Name: The £5,000,000 Coin Hoard | Chew Valley Hoard
Uploaded: 2026-02-26T08:06:13.000Z
Duration: 8 min 5 s
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In January 2019, the largest Norman coin hoard was discovered by a group of metal detectorists in the Chew Valley area to the west of Bath and the south of Bristol.

The find spot was reported and an archaeological investigation was discussed as a possibility to the surrounding areas.

The hoard consisted of over 2,500 coins and was partly scattered by ploughing.

But it was apparent by the clods of coins and coin types of the hoard that it was originally concealed together.

Now I was lucky enough to talk to one of the finders of the Chew Valley hoard who has given me access to unpublished photographs of the hoard never seen before.

A group of seven detectorists booked a weekend detecting trip to Chew Valley where they searched the permission of one of the finders.

The trip was a spare of the moment thing and after a few hours they pulled up their first coin.

It was a coin of William I and the impeccable condition of the coin had one of the finders questioning its authenticity.

But luckily there was a part time dealer who was confident that it was genuine and moments later they hit upon a second signal and up popped a Harold II in similar condition.

At this point the other detectorists gathered around the same fine spot and they began to uncover more and more coins, all within a 15 by 10 meter area.

They immediately contacted the flow within an hour and after five hours they had uncovered a bulk of the hoard.

Their short weekend break lasted until Tuesday and after arranging last minute doggie care, they personally escorted the coins to the British Museum in a salad bowl.

The coins were then gently rinsed off and the conservation of the coins began.

This is actually the second time recording and scripting this video as the published work seemed to paint the finders in an incredibly bad light.

But since the finder came forward and spoke to me for an hour, it is apparent that the published work wasn't an accurate representation of the events of the day.

The finders continued to search the hoard site until they were satisfied that no further pennies remained and as a result a second group of coins were delivered to the British Museum whilst the conservation of the main hoard was ongoing.

And when coins are submitted as treasure, the aim is to clean the hoard well enough to permit basic identification and full conservation.

The will only be completed when a museum acquires it.

However, because of the high purity silver content combined with the soil conditions that they were kept in, this means that the majority of the coins were very well preserved and although a small number were apparently damaged in the ground, this was probably due to a plough.

Now, the contents of the hoard comprised of mainly pennies, but there were cut half pennies too.

The condition of a majority of these half pennies had been bent deliberately and and many show signs of wear through circulation.

The coins that were bent were thought to have been so because they were checked to make sure that they were of pure silver and not mixed with other base metals like lead.

A very small number of coins show recent breaks parallel to where they had been bent in antiquity, as one might expect if accidentally snapped in the process of attempting to straighten the coins subsequent to their discovery.

A report was provided to HM Coroner in August 2019 regarding the hoard's legal status under the terms of the Treasure Act 1996 and was shared with the interested parties.

And it was at this time that the initial announcement of the horde's discovery was made to the press as the archaeological respiratory finds from Bath and the Northeast Somerset.

The Roman Baths Museum and Spa in Bath hopes to acquire the hoard, which is an important discovery both regionally and nationally.

So let's have a look at the contents of the hoard found at Chew Valley.

The hoard includes twice as many coins of Harold II as all other previous finds combined, and

five times more examples of the first type issued by William I than the total number known before, which is excellent for us numismatists and coin collectors, because if they eventually get sold privately, then the market will be flooded with thousands more Norman varieties.

And this will bring in time the price of Norman pennies down many, making them a bit more affordable to collect for people like me who would love to own one.

The hoard itself contains 1238 coins of the Pax type of Harold II and 1343 coins of William I's profile cross florry type.

In both cases, the majority of the coins are of the standard type, but

there are also four variants of Pax and two variants of the profile cross flurry type.

The hoard also contains a mule of Edward the Confessor's pyramid type and William's profile cross flurry type, and

also two dye duplicate mules of Paxon profile cross flurry type.

In all three cases, the reverse is the later of the two types and the majority of the coins in the hoard are in good condition, but

Although a number of the fragments were matched at the British Museum by senior conservator Pippa Pearce, who also led to conservation of the hoard.

The finding of the Chew Valley hoard has actually taught me something new about the mischievous workings of the Norman Moneyers.

Moneyers were in charge of their own mints and responsible for all the coins being produced.

And these Moneyers did not always play by the rules, though, despite decidedly draconian deterrence for those who did try to cheat the system.

Three of the Chew Valley coins are of a more unusual type, known as mules.

And this is where dies for two different coin types have been used to strike a single coin.

And in this case, the hoard includes two coins of Harold II's designs on the obverse and the reverse design of William's first coinage, the first known examples of such a combination, as well as a coin combining dies representing William I and Edward the Confessor.

The name of one money represented in the hoard, Sidmon of Warren, was found on the two Harold William mules.

But also producing regular coins for William I's reign.

These hybrid designs were created as a kind of early medieval tax dodging scheme where.

During this period, coin types were changed every few years, after which the previous design ceased to be legal tender and you had to change your coins for new ones.

He said this meant profit for the moneyers there.

They also had to pay a fee to the crown to operate and to purchase new dies for each change.

So some Moneyers tried to get around this by illicitly continuing to use old dies and hoping that no one would notice.

Some of the coins issued during William I's reign still use Harold II's bust.

These weren't realistic portraits, but stylized images of the king, mimicking the coins of Byzantine emperors.

So you would have had to look closely to tell the difference.

And also because most people couldn't read, they wouldn't necessarily have spotted that their coin had the wrong name on it.

We can tell the deposit date by the latest coin found within.

In this case, it was a very early type of William I, minted shortly after his coronation on Christmas Day 1066.

Coin hoards were usually concealed during the times of great threat, although the exact circumstances behind the burial of the Chew Valley hoard are present uncertain.

But it also probably reflects the fact that William's victory at Hastings did not mean he won immediate authority over the whole of England.

A Welsh incursion into Hertfordshire is recorded in 1067, and

the following year, William himself attacked Exeter in response to an unrest in the southwest instigated by Gaither, mother of Harold ii, in support of the claims of her grandsons.

Later, in 1068, the sons of Harold, who fled to Ireland attacked upon the Bristol Channel.

So, with this, it is estimated that the hoard was concealed between 1066 and 1068.

I hope you've enjoyed today's video on the hoard found at Chew Valley.

Be sure to let me know down below the hoards you'd like to see me cover in the future.