Record haul with more coins than Sutton Hoo
THE LARGEST ever discovery of Anglo-Saxon gold coins in England has been unearthed by metal detectorists.
The hoard of 131 coins, which was buried in west Norfolk around 1,400 years ago, was found in a single field along with four gold objects which included jewellery. Yesterday a treasure inquest heard the haul likely belonged to a travelling merchant who deliberately buried it.
The majority of the coins were discovered by an anonymous detectorist between 2014 and 2020, while ten were found by former police officer David Cockle, who was imprisoned for theft in 2017 for 16 months for failing to report his find. He had attempted to sell his coins for £15,000 instead of declaring them. Two of the 10 coins were never recovered having disappeared into the antiquities trade. By law any finds must be reported to the local coroner within 14 days of discovery.
Most of the coins are Frankish tremisses, and there are also nine gold solidi, a larger coin from the Byzantine empire.
When the hoard was buried, England was not yet unified but divided into several smaller AngloSaxon kingdoms.
Of these, the Kingdom of the East Angles, including modern
Norfolk and Suffolk, was one of the most important. The most famous discovery from this period was the ship burial from Sutton Hoo in Suffolk, recently dramatised in the Netflix film The Dig, and dating somewhere between 610AD and 640AD. The vessel included a purse of 37 gold coins and many other items.
Norwich area coroner Yvonne Blake concluded the Norfolk hoard was treasure trove, meaning they become the property of the Crown. Norwich Castle Museum hopes to acquire the coins. Gareth Williams, at the British Museum, said the find would help ‘transform our understanding of early AngloSaxon England’.