The Viking World: A History in ObjectsMain MenuGallery viewA galleryTag Cloudtag cloud pageThemesA path of thematic categoriesAuthor IndexExplore the collection by authorWorks CitedReferencesAdam Bigelow3afa9c7ecebf516bba6609664b1b12f79c54bf77Caitlin Donahue61b7e986e7c71d400e5c803912ed83c0cf65252fCaroline Harvey1783f21a5882b5b4d3d0b6c174d058052a5ff7eaEdward Hershewee701ef220480b51ca728fc9c719bc094cf813655Martin Hoffmana1fd203afd9a84ee8db567e188cf6ed1d269386eTyler Hruby23493f763b312110686cfafc62578fd0ab5f3833Brittany N. Johnsonc1c1763339f8fa953e3c907c6bb8a3bad0c28b2cCarlos Lua Pineda0a28cc23b0aa00b4f24a9e205aeb57fbdb07ff01Moira McConnell710633400590ea38533ea3412c01fc5056288180Clara McCurdy9aec76477d0b55f9c685c47330d6786ec98182e1Elise McIlhaneyef48481634ff342c8b43c9d56f678b2d3562fb69Cameron Meikle669a5682bfbfd603130a26e25628f24eb07e6295Alexander Christopher Newkirk019c2f5b38c043507251d1789e2fdf47e61c3b7fBenja Reilly816c23aa0d444213fb2d1ef33555a15617e08228Oliver Statenc625ae8c3926f5e1a4268bc91d6a6f4cdb1e7fb6Liam Sullivanaa3a1dccb90c7fe4646b61c4af594abbb0c5574aRead Wilder31bf4715220144a665996f2e6cae80a1a8611eadAliza Yazdanicd49f227d88c72331226ddf574bf56c37308cd10Austin Masonf6137011c68eb792c6e14634815583b15e707dea
Iron Hand-Bell
12017-05-20T18:24:17-07:00Oliver Statenc625ae8c3926f5e1a4268bc91d6a6f4cdb1e7fb6164562A small iron-plated hand bellplain2017-05-20T18:27:26-07:00Daubney, Adam. Bell. Still Image, 2013. LIN-4B30F1. Portable Antiquities Scheme. https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/600069.600-900LIN-4B30F1CC BY53.2496431564, 0.0302403181987IronArchiveLincolnshire, England20140210105428+000020140210105428Early MedievalOliver Statenc625ae8c3926f5e1a4268bc91d6a6f4cdb1e7fb6
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12017-05-24T10:09:20-07:00Austin Masonf6137011c68eb792c6e14634815583b15e707deaMap ViewAustin Mason2An interactive map of all the objects in the collectiongoogle_maps2017-05-24T11:39:30-07:00Austin Masonf6137011c68eb792c6e14634815583b15e707dea
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12017-05-21T12:40:42-07:00Iron Hand-Bell4Object Pageplain2017-09-21T17:54:20-07:00This copper-brazed iron hand bell was discovered by means of metal detector in the East Lindsey District of modern-day England. Although only this twenty-gram, twenty-five millimeter wide, thirty-five millimeter long fragment of the bell was found, it is expected to have been as wide as eighty-five millimeters and as long as one hundred forty-three millimeters when it was complete.
The origins of this bell are uncertain, but the main use of hand bells in the British Isles from the sixth to the tenth century (when this bell is estimated to have been used) was in monasteries.[1] In Ireland especially, there have been many hand bells discovered in monasteries; it appears they were used for marriages, keeping time, and even alerting the monastery to a threat.[2] These hand bells were the precursors to the large church bells, but clearly crafting a hand bell would be a less difficult engineering task. Unfortunately, we don’t know for sure if hand bells were used in the same manner on the East coast of England. However, given that there was also glass and hundreds of pins and stylii at the site where this bell was found, and those objects would most likely be used by the well-educated monks, we can expect that the bell came from a monastery on the East coast of England.
This bell poignantly reminds us of accounts of the early Viking raids on monasteries along the coast of Ireland and England. While we don’t know necessarily if the Vikings came across the monastery that this bell inhabited, it brings to mind the desecration of both the well-known monasteries such as Lindisfarne, and the less-known, undocumented and forgotten raids on smaller monasteries throughout the British Isles, such as the Monkwearmouth-Jarrow Abbey in Northumbria.