The Herefordshire Hoard was discovered in 2015 by two metal detectorists. The hoard was made up of a number of gold artefacts and a quantity of silver coins, (as many as 300). The detectorists failed to get the landowners permission to detect on the land and only reported a small proportion of what was found to the authorities.

This talk describes the investigation of what turned out to be a multi-million pound crime over the course of seven years. It deals with the archaeological investigations of the area from which the hoard was believed to have been found, the police investigations, historic information about the hoard from the British Museum and how Historic England, West Mercia Constabulary, Portable Antiquities Scheme, Herefordshire Councils Museum service and Herefordshire Councils Archaeology Service together with other stakeholders successfully prosecuted the detectorists and others who came into contact with the treasure and ensured that the recovered material was returned to Herefordshire.

The hoard was buried in 878 AD probably by the Viking Army and it swept through Herefordshire on its way to Repton in Derbyshire. It tells us about a point in time when King Alfred was unifying all of the kingdoms in order to form one single entity … England.

You might think that finding a hoard of gold and silver would be any metal detectorists dream come true, however, decisions were made by the finders that rapidly turned that dream into a very long nightmare!

This fascinating crime story is not so much a “who dunnit?” but a “why did they do it?”