Search the Community

There has been further assessment of the coin hoard found a couple years back: “In September 2019, Cotswold Archaeology carried out an archaeological watching brief during groundworks associated with residential development at Project Aquarius, Bamfield, Hengrove, Bristol. A coin hoard, consisting of pottery vessel container, copper-alloy scale pan lid, and 309 bronze and silvered-bronze coins, was recovered following emergency attendance during development groundworks. The recovered coin assemblage dates exclusively to the middle of the 4th century AD and included a significant number of coins struck by the usurpers Magnentius and Decentius, who ruled the western provinces of the Roman Empire between 350 and 353.” “The Hengrove hoard is an unusual cache of coins from the mid-fourth century, deposited in a large ceramic jar with the scale pan possibly used as a lid closing the vessel’s opening and sealing the coins inside. The most recently struck coin within the hoard was from the Arles mint, and dated to between 355 and 358, and it is unlikely that the hoard was buried any later than AD 360. Therefore, it is one of a comparatively small number of coin hoards from Britain dating to the later 350s, but the unusually large quantities of coins of the usurpers Magnentius and Decentius mean that it is unlike most contemporary finds. The reasons for the Hengrove hoard’s burial and non-recovery are not known and it is possible that the coins were deposited in the political aftermath of the usurpers’ defeat and suicides. The further coin hoard also discovered within the site in the 19th century is also of interest, although it’s relationship to the hoard recovered during the current works is not possible to determine at this stage.” https://legacy-reports.cotswoldarchaeology.co.uk/content/uploads/2022/01/CR0192-Project-Aquarius-Hengrove-Bristol-WB-report-CR0192_11.0.pdf https://cotswoldarchaeology.co.uk/a-roman-coin-hoard-from-hengrove-bristol/