Andover 2018

MCHBI Ref: ENG0362

Updated: 27-09-2024

Location And Setting

  • Region: England
  • County: Hampshire
  • Mapped location accuracy: > 1000 meters

Timing

  • Deposited: 1174

Discovery

  • Discovered: 2018-2021
  • Circumstances: Metal-Detecting
  • Context: Agricultural land
  • Feature: Ploughsoil

Container And Contents

  • Container: Unknown
  • Hoard Type: Scattered coin hoard (e.g. by plough)

Coin Summary

  • Num. of coins: 132
  • Latest Coin: Class E.
  • Coins issued by: Henry I [1], Henry II - Tealby [131]
  • PAS ref(s): HAMP-5275FE

Disposition

Summary Notes

An important Cross and Crosslets hoard found in Hampshire in two parts: in 2018, 104 Cross and Crosslets pennies were discovered with one Henry I penny, type 15; in 2021 a further 27 Cross and Crosslets pence were recovered from the same location. Condition of the coins is typical with many flat. Class A, as expected, is the predominant, with many coins being from common mints, though there are a few rare ones.

The 130+ Tealbies of the 2018 Andover hoard were recently returned by the British Museum to the two men who found them. 1/3rd of the coins picked at random went to the landowner. Chris Brewchorne was granted access to the hoard, which he has described as follows:

The BM made a reasonable attempt at cataloguing them in the six years they had them, listing the weight, assumed classes and visible lettering, although did not have as much time as CB to spend perhaps 100+ hours buried in Allen's 1951 BMC catalogue and the Elmore Jones plates, working out many of the unresolved moneyers and mints, which was a challenging but absorbing labour of love, with some exciting discoveries.

The lack of the usually common class F on obverses suggests the coins were deposited during class E, which is present in a few examples, eg no later than 1174. The location is a small settlement close to Andover on agricultural land which was once part of a royal hunting forest where Henry II had a lodge. Did one of the kings retainers lose his purse pursuing a deer on horseback ? Who knows... They were found scattered over an area near an old well.

As might be expected, there are a number of coins of the nearby City of Winchester by Herbert, and also a large number of Canterbury mint, and London moneyers such as Geffrei and Ricard. Rare West country mints have a presence, with 2 coins of Exeter, a Salisbury, Bristol, a Gloucester, Chester, an Oxford and most exciting of all, a new example by Walter of Pembroke. Also present are Carlisle, Bury, York, Lincoln, Thetford, Norwich, and Ipswich. The coins are generally crisp and as struck with little wear, although as usual with the Tealby coinage the quality of strike varies hugely. Virtually all the coins were full weight at around 1.45g. One example of Ipswich has the extraordinary weight of 1.75g or 27 grains. There were no fractions, and the number sacrificed to the plough was mercifully minimal. Classes A and C are most frequent, but with a good presence of rarer class B's. The Bristol coin is a new type for the mint, a B2/D mule of moneyer Tancard.

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References