Viking-age treasure hoard comes home to Galloway

A Viking-age treasure hoard unearthed in a field in south west Scotland seven years ago has come home to Galloway.

The collection - described as one of the most important UK archaeological finds of the century - is on display at Kirkcudbright Galleries.

The items were found by metal detectorist Derek McLennan in 2014.

Their permanent home is at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh but they will be in Dumfries and Galloway until July next year.

It will then go to Aberdeen Art Gallery from 30 July to 23 October 2022.

"It is a great occasion, the Galloway hoard is finally out in Kirkcudbright where people can see it," said Dr Adrian Maldonado of National Museums Scotland (NMS).

"It is on a long-term exhibition here - nine months - even longer than it was on display in Edinburgh.

"It's a fantastic opportunity for people who haven't seen it yet to see these objects cleaned up and conserved for the first time."

He said it was hard to overstate the significance of the collection.

"There are objects which are completely unique to this hoard," he said.

"In terms of quantity, there is more silver in this hoard than any other hoard in Scotland.

"There is more gold in this hoard than in any hoard in Britain or Ireland and there are objects that only exist within this hoard that we have never seen before."

A battle over the best location for the hoard to be housed followed its discovery seven years ago.

Dumfries and Galloway Council had hoped to secure Scotland's most significant treasure trove find in over a century for the new gallery in Kirkcudbright.

It argued that would be closer to where it was unearthed than if it went to the capital.

However, NMS said its Edinburgh base was "best-placed" to restore and conserve the collection of more than 100 artefacts.

The dispute was finally decided by the Queen's and Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer (QLTR) - which deals with treasure trove in Scotland - and allocated to Edinburgh.

NMS gave a commitment at the time to bring the collection to Kirkcudbright in future.

It has now hit the road to come back to Dumfries and Galloway where it lay buried for hundreds of years.

John Martin, the vice chairman of the local authority's communities committee, said that while Edinburgh was its permanent home there would always be some elements in the region.

"There will always be part of the Galloway hoard in the galleries," he said.

"It is not as if after nine months when it moves away from here we will never see it again.

"I know there was a bit of disappointment at the time but when you see it, it is a national treasure and I suppose that Edinburgh is the place to show it."

For the time being, though, it is back in Galloway until the summer.