High Weald Roman Coin Hoard Coming to Brighton Museum

“It was nearly dark. It was winter, it was cold and raining. These things came out of the ground stuck together with clay; first two coins stuck together then in bunches of 80 and 100 and then a pot with the final 1,000. I stuffed every pocket and staggered back to my car. It was a wonderful day.”

Tim Symonds, Finder of the High Weald Hoard

The High Weald Hoard

The Royal Pavilion & Museums has successfully acquired a unique and rare Roman coin hoard. The hoard and its pottery container were acquired with a grant awarded by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Obverse side of Cornelia Supera coin

The hoard was discovered by a metal detectorist in the High Weald in 2006, about 30 miles north west of Brighton. It is one of the largest hoards of Roman coins ever found in the county and its discovery on the edge of the Weald, where finds from the Roman period are rare, reveals further insight into the archaeology of the area, and perhaps represents a connection with the local iron industry during this period.

Reverse side of Cornelia Supera coin

The coins date from the third century AD. Of the 2,895 silver coins found are two of special significance: the third coin of Tranquillina (wife of Gordian III), and only the second coin of Cornelia Supera (wife of Aemilian),  found anywhere in the country.

The hoard, buried for nearly 1800 years, will now go on display in Brighton Museum in the Summer.

Heather York, Curator (Local History)

Can you help us?

• What type of questions would you like answered in the display?
• What amazing facts would you like to find out about the coins and Roman Sussex?
• If you could ask the finder a question about the discovery of the hoard, what would it be?

Please reply to this blog with your questions and we will try to answer them in the display.

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Object of the Month – Toms’ Witch Stones

The bewitching month of Halloween is upon us, a time when people relish the strange and macabre and delight in tales of ghosts and witches. Such tales are often entwined with folklore passed down among generations along with the amulets or keepsakes that fuel them. For this month’s object we take a look at an amulet known as a lucky stone or witch stone.

H. S. Toms, local archaeologist and curator of Brighton Museum (1897-1939), carried out an abundance of research on the folklore surrounding such stones, which have a naturally formed hole.

Herald 13 August 1927

He went to great lengths to record the custom of the stones in Sussex. They were hung by doors to protect against witches and evil fairies and worn around the neck to worship the god of Luck. It was believed the stones were effective at protecting against harm when placed either indoors or in the garden.

Toms examined previous discoveries of the tradition of the stones at a Roman Villa in Havant to determine an origin of the custom in antiquity. He was intrigued as to why the practise still continued in the 1920s.

Brightonians were known to suspend the stones outside the door of cottages in Brighton or outside houses in Patcham and Southwick. Upon encountering a lucky stone on the Downs, some believed that spitting through the hole before casting it over their left shoulder would bring them luck.

W. Jacobs was a friend of Toms who shared his enthusiasm for the folklore of the lucky stones. The two would often share their findings. Among Toms’ archive is a note from Jacobs on his own investigations of the custom.

“In the garden hanging round a post are a dozen or more of holed stones each about the size of a dinner plate.

Mr Smith’s daughter who was explaining the business to me showed me a “lucky stone” which she had found herself in 1913 and which had been hanging over the staircase in the house since that date to “prevent any unlucky happenings on the stairs.”

Miss Smith offered me a lucky stone which I accepted and herewith hand on to you.

(signed) W. Jacobs.

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Toms’ folklore collection is full of interviews, photographs and specimens all illustrating similar tales and belief in the power of the lucky stones. It seems some people have spent years trying to protect themselves from the menace that is embraced during this Halloween season.

Krystyna Pickering, Collections Knowledge

Reflections on the Solstice

As the Summer Solstice approaches and thoughts turn to gatherings at Stonehenge to watch the sun rise, could it be Brighton and Hove once had its own ritual prehistoric stone circle? Sites such as the Neolithic enclosure at Whitehawk indicate that Brighton was a major prehistoric centre but where is the ‘Brighton Henge’?

The Goldstone in Hove Park, 1906

A three metre high stone, known as the ‘Goldstone’, stands today in Hove Park surrounded by a circle of smaller sandstone blocks. This appears to be the product of early 20th century landscaping – but is the story more complicated than this?

The central stone once stood upright in what is now the area near the southern entrance of Hove Park. It attracted so much interest during the 1830s that the landowner buried it to avoid sightseers trampling his crops. It was later located, excavated and eventually moved to its existing location in 1906.

Uncovering the Goldstone

However, there is no real evidence this stone was part of any prehistoric monument.

What appear more interesting are the smaller stones, which currently surround the ‘Goldstone’. These stones originally occupied a site in the northern part of present day Hove Park and from a sketch made in c1828 by H.G. Hine it would appear they were carefully arranged next to each other in a circular formation, similar to other surviving prehistoric stone circles.

H. G. Hine’s sketch

Around the same time as the burying of the ‘Goldstone’, these stones were removed and used to infill a local pond. They were not seen again until the re-siting of the Goldstone, when a few were used to form the surrounding small circle.

Although the present arrangement of the stones is a modern construction, it is possible that at least some of the stones once formed part of a prehistoric monument; which may have been used to celebrate the solstice. At the very least they act as reminders of Brighton and Hove’s fascinating prehistoric past.

Current view of the Goldstone in Hove Park

Andy, Volunteer Local History & Archaeology