THORNGRAFTON

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Location

Address

Northumberland (District)

County

Northumberland

Region

North East

Country

England, United Kingdom

Ancient place

Barcombe Hill Roman Quarry

Lat/Long/Alt

54.988101 / -2.3453403 / 204.5 view

Location details

Approximate find spot (4-figure grid reference)

Find spot comment

Location displays approximate coordinates centred on four figure grid reference.

Information

1592

Permalink

https://chre.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/hoard/1592

Hoard name

THORNGRAFTON

Alternative names

Barcombe

Data type

Hoard

Date of discovery (from)

8 Aug 1837

(to)

8 Aug 1837

Total number of coins

Summary

Arm purse containing 63 coins (3 aurei and 60 denarii), ranging from the late Republic to Hadrian, found while quarrying stones. Each of the gold coins was wrapped up in a separate piece of greenish leather or vellum, which was still quite tough and strong.

Details
Coins Summary
Coins
Rating
Archaeological context
Containers
Objects
References
Reports
Images
Credit

Discovery method

Other chance find
Land Use

Mineral extraction
Disposition

Clayton Memorial Museum, Chesters (purse). The coins are said to have been given to the Blackgate Museum, Newcastle, but have not been located there
Closing reign (earliest)

Hadrian
Terminal year (earliest)

119
Closing reign (latest)

Hadrian
Terminal year (latest)

128
Coin-level data

Available to enter

Fetching coin data

Numismatic rating

Good
Context rating

Poor
Findspot rating

Good

Site comment

https://pleiades.stoa.org/places/455597764. The quarry on Barcombe Hill is thought to probably be Roman in origin.
Site class

Rural

Context

Uncertain, Quarry

Containers belonging to this hoard

Arm purse

Bronze arm-purse, with a cover, 2 3/8 in. high, and 4 1/8 in. wide. With the handle, the purse was 4½ in. high.

Permalink in other online databases

Reference

The Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS)

Ref

https://finds.org.uk/database/hoards/record/id/1523

Comment

Ghey, E (2015) IARCH-21DCCB

References

Reference

Collingwood, B.J. - 1867 - The Roman wall : A description of the mural barrier of the North of England (3rd ed.)

Ref

p. 334-340

Comment

list of all the coins with drawings

Reference

Birley, E. - 1963 - The Thorngrafton Hoard

Comment

discussion of the various accounts of the discovery, and of the lists of coins given by different authors

Reference

Robertson

Ref

137

Reference

Bland, R. and Loriot, X. - 2010 - Roman and Early Byzantine Gold Coins found in Britain and Ireland

Ref

481

Roberston dataset, imported by J. Mairat. IARCH dataset, AHRC funded University of Leicester and British Museum project. Imported and edited by M. Spoerri (June 2019 / Nov. 2024).

Coin Hoards
of the Roman Empire

THORNGRAFTON

Data not added to the map

Containers belonging to this hoard

Arm purse

Bronze arm-purse, with a cover, 2 3/8 in. high, and 4 1/8 in. wide. With the handle, the purse was 4½ in. high.

Permalink in other online databases

References

Coin Hoardsof the Roman Empire

THORNGRAFTON

Data not added to the map

Containers belonging to this hoard

Arm purse

Bronze arm-purse, with a cover, 2 3/8 in. high, and 4 1/8 in. wide. With the handle, the purse was 4½ in. high.

Permalink in other online databases

References

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Coin Hoards
of the Roman Empire