The Mitton Hoard is a

hoard A hoard or "wealth deposit" is an archaeological term for a collection of valuable objects or artifacts, sometimes purposely buried in the ground, in which case it is sometimes also known as a cache. This would usually be with the intention of ...

of silver coins found near

Clitheroe Clitheroe () is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Ribble Valley, Lancashire, England; it is located north-west of Manchester. It is near the Forest of Bowland and is often used as a base for tourists visiting the area. In 2018, the Cl ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, in 2006 or 2009. The hoard is now in

Clitheroe Castle Museum Clitheroe Castle Museum is located in Clitheroe, Lancashire, England, in the former Steward's House, a Grade II listed building that was built in the 18th century to house the steward of Clitheroe Castle. It is a museum showing the history of the ...

. The documented treasure consisted of 11 silver coins or parts of coins.

Local history

Mitton is divided into two villages,

Great Mitton Great Mitton is a village and a civil parish in the Ribble Valley, Lancashire, England. It is separated from the civil parish of Little Mitton by the River Ribble, both lie about three miles from the town of Clitheroe. The combined population o ...

and

Little Mitton Little Mitton is a civil parish in the Ribble Valley district, in the county of Lancashire, England. In 2001 the population of the civil parish of Little Mitton was 42, but by the time of the census 2011 population details had been absorbed in th ...

. This find was first detected to the west of Great Mitton between the

River Hodder The River Hodder is in Lancashire, England. It is a County Biological Heritage Site. It rises on White Hill and flows for approximately 23 miles to the River Ribble, of which it is the largest tributary. The Hodder drains much of the Fore ...

and the

River Ribble The River Ribble runs through North Yorkshire and Lancashire in Northern England. It starts close to the Ribblehead Viaduct in North Yorkshire, and is one of the few that start in the Yorkshire Dales and flow westwards towards the Irish Sea (t ...

. The find was near a bend in the River Hodder. One source says that these coins were found in 2006 whilst another says that the coins were found using a metal detector on Monday 7 September 2009. The treasure was declared to be treasure and it was obtained by the museum services. The hoard is now on display in the

The hoard

The hoard can be dated from the date of the last coin that was included in the hoard and this came from the 1420s. Three of the coins were the oldest and they dated to the reign of Edward I or Edward II. The English silver is 97.5% pure whilst the French fragments are 80% pure silver. With the exception of the farthing these coins represent all the small value coins. It is thought that these coins could all be in circulation at the same time. The hoard was probably either accidentally lost, or deliberately hidden, in the late 1420s.

Artefacts

The documented treasure consisted of 11 silver coins or coin fragments. The coins were: *Three pennies from

Edward I Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vassal o ...

Edward II of England Edward II (25 April 1284 – 21 September 1327), also called Edward of Caernarfon, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1307 until he was deposed in January 1327. The fourth son of Edward I, Edward became the heir apparent to ...

*Two half-groats from

Edward III of England Edward III (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377), also known as Edward of Windsor before his accession, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from January 1327 until his death in 1377. He is noted for his military success and for restoring ro ...

*A halfpenny from

Richard II of England Richard II (6 January 1367 – ), also known as Richard of Bordeaux, was King of England from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. He was the son of Edward the Black Prince, Prince of Wales, and Joan, Countess of Kent. Richard's father die ...

*Three groats from

Henry VI of England Henry VI (6 December 1421 – 21 May 1471) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1422 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471, and disputed King of France from 1422 to 1453. The only child of Henry V, he succeeded to the English thron ...

*There are also two small fragments made for Gaucher V de Châtillon between 1313 and 1322. Gaucher V de Châtillon held one of five highest officers of state as he was the

Constable of France The Constable of France (french: Connétable de France, from Latin for 'count of the stables') was lieutenant to the King of France, the first of the original five Great Officers of the Crown (along with seneschal, chamberlain, butler, and ...

from 1302 to 1329. :Note: Eleven of the coins are documented however there are more than eleven coins on display at the Clitheroe Castle Museum.Picture of the displayed Mitton hoard
Mike Peel, September 2015, Wikimedia Commons

References

{{Borough of Ribble Valley culture Clitheroe Treasure troves in England Treasure troves of Medieval Europe 2009 archaeological discoveries Collections of Lancashire Museums History of Lancashire

Local history

The hoard

Artefacts

See also

References