Pieces of a silver ingot dating back more than 1,000 years were discovered in Kings Ripton last year, it has been revealed.

Richard Ashford was using his metal detector at Glebe Farm on January 23 when he came across the object.

The silver ingot was made subject of an inquest at Lawrence Court, in Huntingdon, on Wednesday (May 18) where it was down to deputy coroner for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, David Morris, to determine if the find should be officially classified as treasure.

After their discovery, the pieces of ingot were sent by a local finds liaison officer to the British Museum in London, where the pieces were examined by curator Barry Ager of the department of Britain, Europe and prehistory.

A report from Mr Ager, read by Mr Morris, said: “The general form and protrusion are typical of ingots of the Viking period cast in open moulds and often shaped by hammering.”

Following analysis of the objects it was discovered that the ingot pieces were made from 89 per cent silver, the remainder being copper, iron, zinc, lead, gold and tin.

Mr Morris added: “The ingot from the Kings Ripton parish area would therefore qualify as treasure under two of the stipulated criteria of the Treasure Act: it is more than 300 years old and the precious metal content exceeds 10 per cent.”

Following its declaration as treasure, The Fitzwilliam Museum, in Cambridge, has expressed interest in adding the ingot pieces to its collection.