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: Post Medieval
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
Museum Musings – June 2021
This week has been Musuems Week with a social media hashtag each day. At West Berkshire Museum there is a large display of objects relating to the English Civil War as in Newbury there were two large Civil War battles. The First Battle of Newbury (September 20th 1643) and the Second Battle of Newbury (October …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
Finds of the Month – February 2021
It was getting to the point recently that I didn’t think I would have much for Finds of the Month. However, very recently some rather interesting things landed in my inbox which I’ll be seeing once museums reopen. The first is, what would have been in its day, a very decorative Millefiori stud, dated to …more
Museum Musings – February 2021
This month for Museum Musings I’ll be looking at S-shaped fasteners, also known as ‘snake buckles.’ The one below was declared treasure in 2009 and subsequently acquired by West Berkshire museum. The buckle, or strap fitting as we record them, consists of the heads and necks of two snakes curved and joined together to form an …more
Finds of the Month – January 2021
With the current lockdown restrictions metal detecting hasn’t been allowed this month. However, I have still been receiving finds from pre-lockdown and here are a few I have recorded this month. First up is the featured find from last week. A Silver-plated contemporary copy of a denarius of Septimius Severus (AD193 – 211). There was …more
