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MONUMENT NO. 195361

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The site of a Roman bronze coin hoard found in 1922 and 1924 by RE Godwin while ploughing a field belonging to C Williams of Clapton-in-Gordano. This field is between Clapton Church and the Rectory. Westward it extends to a copse which leads back to Clapton Court.
About 3500 Roman bronze coins - mainly of the Roman emperors Gallienus, Victorinus, Tetricus I, and Claudius II Gothicus and dating from about 253 to 270 AD - were found wrapped in skin and buried in an iron-bound wooden box about one foot underground. They were discovered together with a rough stone floor associated with animal bones, two bronze brooches, spindle whorls and a quantity of potsherds. There was also evidence of iron smelting.
Some of the Roman coins and most of the other finds are in Taunton Museum. However, over 3000 of the coins are now in the Nicholson Museum, Sydney, after they were acquired by the museum at auction in 1949. The collection was rediscovered in the museum in 2007 and has been put on display.
The field where the hoard was discovered is under pasture, and the site cannot be identified.

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[ST 47087359] Roman Coins found 1926 [T.I.] (1)

A hoard of about 3500 Roman bronze coins, (mainly Gallienus to Claudius II), was found in 1922 and 1924 by R.E.Godwin, when ploughing a field belonging to C. Williams of Clapton-in-Gordano; this field is between Clapton Church and the Rectory and, westward, it extends to a copse which leads back to Clapton Court. The coins had evidently been wrapped in skin and buried in an iron-bound wooden box about one foot down. Adjoining the site was a rough stone floor associated with animal bones, two bronze brooches, spindle whorls and a quantity of potsherds; there was also evidence of iron smelting. Some of the coins and most of the other finds are in Taunton Museum. (2-3)

The field is under pasture, and the site cannot be identified. Some of the finds are in Taunton Museum but the majority of the coins are in the possession of R.E.Godwin, Clovelly, Devon. (4)

The coins are now in Nicholson Museum, Sydney. The coins come from a hoard of about 3,500 Roman bronze coins which was found in 1924 by R. E. Godwin when ploughing a field in Clapton. The majority of the coins are of the Roman emperors Gallienus, Victorinus, Tetricus I, and Claudius II Gothicus and date from about 253 to 270 AD.
Apart from 59 coins in Taunton museum, the entire hoard was acquired at auction by the Nicholson Museum in 1949. The hoard was rediscovered in the museum in November 2007.
Further research is being carried out on the coins in preparation for them to be displayed as part of Nicholson Museum's Unearthed Tales exhibition. (5)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

6" 1932

( 2) General reference

The Times 1st Sept. 1924 Page(s)13

( 3) Numismatic chronicle

(Salisbury F.S.) 7, 1927 Page(s)209-18

( 4) Field Investigators Comments

F1 JP 25-FEB-65

( 4a) Oral information, correspondence (not archived) or staff comments

(5) World Wide Web page

Sydney University Museums. 2008. News, http://www.usyd.edu.au/museums/pdfs_docs/NEWS_14.pdf [Accessed 02-FEB-2010]

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