Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Iron Age gold coin hoard discovered In 1927 at Hosey Common, near Westerham.

Monument Types

• FINDSPOT (Iron Age - 800 BC to 42 AD)

Associated Finds

• COIN HOARD (Iron Age - 800 BC to 42 AD)

Full description

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[TQ 45445242] Iron Age Coin hoard found A.D. 1927. [T.I.] (1) A hoard of fourteen gold staters, dated to c.90 B.C. was found in a hollow flint 'money box' in July 1927 by Mr. Bateman, a gravel digger, at Hosey Common, near Westerham. The hoard consisting of one Bellovaci, one Goulish Atrebatic (Evans type B.7) and twelve of Evans types B.4 and B.6, is, with the money box, in the British Museum. (2)(3)(4)(5)(6) The O.S. siting falls within an area of old gravel workings, now overgrown with trees and bracken. (7) A hollow flint containing fourteen gold coins, two Gaulish and twelve probably British, was found in July 1927 on the Squerries Estate, Westerham, by a workman digging for gravel. The flint receptacle was uncovered about eighteen inches below the surface, embedded in the top spit, which chiefly consisted of the peat. Flint is a foreign material at that spot, although flint implements have been found here in the past. Although the flint receptacle was initally ignored, one workman investigated it more closely and on discovering coins inside, handed it to the Police where it was declared Treasure Trove at a Coroner's inquest. It was the wish of Mr J O'Brien Warde, the owner of the Squerries Estate that the find should remain intact, and a generous gift from him enabled the British Museum to retain all the coins. The approximate date of the deposit may be put at the close of the second century B.C. The flint money-box has, by the gift of Mr O'Brien Warde, been acquired by the British Museum for exhibition in the Iron Age Gallery. Both the holes are natural; there are slight traces of chipping at the edge of the large hole. (8)

<1> OS 6" 1961 (OS Card Reference). SKE48369.

<2> Antiquity 2, 1928, 89-90 (illust.)(E.G. Box) (OS Card Reference). SKE33292.

<3> Num.Chron.5th Sev.,7, 1927 370, 4 (illust) (G.C. Brooke) (OS Card Reference). SKE47750.

<4> Arch.Cat. 76, 1961, lxix (Mrs. Piercy Fox) (OS Card Reference). SKE37198.

<5> Rec. 6" (H.W.Knocker, 5.2.38, Horns Hill) Siting (OS Card Reference). SKE49086.

<6> Problems of the Iron Age, 1958, p.287 (D.F. Allen) (OS Card Reference). SKE48704.

<7> F1 ASP 10-AUG-64 (OS Card Reference). SKE42030.

<8> Arch Cant 40 1928 25-28 illus (G C Brooke) (OS Card Reference). SKE35088.

<9> Field report for monument TQ 45 SE 9 - August, 1964 (Bibliographic reference). SKE2685.

Sources and further reading