10 July 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

A Hoard of Gold and Silver Roman Coins Dating Back to the Reign of Emperor Nero was Found in Worcestershire

A hoard of Roman and Iron Age silver coins dating back to Emperor Nero’s reign has been found during building works in Worcestershire, western England. The treasure, consisting of 1,368 coins, includes the largest collection from the emperor’s reign ever found.

The coins span two centuries from 157 BC to AD 55, and date the hoard to the very beginning of Roman Britain – barely a decade after the Claudian invasion in AD 43.

Worcestershire Heritage, Art & Museums said the hoard was discovered in the Leigh and Bransford area, west of Worcester, in late 2023 and dubbed the Worcestershire Conquest Hoard.

Research into the hoard is being led by Murray Andrews who has been working closely with colleagues from Museums Worcestershire, Worcestershire Archives and Archaeology Service, and the Portable Antiquities Scheme to process the find in accordance with the Treasure Act 1996.

Nero – Worcestershire Conquest Hoard. Credit: Worcestershire Heritage, Art & Museums/Luke Unsworth
Nero – Worcestershire Conquest Hoard. Credit: Worcestershire Heritage, Art & Museums/Luke Unsworth

Dr Murray Andrews, Lecturer in British Archaeology, University College London (UCL) Institute of Archaeology says: “This extraordinary new find is the largest hoard of the reign of Nero (AD 54–68) ever found in Britain, and one of the largest of this period ever found in the entire Roman Empire. The coins come from every corner of the early Roman world, from the shores of the Mediterranean right up to the Cotswold Hills. They were buried just after the Claudian invasion, as Roman troops marched through western Britain to battle the tribes of Wales and the Welsh Border. It’s a remarkable discovery, and sheds important new light on the Roman Conquest – a time of conflict and change at the beginnings of British history.”

“Our initial research suggests that the hoard relates to military expenditure – perhaps official payments to a wealthy local farmer or merchant, who was supplying grain and livestock to the Roman fort at Worcester. It was buried at a time of unrest in the Welsh Borders, when local groups like the Silures fought back against the advancing Roman army, so it’s possible that the original owner was trying to protect their money from the threat of conflict and border raids”.

Some of the coins date back from the time of the Roman Republic in 157 BC. Credit: Worcestershire Heritage, Art & Museums/Luke Unsworth
Some of the coins date back from the time of the Roman Republic in 157 BC. Credit: Worcestershire Heritage, Art & Museums/Luke Unsworth

It is likely that the pot that contained the coins was made at one of the pottery kilns based at the foot of the Malvern Hills. With the oldest dating to 157 B.C. and the most recent to 55 A.D., most of the coins are silver denarii made in Rome. One gold coin, a stater, is the only one there. It was made for the Dobunni tribe, who inhabited Worcestershire from 20 to 45 A.D. Given that the most recent coins are in nearly mint condition and cannot have been used for very long, the hoard was most likely buried in 55 A.D. or soon after. Their sheer number means that the Hoard would have represented a very considerable sum of cash at the time it was buried.

The Treasure Valuation Committee is currently valuing the hoard, which HM Coroner declared to be treasure in June 2024. The Worcestershire Heritage, Art and Museums Registered Charity has started a fundraising campaign to help keep the hoard in the county, and Museums Worcestershire is eager to acquire it. If the money cannot be raised, the hoard may be lost to the public forever.

The hoard is currently being catalogued and conserved at the Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum where it will go on temporary display in January.

Help to save the Worcestershire Conquest Hoard.

Museums Worcestershire

Cover Image Credit: Worcestershire Heritage, Art & Museums/Luke Unsworth

Related Articles

Researchers discovered clay tablets with ancient cuneiform writing, a game board, and large structural remains in Kurd Qaburstan

16 January 2025

16 January 2025

Tiffany Earley-Spadoni, associate professor of history at the University of Central Florida (UCF), and a researchers team have made important...

The World’s oldest and first swords ever discovered

11 March 2023

11 March 2023

The 5,000-year-old swords found 43 years ago during the excavations in the old mud-brick palace structure in Malatya Arslantepe Mound...

Unique ancient Egyptian amulet seal discovered during archeological excavations in northern Turkey

11 November 2022

11 November 2022

During archaeological excavations in the ancient city of Amastris in the Amasra district of northern Turkey’s Bartın, an enchanted amulet...

During roadwork in Oregon, a woolly mammoth tusk was discovered

21 June 2021

21 June 2021

A 12,000-year-old woolly mammoth tusk was discovered beneath the street by crews rerouting a gas line in Corvallis, Oregon. “Whenever...

Egyptian Pharaoh Slain in Battle Because of the Hippos

17 February 2021

17 February 2021

The mummy of Pharaoh Seqenenre Taa II, found in 1880, was re-analyzed. When it was found, the deep wounds on...

A woman in the Czech Republic found a medieval jackpot during a walk

29 May 2024

29 May 2024

A woman walking in the town of Kutná Hora in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic found a...

Headless skeletons discovered in Prehistoric mass grave

14 January 2023

14 January 2023

Archaeologists have found a mass grave site containing 38 decapitated burials at a Neolithic settlement in Vráble, Slovakia. The remains...

Researchers Discovered Wreckage of a Schooner that Sank in Lake Michigan in Late 1800s

27 July 2024

27 July 2024

Maritime historians from the Wisconsin Underwater Archeology Association discovered the wreckage of a schooner that sank in Lake Michigan in...

Archaeologists Uncover 8 Graves Dated 6,500 Years Ago in Lausanne, Swiss

30 October 2021

30 October 2021

Archaeologists have unearthed eight prehistoric tombs between 5,500 and 6,500 years old in the Swiss town of Pully. The site...

Dutch Shrimp Fishermen caught a centuries-old carved wooden statue off the coast of Texel

17 August 2022

17 August 2022

A carved wooden statue in exceptional condition has been attached to fishing nets off the coast of Texel, one of...

110 Megaliths Discovered in Kerala and Inscriptions Revealing Ancient Pilgrimage Center in Andhra Pradesh

26 March 2025

26 March 2025

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has unearthed a significant number of megalithic structures near the Malampuzha dam in Palakkad,...

Archaeologists uncovered a 3,500-year-old Egyptian Royal Retreat in the Sinai Desert

5 May 2024

5 May 2024

An Egyptian mission uncovered the ruins of a 3,500-year-old “royal fortified rest area” at the Tel Habwa archaeological site in...

Europe’s oldest grave of a newborn girl found in İtaly

15 December 2021

15 December 2021

An international team of researchers has found Europe’s oldest tomb of a newborn girl, dating back 10,000 years, in Liguria....

4 Aztec child burials unearthed in Mexico and dated to the Early Colonial period may be indicators of Aztec resistance

6 July 2022

6 July 2022

During an archaeological rescue effort in Mexico City’s historic central district of La Lagunilla, the remains of an Aztec house...

Rare Bronze Age Metalworking Hoard Discovered in Wiltshire, Including an Anvil

20 February 2025

20 February 2025

A remarkable discovery has been made in Urchfont, a village located in Wiltshire, England, where a Bronze Age hoard of...