Recorded Coins Found in Chalgrove
The Trinovantian gold quarter stater, 25-20 BC, was found on Chalgrove Field. The coin, Tasciovanus First Coinage, minted at Verulamium (now St Albans), is in perfect condition. It is domed, with a diameter of 11mm and weighs 1.366g. The Ashmolean Museum purchased the coin on 7 December 1891.
The 'Chalgrove Hoard' consists of 4145 C1 to C4 AD coins. It was found in a field adjacent to Mill Lane, by Brian and Ian Malin and their father, in August 1989. The two pots are of special interest as they were probably made at the potteries in the area of Headington, Cowley, Rose Hill and Sandford. A further nineteen coins ranging in date from c.320 to c.402 were found in the vicinity.
A coin of Emperor Domitianus was the subject of worldwide excitement. Found near the site of the 'Chalgrove Hoard', in 2003, by Brian Malin, it was in a C3 pot containing some 5,000 common Roman coins fused together. The British Museum undertook the task of separating the coins and made the discovery in February 2004. The find enabled experts worldwide to confirm a supposition in the history of that period that the Emperor Domitianus had ruled Gaul and Britain (the breakaway 'Gallic Empire') in AD 271. The coin now occupies a special place in the Ashmolean Museum. In a television programme shown on 22 July 2012, the coin was voted fourth most important find in Britain.
Ten coins and eleven jettons, dating from an Alexander III, King of Scots, penny, c.1250, to a French jetton of mid C15, were found during an archaeological dig, 1976-79, on the site of the Barentin Manor, by Oxfordshire Archaeological Unit, www.oxfordarch.co.uk. A double mite struck for Flanders, of Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, is unusual in being the only one recorded as having been found in England.
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| Folded penny, Alexander III | Cut halfpenny, Henry III | Double mite, Philip the Bold | French jetton |
The images are reproduced by kind permission of Oxford Archaeology.
The first 'Chalgrove Hoard', of eighty-seven silver coins from the time of Edward VI to Charles I, was found in 1882, on land belonging to Magdalen College. The Crown claimed it as treasure trove in February 1883.
A Russian coin, 5 kopecks, bearing the date 1758, was found in the small alcove at the back of the inserted C16 fireplace of the hall at The Manor, Mill Lane.
February 2013