The Poole Hoard is made up of 1496 Roman nummi, 5 debased radiates and a few fragments of pottery. The hoard was found in 2016 and excavated by archaeologists from the Museum of Liverpool alongside the local FLO.
The Poole Hoard and the Cheshire Hoards side by side at Congleton Museum
The Hoard was jointly acquired by the Museum of Liverpool and Congleton Museum. Along with the Cheshire Hoards which were previously acquired jointly by the two museums, the Poole Hoard is a touring hoard which moves between several local museums. To find out where it is up to now contact the archaeology team at the Museum of Liverpool.
At the Museum of Liverpool we are hosting #MuseumFutures trainee, Abbie Brennan, as part of a British Museum partnership project supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF). You can read more about Abbie’s work in her Museum Futures blog. Abbie along with a number of volunteers have been doing some fantastic work photographing and cataloguing the Poole Hoard. Abbie was then able to help put the hoard on display alongside the Museum of Liverpool’s Curator of Archaeology and the Historic Environment, Liz Stewart, at Congleton Museum.
MOL.208.75.276 Obverse: Fausta, Reverse: Fausta (as Salus) cradling her two sons- Constantine II and Constantinus II, Minted in Trier – Photographed & edited by Abbie BrennanMuseum Futures trainee Abbie Brennan helping to install the coin hoard at Congleton Museum
The Finds Liaison Officer (FLO) runs a Finds Day every three months from 10.30-15.30 at Congleton Museum so you have the perfect excuse to drop in, check out the hoards and record your finds! Contact FLO Heather Beeton for details of the upcoming finds days.
As the Poole Hoard, Treasure case 2016 T325, undergoes conservation at the British Museum some issues have been coming to light. Soft patches of copper alloy due to the corrosive soil conditions have resulted in pitting on some coins. Here you can see that Roma has lost her nose and Licinius II is having difficulties with his vision!
A nummus of the House of Constantine, VRBS ROMA reverse depicting wolf and twins. Copyright: Trustees of the British Museum. License: Attribution License.
A nummus of Licinius II, VIRTVS EXERCITVS, reverse type depicting two prisoners seated under standard. Copyright: Trustees of the British Museum. License: Attribution License.
On the flip side (literally) the reverse of this Licinius II coin has very good preservation in places, with the folds in the captives’ trousers, the ties binding the right hand figure and other details visible. Much of the detail on the coins from the Poole Hoard survives however active care is being taken by the British Museum’s conservators in order to ensure that it is not lost.
A nummus of Crispus (AD317-326). Copyright: Trustees of the British Museum. License: Attribution License.
A nummus of Crispus (AD317-326). Copyright: Trustees of the British Museum. License: Attribution License.
Investigating the Poole hoard and seeing lots of different coins of the same type at once gives us the opportunity to study the changing faces. Here we have two coins of Crispus both wearing laureate crowns with neat short hair but facing different directions. In one Crispus holds a shield while on the other coin the emperor’s cuirass is clearly visible.
Easy to spot changes on coins bearing female busts, are changes in hair style. Here we have two similar styles displaying subtle changes in fashion. As well as their monetary use coins were also were used as political propaganda conveying a message in a quick and visible form to the people from their rulers. Likewise fashion such as the hairstyles chosen for the coins would have influenced the fashion of the day.
Flavia Maxima Fausta (289–326). Copyright: Trustees of the British Museum. License: Attribution License.
The Poole hoard was discovered on the 18th of April 2016 in the parish of Poole, Cheshire East. After reporting the discovery to me at the Museum of Liverpool (MOL) myself and MOL archaeologist Dr Mark Adams went out to investigate the site. The hoard had been discovered in plough soil and many of the coins were ploughed out but three large clods remained. The finders carefully wrapped the coin filled clods of soil. Concerned that there was organic material, such as a box or bag, the clods were kept cool and damp on the advice of the British Museum’s conservators. As conservation grade equipment was not to hand some ice buckets and dampened jay-cloths did the trick nicely!
Part of the Poole Hoard, LVPL-8CC2AC. Copyright: Portable Antiquities Scheme. License: CC-BY.
Newly discovered clods of the Poole hoard. LVPL-8CC2AC. Copyright: Portable Antiquities Scheme. License: CC-BY.
X-ray of the Poole Hoard, LVPL-8CC2AC. Copyright: Trustees of the British Museum. License: Attribution License.
X-ray of the Poole Hoard, LVPL-8CC2AC. Copyright: Trustees of the British Museum. License: Attribution License.
The coins are all nummi dating to the 4th century AD. The clods of soil and excavated loose coins were sent down to the British Museum where they are currently being cleaned by Pippa Pearce and her team. First x-rays were taken of the clods to find out what we were dealing with and the best way to proceed. The x-rays of one clod revealed a coin scatter and 2 aggregated groups of coins, one of which is like a coin cone. The larger block which had been wrapped and lifted revealed a massive haggis-shape of coins along one side. This reminded Pippa of the Beau Street hoard which contained haggis-shaped coin bags. So we are keeping our fingers crossed that once fully excavated a coin bag will be revealed, a very special find for Cheshire. The x-ray of a third smaller clod was blank however the clod will still be excavated to make sure nothing is missed. It will be exciting to see what these three mini-indoor excavations will reveal.
