Hoxne Hoard

The Hoxne Hoard is the greatest Hoard of Roman Gold and Silver coins ever to be found in Britain, and the greatest Hoard of late fourth century CE coins ever to be found in the Roman Empire.
The Hoxne Hoard consists of 14,865 gold, silver and bronze Roman coins. The earliest coin dates from 367 CE, and the latest coin dates from 408 CE. The coins came from 14 different Mints across the Empire.

The Hoxne Hoard is currently displayed in Room 49, the ‘Roman Britain Gallery’ of the British Museum, in London.

The complete Hoard was found in 1992 by Eric Lawes, a metal detectorist. It was packed into a wooden chest and buried in a field by the river Dove, near Hoxne in Suffolk.
It was buried close by the Eye Road, not far from the Roman Pye Road (A140), which connected Colchester with Caistor St Edmund (Venta Icenorum), near Norwich.
The location was near the River Dove, a tributary of the River Waveney which connects with the River Bure into the Tidal Broads, whose entrance into the North Sea was defended by the Saxon Shore Fort of Burgh Castle (Garrianum).

In addition to the 14,865 coins, there are almost 200 items of Gold Jewelry and Silver Tableware Items, the latter consisting of 98 Silver spoons and ladles, many of which are gilded.
Coins
- 14,865 gold, silver and bronze Roman coins
  - 569 gold Roman coins (solidi, worth 14 ‘heavy’ miliarenses)
  - 14,272 silver Roman coins
    - of which 60 were miliarenses (double the value of a siliqua) and 14,212 were siliquae.
  - 24 bronze Roman coins.
- Siliquae are Roman silver coins from the fourth century CE. A Siliqua weighed 1/24th (0.19 gms) of a gold Solidus Roman coin (weighing 4.5 gms), the name coming from the seed of the carob tree.
- The earliest coin dates from 367 CE and the latest from 408 CE.
Gold Jewelry
- 29 items of Gold Jewelry.
- All the items are in Gold, including: 1 bodychain, 6 necklaces, 3 rings, 19 bracelets
Silver Tableware
- 98 Silver spoons and ladles, many of which are gilded.
- 4 Silver Bowls.
- 4 Silver pepper pots.

The Owner is difficult to identify, although the coins date the Hoard between 367-408 CE.
Theory No 1:
- The jewelry possibly belonged to a wealthy aristocratic Roman Lady.
- The tableware does not include the larger vessels normally associated with other major Hoards, suggesting this is only part of the owner’s possessions.

Theory No 2:
- The period 406-411 CE marks the end of Roman Rule in Britain
- In 407 CE, the Roman General, Constantine III left Britannia with the Roman Legions to retake Gaul but remained there to become a rival to Honorius and his General Stilicho, eventually being made Co-Emperor.
- The Legions never returned which left Britain defenceless against the Saxon invasions.
- It has been suggested that the Hoard may have belonged to an important military family who accompanied Count Theodosius to Britain in 367-8 CE, but buried the treasure when they left with Constantine III in 407 CE.

The Eye Hoard
- Another Hoard, known as the Eye Hoard, which was discovered earlier in 1781 CE, at Clint Farm, Eye, consisted of 600 gold coins with a similar dating between 364-423 CE.
- Although the Hoxne Hoard was found much later in 1992, both Hoards were in almost the same location.
- Unfortunately, the Eye Hoard has now been dispersed.
- However, since both hoards were found in a similar location, and both date from almost exactly the same period, it is possible that they may be linked to each other or even have belonged to the same owner.
Thetford Hoard
- The Thetford Hoard is a 4th century CE Hoard consisting of 81 Gold and Silver items of Romano-British metalwork found in 1979 near Thetford in Norfolk.
- The Hoard dates to the late fourth century CE, but is unusual in that the items hold Pagan inscriptions and images.
- It is possible the Hoard was buried after the Edict of Thessalonica in 380 CE, ending all Pagan religions throughout the Roman Empire.

Hoxne, Suffolk