The largest "thistle brooch" was discovered in 1785 and another in 1830, with the bulk of items being recovered in two groups close to each other by archaeologists in 1989.

[1] Whether all the finds made close to each other were originally deposited at the same time remains uncertain, but it is thought likely that at least the brooches were.

Later archaeological investigations in 1989 at the same spot revealed other silver items which confirmed this was a dispersed hoard and not a solitary loss of one brooch.

[3] The brooches were declared to be "treasure trove" at an inquest held in Penrith on 23 July 1990, and entered the British Museum in 1991, joined by the other hoard in 2009.

The penannular brooch, originally a common utilitarian clothes fastening—normally of base metal—in Roman Britain, developed in the post-Roman period into highly elaborate and decorative marks of status in Ireland and Scotland.

Athelstan made the kings, who had apparently been associating with pagan Vikings like Gothrith, renounce idolatry, but "Gothfrith and company had slipped away in order to attack York".