A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



by the inland Gauls, and as they travelled further from Marseilles the 

 poorer the copy became, until hardly any trace of the original was 

 discernible ; thus it is only by reference to a whole series that we can 

 trace the origin of the British coins. Uninscribed coins have been 

 found in Northamptonshire at Chipping Warden, Duston, Earls Barton, 

 Farthinghoe, Kettering, Northampton. 



With regard to the inscribed coins it is considered that they range 

 from Caesar's invasion, B.C. 54, to the time of Claudius, a.d. 41. They 

 have been classed according to certain districts. Northamptonshire 

 forms part of Sir John Evans' central district, which included Bucks, 

 Beds, Middlesex, Essex, part of Berks, Cambridgeshire and Oxfordshire. 



The Britons had at this time a well established coinage in gold, 

 silver and copper, and the evidence which Sir John adduces from these 

 coins in Northamptonshire is that during the reign of Augustus and 

 Tiberius this portion of the country was partly under the rule of 

 Tasciovanus, whose capital was at Verulamium (St. Albans), and partly 

 under the dominion of Andocomius (a probable contemporary of Tascio- 

 vanus), who is thought to have reigned over what is now Oxfordshire, 

 Beds and Bucks, and part of Northants, for his coins have not been 

 found in any other county. Tasciovanus was succeeded by Cunobeline, 

 the father of Caractacus, whose capital was Camulodunum (Colchester). 

 No coins were discovered at Hunsbury, but in Northampton a gold coin 

 was found about i 2 feet deep in some excavations at the back of what is 

 now the Grand Hotel, then called the Dolphin. It is of light yellow 

 gold, plain on the convex side (British coins like their prototypes the 

 Greek coins are saucer-shaped), and having on the concave side a rude 

 representation of a horse. It is particularly interesting, as being of the 

 same type as one of the only two coins associated with the Late Celtic 

 remains at Aylesford. Coins of this type have been found in south- 

 eastern England as well as in those parts of France formerly inhabited 

 by the Belgic Gauls. Of the inscribed coins, gold coins of Tasciovanus 

 have been discovered at Thrapston and Oundle, silver coins at Gayton, 

 and copper coins at Chipping Warden and Irchester. A gold coin 

 of Andocomius was obtained from Ecton and a silver one from Duston. 

 Coins of Cunobeline, who reigned over the Trinobantes in Essex, the 

 Catyeuchlani and part of the Dobuni, have been found at Castor, Oundle, 

 Irchester, Duston, Wood Burcott near Towcester, Weston-by-Weedon, 

 Chipping Warden, Gretton and at Dingley near Market Harboro'. One 

 of his coins from Duston is made of copper plated with gold, showing 

 that counterfeit coinage is not a modern institution. A gold coin of 

 Antedrigus (who ruled over lands further to the west) that was found 

 at Brackley is considered by Sir John Evans as a stray visitant, as are 

 also the later silver coins of the Iceni found at Castor. A gold coin of 

 Addedomarus was found at Great Houghton. One of the most interesting 

 as well as the rarest of the British coins found within the borders of 

 Northamptonshire is a gold coin of the Brigantes, the largest of British 

 tribes, who occupied the greater part of Yorkshire and Lancashire ; it 



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