tattoos . Coinciding with the beginnings of a coherent archaeological understanding of the earlier periods , the style self-consciously used motifs closely copied from works of the earlier periods , more often the Insular than the Iron Age .
The Celtic brooch , more properly called the penannular brooch , and its closely related type , the pseudo-penannular brooch , are types of brooch clothes fasteners , often rather large ; penannular means formed as an incomplete ring . They are especially associated with the beginning of the Early Medieval period in the British Isles , although they are found in other times and places - for example , forming part of traditional female dress in areas in modern North Africa . Beginning as utilitarian fasteners in the Iron Age and Roman period , they are especially associated with the highly ornate brooches produced in precious metal for the elites of Ireland and Scotland from about 700 to 900 , which are popularly known as Celtic brooches or similar terms . They are the most significant objects in high-quality secular metalwork from Early Medieval Celtic art , or Insular art , as art historians prefer to call it . The type continued in simpler forms such as the thistle brooch into the 11th century , during what is often known as the Viking Age in Ireland and Scotland . Both penannular and pseudo-penannular brooches feature a long pin attached by its head to a ring ; the pin can move freely around the ring as far as the terminals , which are close together . In the true penannular type , the ring is not closed ; there is a gap between the terminals wide enough for the pin to pass through . In the pseudo-penannular type , the ring is closed , but there are still two separately defined terminals , which are joined by a further element . The penannular type is a simple and efficient way of fastening loosely woven cloth ( where the pin will not leave a permanent hole ) , but the pseudo-penannular type is notably less efficient . The brooches were worn by both men and women , usually singly at the shoulder by men and on the breast by women , and with the pin pointing up ; an Irish law code says that in the event of injury from a pin to another person , the wearer is not at fault if the pin did not project too far and the brooch was worn in these ways by the sexes . The most elaborate examples were clearly significant expressions of status at the top of society , which were also worn by clergy , at least in Ireland , though probably to fasten copes and other vestments rather than as everyday wear . The Senchas Mhor , an early Irish law tract , specified that the sons of major kings , when being fostered , should have brooches of gold having crystal inserted in them , while the sons of minor kings need wear only silver brooches .
The Watlington Hoard is a collection of Viking silver , buried in the 870s and rediscovered in Watlington , Oxfordshire , England in 2015 .
Watlington is a market town and civil parish about 7 miles ( 11 km ) south of Thame in Oxfordshire , near the county 's eastern edge and less than 2 miles ( 3 km ) from its border with Buckinghamshire . The parish includes the hamlets of Christmas Common , Greenfield and Howe Hill , all of which are in the Chiltern Hills . The 2011 Census recorded the parish 's population as 2,727 .
Oxfordshire ( abbreviated Oxon , from Oxonium , the Latin name for Oxford ) is a county in South East England . The ceremonial county borders Warwickshire to the north-west , Northamptonshire to the north-east , Buckinghamshire to the east , Berkshire to the south , Wiltshire to the south-west and Gloucestershire to the west . The county has major education and tourist industries and is noted for the concentration of performance motorsport companies and facilities . Oxford University Press is the largest firm among a concentration of print and publishing firms ; the University of Oxford is also linked to the concentration of local biotechnology companies . As well as the city of Oxford , other centres of population are Banbury , Bicester , Kidlington and Chipping Norton to the north of Oxford ; Carterton and Witney to the west ; Thame and Chinnor to the east ; and Abingdon-on-Thames , Wantage , Didcot , Wallingford and Henley-on-Thames to the south . The areas south of the Thames , the Vale of White Horse and parts of South Oxfordshire , are in the historic county of Berkshire , as is the highest point , the 261 metres ( 856 ft ) White Horse Hill . Oxfordshire 's county flower is the snake's-head fritillary .
Alfred the Great ( Old English : Ælfrēd , [ b ] Ælfrǣd , [ c ] 'Elf-counsel ' or 'Wise-elf ' ; between 847 and 849 - 26 October 899 ) was King of Wessex from 871 to c. 886 and King of the Anglo-Saxons from c. 886 to 899 . He was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf of Wessex . His father died when he was young and three of Alfred 's brothers , Æthelbald , Æthelberht and Æthelred , reigned in turn . After acceding to the throne , Alfred spent several years fighting Viking invasions . He won a decisive victory in the Battle of Edington in 878 and made an agreement with the Vikings , creating what was known as the Danelaw in the North of England . Alfred also oversaw the conversion of Viking leader Guthrum to Christianity . He defended his kingdom against the Viking attempt at conquest , becoming the dominant ruler in England . Details of his life are described in a work by 9th-century Welsh scholar and bishop Asser . Alfred had a reputation as a learned and merciful man of a gracious and level-headed nature who encouraged education , proposing that primary education be conducted in Anglo-Saxon rather than Latin and improving the legal system and military structure and his people 's quality of life . He was given the epithet the Great during and after the Reformation in the sixteenth century , and , alongside the Danish Cnut the Great , remains the only king of England to be given such a name .
Ceolwulf II ( died c. 879 ) was the last king of independent Mercia . He succeeded Burgred of Mercia who was deposed by the Vikings in 874 . His reign is generally dated 874 to 879 based on a Mercian regnal list which gives him a reign of five years . However , D. P. Kirby argues that he probably reigned into the early 880s . By 883 , he had been replaced by Æthelred , Lord of the Mercians , who became ruler of Mercia with the support of Alfred the Great , king of Wessex .
