[Curated by David Harris for the C&DHI ‘Legends & Folklore’ Exhibition held on 16 April at The Lodge in Blackhill & Consett Park.]
One of the country’s most important collections of Anglo-Saxon artefacts was found near Hurbuck, between Consett and Lanchester. It was discovered in 1870 by Mr David Balleny, a farmer who lived at Little Greencroft Farm, whilst he was fishing in the Smallhope Burn.
Hidden under the bank of the burn was a collection of implements including swords and a selection of what appear to be agricultural or carpentry tools. Most of the artifacts are now held in the British Museum.
[Photo from the Victoria History of Durham]
Iron adze-head with long narrow T-shaped blade
An adze is a woodworking tool similar to an axe but with the cutting edge positioned perpendicular to the handle, used for smoothing, shaping, and carving wood.
Iron ring, oval, with loop, possibly from horse-bit – Diameter: 8.80 centimetres
The items in the Hurbuck Hoard were produced in the 9th century or early 10th century.
Iron scythe blade with tang
The scythe would have been used for cutting grass or grain. It would have been fitted with a wooden handle.
[Images © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.]
The Canon Greenwell Connection
William Greenwell was born in 1820 at Greenwell Ford, just south of Lanchester. A canon and librarian of Durham Cathedral, he was an antiquarian, noted for excavations of ancient barrows and cairns across Britain. He died in 1918 and is buried in Lanchester churchyard.
Greenwell acquired some items from the Hurbuck Hoard from E.W.E. Balleny and the British Museum purchased the items from him in 1912.
He was a keen angler who learned to fish in the River Browney and is remembered as the inventor of the famous Greenwell’s Glory fishing fly.
References
The Victoria History of Durham
