This very reasonably priced (but flimsily bound) book provides an excellent account of the finding, contents and both the historical and the archaeological background of the hoard of Hiberno-Scandinavian arm rings which were metal-detected in a field on the outskirts of Huxley, some six miles south east of Chester, in November 2004. Such a find is nowadays rather unremarkable, as the numbers of Viking silver hoards found throughout northern England in recent years – and referred to throughout this book – indicates; but what is remarkable is the speed with which a full analysis of the material and the inter-disciplinary approach to its significance is presented in an accessible publication of this kind. Many will remember the conference and exhibition organized in 1990 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the discovery of the Cuerdale hoard in Lancashire with the ensuing publication, A Silver Saga (Philpott 1990), which set new standards for a holistic approach to the analysis of the remarkable collection of silver in many shapes and forms which a Viking hoard produces. The Huxley hoard publication has come from the same museums organization in Liverpool, and has the same editor, Professor Graham-Campbell, in conjunction with Robert Philpott, Head of Archaeology at Liverpool Museums, and there are nearly a dozen contributors.

The Huxley hoard is, however, very different from the Cuerdale hoard, consisting of only twenty arm rings of Hiberno-Scandinavian type, with one additional bit of decorated rod and a complete ingot (as well as fragments of lead which had probably been the container for the hoard). To some extent this makes it a more simple collection to analyse, although the reason for its deposition is still wrapped in obscurity, as is also the purpose for the folding and flattening of the arm rings. However, the discussion of the historical and archaeological background, as well as the overview of Viking hoards of the northern Danelaw (by five contributors), provide the reader with a full understanding of the political, social and economic circumstances in the Irish Sea zone, out of which a hoard of this kind (of Irish manufacture) had come to be hidden in the ground near Chester in the early tenth century.

These stamped, decorated Hiberno-Scandinavian arm rings are of a very particular kind, which raises many intriguing questions. Why were they stamped with all these wonderful patterns and from where did the inspiration for these designs come? John Sheehan explains that this stamped decoration originated in Denmark, and the connections with Ireland seem to point to the southern Scandinavian and Baltic regions as an important source of silver for Irish workshops (p 60). Indeed, this hoard may represent the production of a single workshop which, if so, would give it a very special significance (p 69). Here we can see the importance of another example of how the Viking impact on Britain and Ireland forces the researcher to range widely in tracing origins and contacts. This merely reflects the Vikings’ own broad-ranging activities, which discoveries of this kind bring so dramatically before us.

Philpott, F A 1990. A Silver Saga: Viking treasure from the north west, Liverpool: National Museums & Galleries on Merseyside