Leeds is the largest city in the county of West Yorkshire in Northern England , approximately 170 miles north of central London . Leeds has one of the most diverse economies of all the UK 's main employment centres and has seen the fastest rate of private-sector jobs growth of any UK city . It also has the highest ratio of private to public sector jobs of all the UK 's Core Cities , with 77% of its workforce working in the private sector . Leeds has the third-largest jobs total by local authority area , with 480,000 in employment and self-employment at the beginning of 2015 . Leeds is ranked as a High Sufficiency level city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network . Leeds is the cultural , financial and commercial heart of the West Yorkshire Urban Area . Leeds is served by five universities , and has the fourth largest student population in the country and the country 's fourth largest urban economy . Leeds was a small manorial borough in the 13th century , and in the 17th and 18th centuries it became a major centre for the production and trading of wool , and in the Industrial Revolution a major mill town ; wool was still the dominant industry , but flax , engineering , iron foundries , printing , and other industries were also important . From being a market town in the valley of the River Aire in the 16th century , Leeds expanded and absorbed the surrounding villages to become a populous urban centre by the mid-20th century . It now lies within the West Yorkshire Urban Area , the United Kingdom 's fourth-most populous urban area , with a population of 2.6 million . Today , Leeds has become the largest legal and financial centre outside London with the financial and insurance services industry worth £13 billion to the city 's economy . The finance and business service sector account for 38% of total output with more than 30 national and international banks located in the city , including an office of the Bank of England .
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county in England . It is an inland and , in relative terms , upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines . West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972 and has a population of 2.2 million . West Yorkshire consists of five metropolitan boroughs ( City of Bradford , Calderdale , Kirklees , City of Leeds and City of Wakefield ) and is bordered by the counties of Derbyshire to the south , Greater Manchester to the south-west , Lancashire to the north-west , North Yorkshire to the north and east , and South Yorkshire to the south and south-east . Remnants of strong coal , wool and iron ore industries remain in the county , having attracted people over the centuries , and this can be seen in the buildings and architecture . Major railways and two major motorways traverse the county , which also contains Leeds Bradford International Airport . West Yorkshire County Council was abolished in 1986 , so its five districts became effectively unitary authorities . However , the metropolitan county , which covers an area of 2,029 square kilometres ( 783 sq mi ) , continues to exist in law , and as a geographic frame of reference . Since 1 April 2014 West Yorkshire has been a combined authority area , with the local authorities pooling together some functions over transport and regeneration as the West Yorkshire Combined Authority . West Yorkshire includes the West Yorkshire Urban Area , which is the biggest and most built-up urban area within the historic county boundaries of Yorkshire .
A cabochon ( /ˈkæbəˌʃɒn/ , from Middle French caboche head ) is a gemstone which has been shaped and polished as opposed to faceted . The resulting form is usually a convex ( rounded ) obverse with a flat reverse . Cabochon was the default method of preparing gemstones before gemstone cutting was developed .
Filigree ( also less commonly spelled filagree , and formerly written filigrann or filigrene ) [ citation needed ] is a form of intricate metalwork . It may span from delicate jewellery to cast iron railings and balustrades . In jewellery , it is usually of gold and silver , made with tiny beads or twisted threads , or both in combination , soldered together or to the surface of an object of the same metal and arranged in artistic motifs . It often suggests lace and remains popular in Indian and other Asian metalwork . It was popular as well in Italian , French and Portuguese metalwork from 1660 to the late 19th century . It should not be confused with ajoure jewellery work , the ajoure technique consisting of drilling holes in objects made of sheet metal . The English word filigree is shortened from the earlier use of filigreen which derives from Latin filum meaning thread and granum grain , in the sense of small bead . The Latin words gave filigrana in Italian which itself became filigrane in 17th-century French .
Niello is a black mixture , usually of sulphur , copper , silver , and lead , used as an inlay on engraved or etched metal , especially silver . It is added as a powder or paste , then fired until it melts or at least softens , and flows or is pushed into the engraved lines in the metal . It hardens and blackens when cool , and the niello on the flat surface is polished off to show the filled lines in black , contrasting with the polished metal ( usually silver ) around it . It may also be used with other metalworking techniques to cover larger areas , as seen in the sky in the diptych illustrated here . The metal where niello is to be placed is often roughened to provide a key . In many cases , especially in objects that have been buried underground , where the niello is now lost , the roughened surface indicates that it was once there . Niello was used on a variety of objects including sword hilts , chalices , plates , horns , adornment for horses , jewellery such as bracelets , rings , pendants , and small fittings such as strap-ends , purse-bars , buttons , belt buckles and the like . It was also used to fill in the letters in inscriptions engraved on metal . Periods when engraving filled in with niello has been used to make full images with figures have been relatively few , but include some significant achievements . In ornament , it came to have competition from enamel , with far wider colour possibilities , which eventually displaced it in most of Europe . The name derives from the Latin nigellum for the substance , or nigello or neelo , the medieval Latin for black . Though historically most common in Europe , it is also known from many parts of Asia and the Near East .