Havering Hoard: A Bronze Age Mystery

The largest ever Bronze Age hoard to be discovered in London has been unearthed in Havering. This significant find is the focal point of our major new exhibition, Havering Hoard: A Bronze Age Mystery.

Weapons including axe heads, spearheads, fragments of swords, daggers and knives, alongside some other unusual objects rarely found in the UK, make up a total of 453 bronze objects dating between c.900 and c.800 BC that will be on display as part of the exhibition.

This intriguing discovery raises numerous questions about not just the objects themselves but about the people who buried them. Could this treasure have been a religious offering? Were they hoping to recycle the metal or control access to the material? Was it a rejection of bronze tools as iron technology emerged?

Now it's your chance to share in the mystery of the hoard and discover what life was like during the Bronze Age, when the land where London now exists was a very different place.

With thanks to Historic England, Archaeological Solutions Ltd and Havering Museum for their support.

Havering Hoard: A Bronze Age Mystery is a free exhibition but requires a free timed entry ticket to the museum to be booked in advance.

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Havering Hoard

A selection of the 453 Bronze Age weapons uncovered during a planned archaeological investigation.

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Bronze Age axe head

A closer look at one of the Bronze Age axe heads discovered as part of the hoard.

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Terret ring

A rare Terret ring on display in the exhibition

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Spearhead

A spearhead excavated as part of the Havering Hoard

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Axe head

An axe head being installed in the exhibition by Assistant Curator Natasha Fenner

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Bronze Age objects including an axe head

Curator Kate Sumnall installs objects in the exhibition

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Excavation of the Havering Hoard

(c) Archaeological Solutions Ltd

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One of the hoards discovered in Havering

(c) Archaeological Solutions Ltd