The 3,000 year old Priddy Hoard. Courtesy the Art Fund/Somerset County Museum

Somerset County Museum has acquired the largest hoard of Bronze Age gold to be found in the county.

Named after its finding place in the Mendip Hills, the Priddy Hoard was discovered in November 2005 as a ball of tightly intertwined metal.

Once unravelled, however, it was revealed as a collection of 17 bracelets and neck ornaments, or torcs, all more than 3,000 years old, dating from about 1300-1100BC.

“This is a rare and important hoard of Bronze Age jewellery, made all the more captivating because its beautiful, twisted forms could almost be taken for contemporary designs,” said David Barrie, Director of the Art Fund, which helped purchase the hoard.

Naomi Payne from Somerset County Museum, the Art Fund's John Townson and Stephen Minnitt of Somerset Museums unveiling the gold. Courtesy the Art Fund

The jewellery is now on display at the Taunton museum, and as well as being the largest find of its kind in Somerset also contains two previously unknown types of object, never before recorded in Britain or elsewhere – the ‘doubled’ and ‘hooked’ bracelets of ribbon and bar form.

Gold was highly prized in the Bronze Age and it is very rare to find Bronze Age goldwork in the south west. The jewellery was probably little-used as it still has sharp edges, so archaeologists think that it may have been a ritual offering.

They also believe the objects may have been deliberately twisted out of shape as part of the ritual.

Priddy is also the site of Priddy Circle, a Neolithic henge thought to be contemporary with Stonehenge. The area also contains the evidence of Roman lead mining.

The Priddy Hoard was purchased with the help of the Art Fund, the MLA/V&A Purchase Grant Fund, the Headley Trust and the Friends of Somerset County Museum.