Ruislip & Eastcote & Northwood Gazette
Treasure found in school dig
CENTURIES-OLD RELIC UNEARTHED AT BUILDING SITE NEAR TO THAMES
DIGGERS discovered a 500-year-old slice of treasure at a West London school while construction work was taking place.
A treasure inquest at West London Coroner’s Court heard how employees of the AOC Archaeology Group made the historic discovery in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham on May 16 2017.
After reporting the find – an alloy copper mount with silver lining and gold inlay – it was sent to the British Museum for evaluation. Under The Treasure Act 1996, people who find items suspected to be treasure must, under law, report their findings to the coroner.
Historically, a mount is a support for a gun, cannon or a similar piece of equipment. The exact details of the school where the treasure was discovered was not revealed by the coroner, but it was reported that the discovery was made close to the River Thames.
Experts predicted that the relic dates back to between 1500 and 1600. The copper alloy metal mount had silver plating and gold inlay, and is due to be financially evaluated now that it has been ruled as treasure.
The Treasure Act 1996 is a UK Act of Parliament which defines what objects are classified as treasure. In order for it to be treasure, it must have precious metal content or be worth a certain amount of money.
People must report treasure within either 14 days of first finding it, or 14 days of realising an item might be treasure, even if they have had it for longer. There is an unlimited fine or up to three months in prison for not reporting treasure under law.
The rare treasure inquest was held at the coroner’s court on June 30 – more than four years after the discovery was made.
Reaching a conclusion that the discovery was, in fact, treasure after receiving reports from experts at the British Museum, assistant coroner Richard Thurniss told the court: “This is one of those inquests that are unusual but do sometimes happen. We have to make a discovery on something that has been discovered on land by archaeologists.
“At an archaeological dig in 2017 while construction works were taking place in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, a group of people found a copper metal alloy. I can confirm that after evaluation, it has been deemed to be treasure and a curator at a museum in the UK has expressed an interest in acquiring it.”