Norwich Castle has one of the best collections of Anglo-Saxon material in the country. Designated by the government as being of outstanding quality, the collection contains a huge variety of objects of local, national and international significance. The gallery contains loans from the British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the National Museum of Denmark.

There are a number of activities and features, which have been specially designed for the gallery. Children can dress up as an Anglo-Saxon or Viking, solve Anglo-Saxon riddles or follow the rune trail around the gallery. Older visitors can read more about the period, play our exciting new game ‘Trade and Raid’ or listen to some Anglo-Saxon poetry spoken in Old English and accompanied by lyre music.

A new gallery computer interactive provides further information and a range of games and trails to give new insights into the objects on display

One of the star object trails from this interactive is featured here, so you can begin to explore the world of the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings at home or school.

Every year more archaeological finds are made in Norfolk than anywhere else in Britain. This is because the rich farmland and coastal location made Norfolk a good place to make a living. In Anglo-Saxon times it was a relatively rich county with a large population.

This wealth meant that more people could afford to own high quality objects. There have been many spectacular finds in Norfolk, all of them helping to build our understanding of the past. These are some of the most important Anglo-Saxon finds from the county.