This months Finds of the Month isn’t focusing so much on individual finds as it is one particular find type founds in the Parish of Speen. The First and Second Battles of Newbury during the English Civil war were key turning points for both sides. The second battle stretched right from the Parliamentarian camp west …more
Category: Recording
Finds of the Month – July 2021
Another full month back with fewer restrictions on meeting finders has meant more finds being recorded, but just three this week and all Roman! First up is a copper-alloy Roman harness pendant. The pendant is of Bishop Type 1L. The top of the pendant has a complete, solid integral loop. These 1st century harness pendants aren’t …more
Finds of the Month – June 2021
First full month of finds surgeries back and there have been some interesting new additions to the PAS database in Berkshire. First of is our little Saxon fella; the Early-Medieval copper-alloy Anglo-Saxon gesture figurine. It fits within a small (but slowly growing) repertoire of 7th century 3-dimensional figurines from south and east England, mainly along the …more
Finds of the Month – April 2021
After a couple of weeks away from the blog I’m back with finds of the month. The good news is that I’ll be able to see these shortly as I will be meeting finders from the end of May. There were few finds in this month but that is because I am preparing to see …more
Museum Musings – April 2021
Somehow I can’t believe it is already April! This month looking in the West Berkshire Museum archive I came across the Yattendon Hoard. It is made up of a total of 57 bronze objects, tools and weapons discovered in 1876 during excavations instigated by Alfred Waterhouse for the foundations of the mansion Yattendon Court on …more
A Token Gesture – Berkshire Trade Tokens
To deal with a lack of small denominations in the regal coinage during and after the civil war, civic institutions and individual business people issued copper-alloy tokens between 1648 and 1672 (1679 in Ireland); the end date resulting from the reintroduction of farthings in copper alloy by Charles II (PAS Tokens Guide). On the PAS database …more
Finds of the Month – March 2021
Still working through lockdown and receiving objects through email, but that hasn’t stopped some rather interesting finds coming in. Most recently is this copper-alloy Roman object. I say object because at around 40mm it is too big to be a sestersius. The portrait appears to be Antonine in date and could be of Faustina, the …more
You Wear It Well – Roman Crossbow Brooches
Recently I posted a picture of the sole Roman crossbow brooch from Berkshire, found in the parish of Welford, on Instagram and asked people “Which way up is correct?” The results of this were about 50/50. The traditional way to show a crossbow brooch on images is with the axis bar, what we call the …more
Museum Musings – March 2021
Recently, West Berkshire has been able to acquire a very nice 17th – 18th century silver seal matrix for the collection. The item was found in the parish of Woolhampton in 2019 and declared treasure. This seal matrix has the image of a dove holding an olive branch, a recognised symbol of peace. The handle …more
Sweet Child O’ Mine – Roman Putti Figurines
Late last year I tweeted a Roman putto (child) figurine that was brought in for recording. The statue is in the form of a chubby and naked winged boy, a putto, seated with his arm outstretched and bent at the elbows. His right hand is broken and his left arm is holding a ball. The boy’s …more
