Skip to main content Accessibility statement

We use cookies on this site to enhance your user experience.

By clicking the Accept button, you agree to us doing so. More info on our cookie policy.

Histories of Northamptonshire
View in timeline

Bronze Age Hoard

Bronze Age 3300 - 1200 BCE Geologic to Prehistoric

A collection of Bronze Age damaged or worn bronze objects including axe heads, sword framents and other bronze pieces found together buried in a hoard.

Bronze Age hoard © NMAG
Bronze Age hoard
Number of additional bronze metal fragments included blade fragments © Creative Commons Non Commercial Licence
Number of additional bronze metal fragments included blade fragments
Selection of socketed axe heads © Creative Commons Non Commercial License
Selection of socketed axe heads

This Bronze Age hoard of 56 socketed axe heads, fragments of sword, spearheads and other bronze metalwork were discovered by a metal detectorist in 2004 within the north-eastern confines of a Neolithic causewayed enclosure in an undisclosed location in the county.

During the Bronze Age flint was not immediately replaced by metal working although bronze allowed for a superior range of tools and weapons. It is likely that collections (hoards) of valuable or important metal objects were therefore buried in the ground or deposited in a safe place. Such hoards can vary in size and content, from a handful of coins to a cache of tools.

This hoard is interesting as many of the tools show signs of heavy wear and damage, so they could be a collection of scrap metal. It is likely that they were collected with other surplus bronze to form a metal resource for recycling. The diverse collection of tools, weapons, metalworking debris and ingots of raw material suggest that this is a metalworker’s hoard, intended to be recovered at a later time.

Number 15 of the objects selected for the A History of Northamptonshire in 100 Objects Exhibition 2025

2nd Image: CC Licence The British Museum

3rd Image: CC Licence The British Museum

Northamptonshire
Contributed by NMAG

Explore related content (external site)

See our disclaimer

Previous object
Next object

Related objects

  • Iron Age quern stones - top and bottom stones from Hunsbury Hillfort © NMAG
    Geologic to Prehistoric

    Iron Age Rotary Quern

    Rotary quern made from millstone grit used to grind cereals into flour. More than 100 were found at the Iron Age hillfort at Hunsbury Hill.

  • Neolithic flint axe found in Higham Ferrers, Northamptonshire © NMAG
    Geologic to Prehistoric

    Thorpe (Neolithic) Axe

    The Thorpe axe, named after the finder of the Axe in the inter-war years, is a large neolithic flint axe found in Higham Ferrers.

  • Iron Age socketed axe made from cast iron © NMAG
    Geologic to Prehistoric

    Iron Age Axe Head

    A socketed axe made by casting iron in a mould. It probably reflects the transition from bronze to iron metalworking in the early Iron Age.

  • Mesolithic flint blade or microlith © NMAG
    Geologic to Prehistoric

    Mesolithic Flint Microlith

    Flint microlith - small stone tool made and used by nomadic hunters gatherers living in the Nene Valley during the Middle Stone Age.