English: a silver Thor's hammer pendant from the Longtown area, Cumbria

Surface metal analysis conducted at the British Museum indicated a silver content of approximately 96%, the rest being copper with small amounts of lead and gold. The pendant weighs 12.17 grams.

The pendant is cast in the form of a plain, flat, double-headed hammer with a concave-sided central projection on top and a long, slightly concave-sided shaft of rectangular section; height, 47 mm; width, 21 mm. The end of the shaft is broken across a hole for suspension and the surface abrasions are both original and a typical feature of Viking-period silver objects

The object belongs to a series of Viking-period amuletic pendants thought to represent Mjollnir, the hammer of the mighty Norse god Thor. They are found widely distributed in areas of Viking settlement from England (in the Danelaw and the northwest), Iceland and Normandy to Scandinavia and Russia, in male and female graves, hoards and settlement sites. At least fifty silver examples are known.

About a dozen English examples are known, mostly of silver and some of which may have been made in the Danelaw, including three from Leconfield, East Yorkshire, Essex, and Wetwang, East Yorkshire, reported as potential Treasure in 1998 and 2002 (L. Webster, 2000, "Leconfield (1), East Yorkshire: Viking-period silver Thor's hammer", Treasure Annual Report 1998-1999, Department for Culture, Media and Sport, p. 52, no. 88; 2002/T.168 and 2002/T.266). One from Great Witchingham, Norfolk, has a gold insert (Treasure Annual Report 2003, no. 98) and is illustrated together with other hammer pendants from Norfolk, at least two of which have perforated and broken ends, by R. Hall (2007, Exploring the World of the Vikings, London, p. 107; in lit., J. Graham-Campbell). The English ones are mostly plain, or only simply decorated, e.g. the silver example from the Cuerdale hoard, Lancs. of the late 9th/beginning of the 10th century, which has a long shaft like the Longtown find, although it ends in a loop rather than a hole for suspension (E. Hawkins, 1847, "An account of coins and treasure found in Cuerdale", Archaeological Journal, 4, pp. 111-30, fig. 85).

On the basis of the above parallels the Thor's hammer pendant from the Longtown area can be dated to the late 9th or 10th century. It would therefore qualify as Treasure under two of the stipulated criteria of the Treasure Act: it is more than 300 years old and the precious metal content exceeds 10%.