When The Viking-Age Gold and Silver of Scotland (AD 850–1100) was published in 1995, the catalogue detailed the contents of thirty-four hoards containing coins and/or ornaments and bullion (in the form of ingots and hack-silver) which could be linked to Viking activity and Norse settlement in Scotland during the 9th to 11th centuries, together with all of the known single finds. A subsequent paper (Graham-Campbell 2008) brought to attention more recent discoveries and some further (lost) antiquarian material (summarised below). In this update, it was pointed out (ibid.: 194) that the total of thirty-four hoards was in no way definitive, given the likelihood of some duplication, with [7] being recommended for deletion, as subsequently [16] and now also [21], but with the addition of a (lost) coin hoard reportedly discovered in St Kilda in the 18th century [2a], and since then a small gold hoard from Jura, found in 1869 [25a], and the Galloway (2014) Hoard [35]. Finally, renewed consideration is given to the inclusion of two further hoards, both from south-west Scotland [6a] and [30a], originally rejected as probably ‘non-Viking’. Their addition to the overall total means that the revised corpus currently consists of thirtysix hoards. For a recent survey of the use of silver in Scotland 75–1000 ad, see Blackwell, Goldberg and Hunter, Scotland’s Early Silver (2017), and for Scandinavian Scotland, see Horne (2021).

Hoards: Addenda and corrigenda

[1] Port Glasgow (near), Renfrewshire (1699)

Hugh Pagan (2014) has recovered important information pertaining to this mixed hoard, augmenting our knowledge of both its provenance and contents, from letters written by (or addressed to) the Rev. Robert Wodrow (1679–1734), who at the time of its discovery was the newly appointed Librarian of the University of Glasgow. Pagan confirms that ‘a date of deposit of c. 970’ is ‘appropriate’ (ibid.: 419) and concludes that: … it can now be seen that the hoard was found ‘within a mile of Port Glasgow’ and on a ‘brae’ [‘by the falling doun of some earth’], i.e.