115 



^omait cSillier Coins from 6rol)eIg Woob, 



Mite; 



By G. F. Hill, 



[Reprinted from the "Numismatic Chronicle" Uh Series, vol. \i., hy per- 

 mission of the Council of the Royal Numismatic Society, to whom we 

 are also indebted for the kind loan of blocks and tyfe.\ 



The small hoard of silver coins described in the following notes^ 

 was contained in an earthenware pot (Fig. 4, p. 131), which was 

 found on July 25th, 1906, by Samuel William Doughty, while 

 digging for stones in Grovely Wood. In the same pot were the 

 silver ornaments described below, with a piece of glass and two 

 bronze coins. 



At the same time and place was found another pot (Fig. 3, p. 130), 

 containing some 1000 bronze coins of the fourth century ; these, 

 however, are in too bad condition to repay the trouble of cleaning. 



The spot is situated in an old earthwork, which forms part of a 

 very extensive set of works, running round the north side of 

 Grovely Wood and overlooking the valley of the Eiver Wylye. 



1 The hoard was remarkable for the extraordinarily white and brilliant 

 condition of the coins. This was probably due to the dry and porous 

 character of the site — loose flints on a chalk soil — and to the entire freedom 

 from sulphur of the air on the high Grovely ridge. The coins represent a 

 sequence of twelve reigns over seventy years, and it is reasonable to con- 

 jecture that the little pot was the savings-bank of some family or individual 

 at the close of the period, hurriedly concealed when an attack was made 

 upon the Romano-British settlement of which extensive remains may be 

 traced throughout Grovely Wood. — G. H. Engleheart. 



' The information as to the circumstances of this discovery has been 

 supplied by Lord Pembroke's agent, Mr. G. R. Kendle, who made careful 

 notes and (with Mr. G. H. Engleheart and Major Hawley) a preliminary 

 classification of the hoard, and has in other ways much facilitated the pre- 

 servation and publication of the coins. 



I 2 



