The Penrith Hoard is a dispersed hoard of 10th century silver penannular brooches found at Flusco Pike, Newbiggin Moor, near Penrith in Cumbria, and now in the British Museum in London. The largest "thistle brooch" was discovered in 1785 and another in 1830, with the bulk of items being recovered in two groups close to each other by archaeologists in 1989. Whether all the finds made close to each other were originally deposited at the same time remains uncertain, but it is thought likely that at least the brooches were. The brooches are thought to have been deposited in about 930.
Brooches found in 1830 (largest) and 1989
The "brambled" terminal of the largest brooch in the main picture.
Penannular brooch with "gripping beasts" connecting the ring to the terminals, and a runic futhark scratched on the reverse of the hoop.
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 Ireland and Britain, although they are found in other times and places—for example, forming part of traditional female dress in areas in modern North Africa.
The pseudo-penannular Tara Brooch, the most ornate of all, also decorated on the back (see below). Irish, early 8th century.
Viking period brooch in silver from the Penrith Hoard
The Rogart Brooch, National Museums of Scotland, FC2. Pictish penannular brooch, 8th century. Silver with gilding and glass. Classified as Fowler H3 type.
Bronze zoomorphic penannular brooch, Co. Antrim, 6th century AD. The Hunt Museum (Limerick, Ireland).