The conservator working on the large block, Alex Baldwin, believes that the block has been turned on its side and what she has is about two-thirds of a segment of a shallow saucer shape of coins, much as if they had been put into a shallow depression in the ground. There are pebbles right up against the coins on what would then be the base of the hoard and the lower area is more crusted while the top is more ‘free flowing’. The coins are all horizontal, when viewed that way up, as if they have been levelled out. No finds of leather textile or wood have been discovered.
The coins have not yet been studied in detail and we do not yet know how many there will be. Currently there are 2013 but more may follow with the excavation of the clods. Some of the rulers represented so far are Constantine I, Constantine II, Licinius, and Crispus.
A nummus of Constantine I, with the reverse depicting camp-gates with two turrets and a star above. The reverse legend reads PROVIDENTIAE AVGG and the coin dates to AD 324-330. Copyright: Trustees of the British Museum. License: Attribution License.
The detail on the helmeted bust of this nummus of Constantine I is especially clear. The coin was minted in Siscia (now Sisak a city in central Croatia). The fantastic condition of these coins, suggest that they were not in circulation for very long. Copyright: Trustees of the British Museum. License: Attribution License.
The corrosive Cheshire soils have however done their work in places and therefore chemicals are not being used on this hoard. The conservation team are doing wet manual cleaning to remove as much soil as possible, then drying the coins out and doing more manual cleaning when they have hardened up a bit, consolidating the more powdery areas.
Poorer surface preservation can be seen on these coins. Copyright: Trustees of the British Museum. License: Attribution License.
As this exciting and important hoard makes its way through the Treasure Act process and onto the PAS database it will allow us to discover more about Cheshire’s Roman past.
The Acton Hoard LVPL-15E376. Copyright: Portable Antiquities Scheme. Licence: CC-BY.
The Acton Hoard was found at Acton, near Nantwich, in December 2014 by a local metal detectorist during a rally. It is a lovely little group of five silver denarii deposited within a lead cone shaped container with a lead disc stopper. The coins are all of the Roman emperor Septimius Severus, dated AD 194–8. The hoard is Treasure Case 2014 T966 and is recorded on the PAS website as LVPL-15E376.
The coins were all sitting within the lead container which was closed up using the lead alloy disc when they were discovered. Once the disc/stopper was removed the coins were discovered in fantastic condition. The container had not only protected the coins from abrasion which usually occurs when objects move around in the plough soil but the lead alloy container also prevented the silver coins from deteriorating due to a chemical reaction which occurs between silver and lead.
The container appears to have been made especially to hold the coins and this unusual method of concealment suggests that the hoard was deposited ritually rather than as a small pot of money that it was intended to recover. The hoard has been declared Treasure and was selected to go on display at the British Museum as part of the exhibition Hoards the hidden history of ancient Britain. The exhibition is free and runs until 22 May 2016. The Acton Hoard has been acquired by Nantwich Museum and will be returned to Cheshire following the exhibition.
The Acton Hoard LVPL-15E376. Copyright: Portable Antiquities Scheme. Licence: CC-BY.
The Acton Hoard LVPL-15E376. Copyright: Portable Antiquities Scheme. Licence: CC-BY.
One of the most exciting finds from Cheshire in 2015 comes from the parish of Buerton. It is this fantastic wooden sundial found with a lovely hoard of silver coins of Elizabeth I and one of Mary.
The hoard consists of one silver groat of Mary, (1553-1554) and eleven silver coins of Elizabeth I, (1558-1603). These include three sixpence, four groats, three threepences and one halfgroat and fragments of wood. The coins themselves are a great find but the finder did a fantastic job in spotting this tiny bit of wood and bringing it in. At first we thought it was just a tree root so imagine our excitement when we realised it is a rare sundial probably made in Nuremburg.
The three fragments of wood when placed together form a sub-rectangular object. In the centre is a carved circular pit with a central hole for a pin and the walls are stepped to accommodate a brass ring and then a sheet of glass. Between the two halves at the break below the pit is a possible circular pin hole. This would have tethered the string gnomon which also attached to the raised lid and cast the shadow which allowed the user to tell the time. Radiating engraved lines would have held the magnetic compass. A double circular engraved border around the central recess, is divided by diagonal grooves, which form the hour lines, six of which are visible. The Roman numerals IX and X are visible just above 9.00 and 10.00 of the dial. Above and to the left of the X is an engraved small circular sun formed of eight radiating lines representing the sun’s rays projecting from the central circle.
The full record can be found at LVPL-08F250. A fantastic find which could have so easily been missed.
