Found in late 2023, this is one of the largest Roman Conquest hoards found to date in Britain and one of the most important archaeological discoveries in Worcestershire in the last 100 years.

The Hoard consists of 1,368 Iron Age and Roman gold and silver coins, which were gathered into a pot and buried in the ground in the Leigh and Bransford area of Worcestershire.

A successful fundraising campaign would enable the Hoard to stay in Worcestershire, be displayed to the public, and to deepen our understanding of the county’s fascinating Roman history.

Without it, the Hoard will be lost to the county.

Worcestershire Heritage, Art & Museums charity and Museums Worcestershire need your help to raise around £6,000 towards the cost of purchasing the Hoard, which is expected to be valued at upwards of £100,000, to save it for Worcestershire.

Thank you!

It’s AD 55 in Roman Britain, and Celtic leader Caratacus’s revolt against the Romans has ended on the border of England and Wales with a Roman victory.

To the East, the Queen Boudicca plans another revolt to try and deter the Romans from Britain. The Hoard is believed to have been buried in AD 55, during Emperor Nero’s reign. The Hoard has one gold Iron Age stater and 1,137 silver Roman denarii. It is the largest Neronian hoard found in the country to date.

It is likely that the pot that contained the coins was made at one of the pottery kilns based at the foot of the Malvern Hills.  The coins almost certainly entered the region by means of the Roman army. Their sheer number means that the Hoard would have represented a very considerable sum of cash at the time it was buried.

Dr Murray Andrews, Lecturer in British Archaeology, UCL Institute of Archaeology says:

“This extraordinary new find is one of the largest early Roman hoards ever found in Britain. It gives us a glimpse of a brief moment in time 2,000 years ago, when the frontiers of the Roman Empire ran from North Africa and the Near East to the Malvern Hills and the River Severn.

Our initial research suggests that the hoard relates to military expenditure – perhaps official payments to a wealthy local farmer or merchant, who was supplying grain and livestock to the Roman fort at Worcester. It was buried at a time of unrest in the Welsh Borders, when local groups like the Silures fought back against the advancing Roman army, so it’s possible that the original owner was trying to protect their money from the threat of conflict and border raids.

The hoard unlocks an important window on the history and archaeology of Roman Britain, and further study will help us understand more about how and why these coins came to be buried where and when they were. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime find, and a real Worcestershire treasure.”