AN INCREDIBLE hoard that was nearly lost forever after it was dug up in a Herefordshire field is set to take a starring role in the popular BBC TV day time show ‘Bargain Hunt’.
Presenter and antiques expert Roo Irvine and the Bargain Hunt crew visited Herefordshire Council’s History Store to discover more and film some of the hoard, which dates back to the Viking period.
The Herefordshire Hoard is one of the most significant early medieval treasures ever discovered in Britain. Found near Leominster in 2015, it is thought to be around 1,100 years old.
Its discovery was revealed through reports from the crown court in Worcester, where in November 2019, four men were found guilty of concealing, stealing, and selling the treasure they had recovered illicitly from a field in Eye, near Leominster, four years earlier.
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The men were sentenced to a combined jail term of more than 23 years, ranging from 12 months to 10 years.
The show will also feature filming at the Secondhand Antiques Centre in Leominster for the two competing team’s shopping for antiques, which were then presented for sale at auction at Tong’s Auction House in Wrexham.
Curator Dr Katie Miller of Herefordshire Council’s Museums Service, talked Roo through the history of the hoard, its significance and highlighted some of the fragile collection on camera.
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Herefordshire councillor Elissa Swinglehurst said: “Herefordshire is rich with history, including our time as a military and royal powerhouse during the Anglo-Saxon and Norman eras, and as the Hoard shows, with trading and heritage dating right back to the time of Vikings.
“Hundreds of thousands of local people and visitors enjoy our heritage tourism offer every year, and it’s great to see part of our history brought onto national TV screens once more. Heritage forms a major part of our £800milllion+ visitor economy, and as a council we are keen to do everything we can to support our brilliant tourism businesses to continue to thrive.”
The Bargain Hunt episode featuring the Herefordshire Hoard airs at 12.15pm on Friday 12 June 2026 on BBC One, and will be repeated in future.
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