Thursday, 6 November 2025

A hoard of gold coins from the Dissolution era


The ZME Science and BBC News websites have reports about a significant hoard of gold coins found during lockdown in a garden at Milford on Sea in Hampshire. The total of 70 gold coins date from the early years of King Henry VI in the 1420s, include others issued under King Edward IV and King Henry VII, but the majority are from the reign of King Henry VIII, ending in 1535-7. Their face value is £26.5.5 and a halfpenny. Designated the New Forest Hoard, in the basis of the last date for minting they appear to have been buried about the time of the dissolution of the monasteries - and that is suggested by the ZME article as the reason for their concealment. I am not sure that monasteries such as Christchurch Priory - or for that  matter the nearby Beaulieu Abbey - would have necessarily held such quantities of cash, and I would be inclined to see this as family rather than institutional wealth. 

It occurs to me than another possible reason for burying a sizeable sum in gold might have been the threat of a French raid in the area in 1544-45, best remembered today for the loss of the Mary Rose. 

In addition by that time the government was debasing the silver currency and these gold coins may have been buried as a safeguard against the consequent inflation.

The coins have now been sold in smaller lots at auction.  Personally I think it is to be regretted that the hoard could not be kept together, although I assume it has all been catalogued and that can be cited by researchers.




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2 comments:

  1. Anonymous7 November 2025 at 09:47

    My sister lives in Milford on Sea, and her husband is a keen gardener. I wonder if there's something they haven't told me! :-)

    Re inflation and debasement of the coinage in the 1540s, wasn't Henry VIII called (behind his back) "Old Copper Nose", because once the thin gold layer wore off supposedly gold coins, the copper beneath would be revealed?

    Regards

    John Ramsden (jrq@gmx.com)

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  2. Once I Was A Clever Boy7 November 2025 at 12:15

    It was the silver currency that was debased by adding copper, and hence “Old Copper Nose”. I don’t think the gold currency was devalued in that way, but, if I recall correctly, I don’t think the Mint was striking many gold coins in those years. I think new gold coins were relatively scare under Edward VI, and the beginning of the recoinage in silver began in 1551 with coins really worth something again. This continued under Maryand Elizabeth until 1572. I suspect new gold coins were rarer than they had been in the later middle ages from Edward III’s issues beginning in 1344 ( if I recall aright).

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