Artefacts from the period when Thetford was under Viking occupation are returning to the town for a major new exhibition highlighting this little-known chapter from its history.
The items - including a Thor's hammer pendant, a hoard of pennies and a pottery lamp - date back to the ninth century, when the area was a winter camp for a huge invading Viking force.
They are going on display at the town's Ancient House Museum for a new show telling the story of the occupation, which is is considered a vital period for Thetford, acting as a major stimulus for its growth.
According to the Anglo Saxon Chronicle, the invading force - known as the Viking Great Army, or Great Heathen Army - landed in the region in AD865.
It fought a series of campaigns against Anglo Saxon kingdoms, until it was defeated by Alfred the Great at the battle of Edington.
Over the three years, the force overwintered in Thetford, which became the sixth largest town in the country at the time.
Gareth Williams, British Museum curator, said: "Norfolk is well known as a major area of Viking activity, and Thetford itself is significant both as a Viking camp during the period of raiding and conquest in the late 9th century, and as one of the towns which emerged as centres of production and trade after the Vikings settled."
A number of artefacts relating to the occupation have been discovered over the years, but many have left the county, with some ending up in the British Museum.
Some have now been brought to the town for the new exhibition.
The show - 'The Vikings, history on your doorsteps' - features displays of three Thor's hammer pendants, found in Attleborough, Thetford and South Lopham.
Oliver Bone, curator at Ancient House Museum, said: "Norfolk is sort of unusual, I think it has a higher concentration of these pendants than other areas of the country.
"We don't know quite what the reason for that is, but they are very much associated with the Viking people who came over starting in the mid to later 9th century.
"Thetford is quite a well excavated town.
"It's been a fascinating process to learn about the period a bit more", he added.
VIKING HOARD
Other finds, on loan from the British Museum, include a hoard of pennies, a Viking sword, two worked copper alloy brooches and a "very rare" early medieval carved stone grave marker found in Thetford during building works in 2019
There is also a gold plaque dating from the time of the first Viking attacks, discovered in the 1970s and featuring an engraving of St John the Evangelist.
The exhibition, which opens on July 16, is part of the Brecks Fen Edge and Rivers Landscape Partnership Scheme’s ‘Celebrating River Heritage’ Project.
It comes as the new Marvel Thor film is being released in cinemas across the country.
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