Anglo-Saxon necklace found near Holt

An Anglo-Saxon gold pendant found in a north Norfolk field by an amateur metal detector enthusiast has been declared treasure.

An inquest heard that the item, which could be worth several thousand pounds, was found near Holt and dates back to the late fifth or early sixth century.

It was found on September 17 last year by Glenn Lister, from Warrington, Cheshire, who was detecting in the area with two friends from a Manchester metal detecting club.

Mr Lister told the Norwich inquest that the trio spend three days each year metal detecting in the same area.

The item, which is known as a bracteate and would have been worn by a woman as a necklace, is wanted by Norwich Castle Museum and Mr Lister said that any proceeds from the sale would be split equally with the farmer who owns the field where it was found.

Mr Lister told the inquest: 'We had only been on the field about an hour when we found it. It was only a couple of inches underground. There had been a find in 2005 of a similar bracteate about 2ft away.'

After the inquest, he said that he had been 'gobsmacked' by the find.

'We had been joking about the previous find five years ago, but never expected to find anything so valuable,' he said. 'A similar gold pendant but smaller was sold for about �6,000, but we've no idea how much this one is worth.' The school caretaker has been metal detecting for about 20 years but had never found anything as valuable before.