Barnsley Booty

What is it about the area around Barnsley in South Yorkshire that caused Romans and the conquered British population to dig up parts of it to hide their coins and treasures? 

There has, to date, been more than the average incidences of discoveries of treasure from that era in early history by detectorists and those just disturbing the surface by carrying out excavations whether it be intentional or just as a sort of hobbyist pastime.

'Treasure' under the 1996 Act is defined as being:

All coins from the same hoard. A hoard is defined as two or more coins, as long as they are at least 300 years old when found. If they contain less than 10% gold or silver there must be at least 10 in the hoard for it to qualify.

Two or more prehistoric base metal objects in association with one another

Any individual (non-coin) find that is at least 300 years old and contains at least 10% gold or silver.

Associated finds: any object of any material found in the same place as (or which had previously been together with) another object which is deemed treasure.

Objects substantially made from gold or silver but are less than 300 years old, that have been deliberately hidden with the intention of recovery and whose owners or heirs are unknown.

It legally obliges finders of objects which constitute a legally defined term of treasure to report their find to their local coroner within 14 days. An inquest led by the coroner then determines whether the find constitutes treasure or not. If it is declared to be treasure then the finder must offer the item for sale to a museum at a price set by an independent board of antiquities experts known as the Treasure Valuation Committee. Only if a museum expresses no interest in the item, or is unable to purchase it, can the finder retain it.

The Treasure Act allows for a reward up to the market value of the treasure to be shared among the finder and the tenants and/or owner of the land on which the treasure was found. The amount of the reward and how it is divided among the claimants is determined by the Treasure Valuation Committee.

Back to the phenomena of Barnsley

In January 2002 a hoard of 449 Roman coins were unearthed in a Wortley field by a Michael Gennard. They were declared treasure trove.

There was a similar inquest in November 2002 after the very same Mr Gennard, having been out in the Barnsley area using a metal detector, handed in a further 288 coins. They were third century bronze 'radiates' which went on display in Sheffield. The radiate or Post-reform radiate was a Roman coin introduced by Diocletian during his reforms.

In 1992 Roy Oates unearthed buried treasure in Wortley. He discovered 76 silver Roman coins, dating back to AD 148. They were worth thousands of pounds.

A Barnsley teenager was digging a hole in the village of Gawber. The reason for his efforts were not disclosed but he found 112 19th century gold sovereigns worth more than £5,000 in 1991. Despite a challenge by Barnsley Council, an inquest found in favour of 'finders keepers' and the British Museum paid him for them.

In 1983 James Ruddock spotted a tiny 12th century Scottish silver penny as he was digging a trench in Cudworth. It was estimated to be worth £700.

Builders digging the foundations of a house on Fensome Way, Darfield in 1950 found 500 Roman silver coins.

On the 10th of January 1947, while digging a manhole on the North Street Housing Estate, James Fowler found a hoard of 481 Roman coins at a depth of only 1ft. 2 ins. The find was made at a point some 150 yards from the main Doncaster-Barnsley Road, and the coins were in a calcite-gritted pot' most of which was recovered. The coins were all Roman denarii, ranging from the end of 1st century B.C. to the first half of the 3rd century A.D. with one exception, namely, a double denarius or antoninianus of Caracalla (AD. 198-217) The actual range covered the period from 'Marc Antony' (32-31 B.C.) to Maximinus (A.D.235-238)

The coins of the latest Emperiors were in fine condition, and this appears to indicate that they were deposited about A.D.250. 33 of the coins were selected by the British Museum, 30 specimens were sent to Darfield School Museum, and the remaining 418, with the pot, are now on view in the City Museum Sheffield.

Many Roman-era coins were buried between the fall of the Gallic Empire in 274 AD and the establishment of the Brittanic empire in 286 AD by rebel emperor Carausius.

The coins were buried in an era when there was a critical breakdown of law and order. It is a natural emotion that when people feel under threat they feel compelled to bury valuables. It is a difficult decision particularly in a time when money gave a chance at a better lifestyle, status and peer respect. I can just about imagine the range of feelings going through the desperate minds of those in a perilous social or political situation.

So why Barnsley?

There does not appear to be much of an actual high profile Roman history and many of the main settlements for trade, commerce and military purposes were a bit out of the way. There was undoubtedly a lot of other lesser activity in the area perhaps being seen as a quiet backwater for farmers and the good life.

The reasons for the hoards of buried treasure being found in Barnsley may remain lost in the mists of time.