The Bootham Hoard (also known as the Bootham School Hoard) is a

hoard A hoard or "wealth deposit" is an archaeological term for a collection of valuable objects or artifacts, sometimes purposely buried in the ground, in which case it is sometimes also known as a cache. This would usually be with the intention of ...

of coins found in a bronze vessel at

Bootham School Bootham School is an independent Quaker boarding school, on Bootham in the city of York in England. It accepts boys and girls ages 3–19, and had an enrolment of 605 pupils in 2016. It is one of seven Quaker schools in England. The scho ...

York York is a cathedral city with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many hist ...

in 1953.

Discovery

The hoard was discovered by workmen digging in the courtyard of Bootham School on 29 September 1953. They reported the find to

George Willmot George Francis Willmot BA FSA (1908–1977) was a British archaeologist and curator based in York Early life George Willmot was the son of a solicitor from Bournemouth. He undertook archaeological fieldwork from an early age, as at age 19 he dis ...

(Keeper of the

Yorkshire Museum The Yorkshire Museum is a museum in York, England. It was opened in 1830, and has five permanent collections, covering biology, geology, archaeology, numismatics and astronomy. History The museum was founded by the Yorkshire Philosophical Soci ...

). The labourer, John Skaife, reported that he found the hoard at a depth of 7 and the coins were wrapped in a piece of textile. An inquest in October declared the find to be a

Treasure trove A treasure trove is an amount of money or coin, gold, silver, plate, or bullion found hidden underground or in places such as cellars or attics, where the treasure seems old enough for it to be presumed that the true owner is dead and the he ...

. The Yorkshire Museum purchased the hoard, with the exception of eight coins which were acquired by the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docume ...

The hoard contained 908 coins. 839 were English silver pennies from the period AD 1251–1326, 16 were Irish coins, 40 Scottish, and 12 Continental.

References

{{reflist 1953 in England Archaeological sites in Yorkshire Metal detecting finds in England History of North Yorkshire Collections of the Yorkshire Museum Treasure troves in England Archaeological sites in North Yorkshire 1953 archaeological discoveries Coin hoards Medieval European objects in the British Museum

Discovery

Contents

References