‘David and Goliath’ Battle Launched to Save Viking Hoard for Galloway

A PETITION has been launched calling on Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop to help ensure the Galloway Viking Hoard has its home in the new Kirkcudbright Art Galley.

The Galloway Viking Hoard (GVH) Campaign is also contacting all the region’s MSPs, MPs and councilors to ask for their backing.

They are concerned that National Museums Scotland has bid for sole ownership and are understood to have offered no guarantees about when, or how much of the collection would ever be seen in Dumfries and Galloway.

Dumfries and Galloway Council has bid to have the hoard in Kirkcudbright, near where it was found.

Started on Sunday the online Save the Viking Hoard for Galloway petition at http://bit.ly/2lXFfrH had already gathered over 600 signatures by Wednesday (01/03/17) morning.

At the same time the hoard is attracting yet more international attention – being featured in the March edition of National Geographic magazine in which a leading archaeologist describes it as “an incredible find”.

Cathy Agnew, GVH Chair, said: “We have been overwhelmed by the strength of feeling there is to make sure the hoard has its home in Dumfries and Galloway. As well as people signing the petition we have had many emails and letters of support.

“It’s a David and Goliath battle so we need all the backing we can get.

“But it’s already clear that a lot of people think it would be very inappropriate if, during Scotland’s designated Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology, such a wonderful find should go to Edinburgh rather than the region where it was buried for safekeeping 1,000 years ago.

“The Scottish Government has promised to do more to develop tourism in Southern Scotland and our the national museums strategy talks about the importance of working together. Bringing the hoard to Kirkcudbright Art Gallery would be a brilliant way to deliver on these pledges.”

GVH is urging as many people as possible to sign the petition HERE and to send letters of support to Dumfries and Galloway Council, which is bidding to have the hoard in a specially created exhibition space in Kirkcudbright.

The council’s Communities Committee meets on 7 March to decide how to take its bid forward.

But the crunch may come on 23 March when the Scottish Archaeological Finds Allocation Panel (SAFAP) is due to meet and decide on the future of the Galloway Viking Hoard.

GVH has emphasised that if the hoard comes to Kirkcudbright it would be very supportive of agreements for it to be displayed in other places, including Edinburgh and far beyond.

The hoard was discovered at an undisclosed location in Galloway by a metal detectorist in 2014 and had been deliberately buried over 1,000 years ago.

It includes more than 100 gold and silver objects, some already old when they were hidden. Among them are a unique gold bird-shaped pin, an enamelled Christian cross, decorated Anglo-Saxon brooches, armbands and an engraved Carolingian silver vessel. The items come from across Europe – there are even fragments of Byzantine silk.