SAXON SILVER ORNAMENTS AND COINS. 293 



sisting of coins of five of the Kings of Mercia, an unique penny 

 of Eanred, King of Northumbria, with others, of which a Hst is 

 appended. — Mr. C. S. Gilbert, in his History of Cornwall (vol. ii, 

 869) says that the cup contained the coins, when found. 



Mr. Jonathan Rashleigh has furnished me with the means of 

 comparing this hoard with a very similar hoard of Saxon Coins 

 which was found in 1838 at Gravesend, and described by Mr. 

 Hawkins in the Numismatic Chronicle, vol. iii, pp. 14, 54. 



The Gravesend hoard was much richer in coins than that of 

 Trewhiddle, as the former consisted of 550 coins, the latter of 

 only 114; but the two hoards are so similar in many respects 

 that a comparison of them cannot fail to interest the Saxon 

 student. 



The Gravesend hoard, being near East Anglia, contains coins 

 of that Kingdom in large numbers, not one of which is to be 

 found in the Trewhiddle hoard. But the latter, being in the 

 West of Mercia, contains, as might be expected, a greater variety 

 of Mercian coins. Each contained coins of Louis le Debonaire, 

 of Ceolnoth Archbishop of Canterbury, of Ceohvulf one specimen 

 and by the same money er; and all the money ers of Burgred's 

 which are in the Trewhiddle hoard, were found at Gravesend. 

 Coins of Burgred, King of Mercia (852-874) are the most numer- 

 ous in each hoard, and the coin of the latest King in each case is 

 one of Alfred (872-901). Taken together, they form an almost 

 uninterrupted series of coins of 14 Saxon Kings, from Offa, King 

 of Mercia, down to Alfred, i.e., from 757 to 901. 



Let us endeavour to account for, and to fix the date of, the 

 deposit of these treasures. ' 



The latest commencement of a reign in the Trewhiddle hoard 

 is that of Ceolwulf, 874 ; the latest at Gravesend is that of 

 Athelstan, 878. The former therefore must have been secreted 

 after the year 874, and the latter after the year 878 ; but as there 

 are but two coins of Alfred's reign in the Trewhiddle hoard, and 

 only one of that reign was found at Gravesend, and as that King 

 reigned until the latest period of all the Kings whose coins occur 

 at either place, it is probable that the former hoard was deposited 

 soon after 874, and the latter soon after 878. 



We learn from the Saxon Chronicle, that the Danish army in- 

 vaded the south-west parts of England, and Alfred drove them 



