Watlington hoard of Viking silver casts light on Alfred the Great era

Coins and other items buried in the late 870s and found by hobby metal detectorist in farmer's field in Oxfordshire may be worth a small fortune

A hoard of Viking silver that casts new light on Alfred the Great and the one-time ally he virtually obliterated from history has been found by a metal detectorist in a field in Oxfordshire.

The hoard, described when it arrived at the British Museum as "a greasy haggis with bits of treasure sticking out at the corners", was buried in the late 870s, the period in which the hit television series Last Kingdom is set. It may have been the hastily concealed wealth of a Viking conscious of imminent regime change after the defeat of the invaders by Alfred the Great at the battle of Edington in 878.