ONE day, around 1000 years ago, a canny fellow in Galloway snuck out and buried a stash of gold and silver ornaments. In September 2014, Derek McLennan, a metal detectorist from Ayrshire, discovered the trove, which excited historians and started an epic wrangle about where the “extraordinary” objects were to be displayed.
In the end, the Queen’s and Lord Treasurer’s Remembrancer, not to be confused with the Queen’s and Lord Treasurer’s Forgettencer, awarded custody to National Museums Scotland (NMS), in Edinburgh.
This caused much wailing of gnashers in Dumfries and Galloway, where campaigners and the local council had wanted the trove to be displayed in Kirkcudbright.
Councillor Jane Maitland said the area had been treated “shabbily” and that the decision amounted to a “theft” of the region’s archaeological treasures.
However, NMS said it was best placed to conserve the artefacts because it had the resources, expertise and facilities. NMS director Gordon Rintoul added that Dumfries and Galloway’s museum service had been cut significantly, and that it had no conservation laboratory, conservators or curators with expertise in the period.
Ouchy. That said, NMS is keen for Kirkcudbright to have a “representative selection” of the hoard for long-term display. There have also been suggestions that the whole trove might go to Kirkcudbright for a limited time.
In the meantime, a selection of artefacts will go display this week at the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh. It’s hoped that donations here (entry is free) will help raise the £1.98m needed to pay the finder.
Mr McLennan had been investigating the area for a year and, when he made his first find, was accompanied by two churchmen, also metal detecting enthusiasts.
For good reasons, the site – Church of Scotland pastureland – has never been specified, and a farmer put his biggest bull in the field to act as security. The Kirk has said it will spend its share of the proceeds, as landowner, “for the good of the local parish”.
The bull deserves a pat on the heid, too, even if with a glove tied to a long pole.
The Galloway Hoard can be seen at the National Museum of Scotland (Grand Gallery, Level 1), Edinburgh, from Friday, June 16, to Sunday, October 1.
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