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Amateur detectorist Adam Staples knows he’s found something when his metal detector beeps. Then another. And more.
Soon “it was just ‘beep beep, beep beep, beep beep,'” Staples said.
In a farmer’s field in southwest England, Staples and six friends have discovered a pile of more than 2,500 silver coins that have been in the ground for almost 1,000 years. Valued at £4.3 million and now in a museum, they will help shed light on the far-reaching consequences of the Norman conquest of England.
“The first was William the Conqueror coin – 1,000 pounds, 1,500 pounds value,” said Staples at the British Museum, where the hoard will be exhibited in November. “It’s a wonderful find. This is the type of discovery that takes years. Then we got another one, (we think) maybe five, maybe 10.
“And it’s getting bigger,” he said – the biggest find in 30 years of searching the UK’s fields and grooves as an amateur detectorist.
The hoard, discovered in 2019 and recently acquired by the South West Heritage Trust, totals 2,584 silver coins minted between 1066 and 1068, some showing the conquests of King William I and others having been conquered by the Anglo-Saxon Harold II.
Michael Lewis, head of the Portable Antiquities Scheme – a government-funded project that documents archaeological discoveries made by the public – said it was “one of the most amazing discoveries” in recent years, especially because “the story has not been completely unravelled.”
Lewis said the hoard of coins will help deepen the understanding of the most famous date in English history: 1066, the year William, Duke of Normandy, defeated King Harold in the Battle of Hastings, replaced the English Saxon king with the French ruler of Normandy.
“Most of us are taught about the Norman Conquest of England in school, probably because that was the last time England was successfully conquered,” Lewis said. “But the story is based on certain myths,” such as the notion that the war pitted “the English against the French,” or the “good” Saxons against the “bad” Normans.
In fact, the warring families are closely related, and Lewis says the hoard “helps us tell a different story, a broader one.”
Although the invasion marks a historical divide, the coins in the hoard are very similar whether they were minted before or after the conquest. One side shows the king’s head in profile, the other an emblem: an elaborate cross for William, the somewhat ironic word “pax” – peace – for Harold.
Amal Khreisheh, curator of archeology at the South West Heritage Trust, said the coins were likely buried for safekeeping as local rebellions erupted against Norman rule.
“We know that the people of Exeter rebelled against William in 1068 and that his son Harold, who was in exile in Ireland, returned and began raids on the River Avon down into Somerset,” he said. “So there may be a hidden background.”
The Chew Valley Hoard, named for the rural area where it was found, has been bought for the nation with money from the UK’s national lottery charity arm. After being exhibited at the British Museum and other museums around the UK, it will have a permanent home at the Somerset Museum in Taunton, 130 miles (210 kilometers) southwest of London.
It took several years for the hoard to make its way through Britain’s system for handling amateur archaeological discoveries. The Treasure Act mandates that anyone who finds gold, silver or other valuables must notify the local coroner. If the coroner declares the hoard to be a treasure, the hoard will become the property of the government, and the museum can bid for funds to acquire it.
A committee of experts assigns a value to each find, with the money split between the landowner and the finder. In this case, Staples and six fellow detectorists split half of the 4.3 million pound purse.
“It’s like winning the lottery,” said Staples, who plans to continue his hobby of treasure hunting. “I will not give up now. I’m happy.”
