List of hoards in the Channel Islands

The list of hoards in the Channel Islands comprises significant archaeological hoards of coins, jewellery, precious and scrap metal objects and other valuable items discovered in the Channel Islands (Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, Herm and associated smaller islands). It includes both hoards that were buried with the intention of retrieval at a later date (personal hoards, founder's hoards, merchant's hoards, and hoards of loot), and also hoards of votive offerings which were not intended to be recovered at a later date, but excludes grave goods and single items found in isolation. The list is subdivided into sections according to archaeological and historical periods.

At least fifteen hoards have been found in the Channel Islands since the early 18th century, most of them in Jersey, and only one each in Guernsey, Alderney and Sark. Of the known hoards, about a third date to the Bronze Age and are mostly founder's hoards comprising broken tools, weapons and other scrap metal buried with the intention of recovery at a later date for use in casting new bronze items. Another third are hoards of Iron Age Celtic coins, mostly coins called staters cast in debased silver (billon alloy), the majority deriving from Armorica (modern Brittany and Normandy in France), but some deriving from Southern Britain.[1] The remaining hoards comprise Roman coins, some of which may have been buried by Armorican Celts fleeing from Roman armies during the campaigns of Julius Caesar in the mid 1st century B.C.[2] Although the contents of most Iron Age and Roman hoards found in the Channel Islands originated from nearby France or Britain, one hoard that was discovered in Guernsey during the late 19th century comprised Roman coins minted in Alexandria in Egypt during the late 3rd century A.D.[3]

Bronze Age hoards

The table below list hoards that are associated with the Bronze Age, approximately 1300 BC to 700 BC.

Hoard	Image	Date	Place of discovery	Year of discovery	Current Location	Contents
Cadoret Hoard		?	Saint Mary Jersey 49.2415°N 2.1820°W	1995		Founder's hoard comprising 178 miscellaneous bronze items, including broken pieces of weapons, tools and ornaments, as well as casting debris[4]
La Blanche Pierre Hoard		?	Saint Lawrence Jersey 49.2040°N 2.1500°W	1976		114 bronze items, mostly broken axes, spears and swords, in an urn[4]
Mainlands Hoard		?	Saint Lawrence Jersey 49.2013°N 2.1483°W	1871		Bronze items[4]
Longy Hoard		9th century B.C.	Longy Common Alderney 49.723°N 2.175°W	1832	Guille-Allès Museum, Guernsey	Founder's hoard of about 200 bronze items, including axes, spear heads, sickles, chisels and bronze scraps[5]
St Ouen's Hoard		?	Saint Ouen Jersey 49.2255°N 2.2090°W	2002		200 bronze items[4]
Town Mill Hoard		?	Saint Helier Jersey 49.1952°N 2.1000°W	1836		88 bronze axes, most miniature versions of an Armorican type[4]
Trinity Hoard		?	Trinity Jersey 49.2350°N 2.0911°W	2012		Pot containing tools and weapons, including 23 bronze axeheads[6][7]

Iron Age hoards

The table below list hoards that are associated with the Iron Age, approximately 8th century BC to the 1st century AD.

Hoard	Image	Date	Place of discovery	Year of discovery	Current Location	Contents
Grouville Hoard		1st century B.C.	Grouville Jersey 49.19°N 2.05°W	2012	In the hands of Jersey Heritage (not on display)	30,000 – 50,000 late Iron Age Celtic and Roman coins, as well as some items of silver and gold jewellery[8]
La Marquanderie Hoard		mid 1st century AD	Saint Brélade Jersey 49.1875°N 2.1995°W	1935		10,547 Armorican coins, almost all issued by the Curiosolitae[4]
Le Câtillon Hoard		mid 1st century BC	Grouville Jersey 49.1946°N 2.0525°W	1957	Dispersed, but the La Hougue Bie Museum holds some coins	About 2,500 Armorican, Belgic and Southern British Iron Age coins, most billon staters issued by the Curiosolitae, as well as some pieces of jewellery, including fragments of a gold torque, several silver and bronze fibulae, a silver chain and some bronze rings[1][4]
Rozel Hoard (1820)		mid 1st century B.C.	Le Câtel, Rozel, Saint Martin Jersey 49.238°N 2.055°W	1820	Lost	At least 982 Armorican billon staters, mostly issued by the Curiosolitae[9]
Rozel Hoard (1875)		mid 1st century B.C. (c. 40 B.C.)	Little Caesarea, Rozel, Saint Martin Jersey 49.237°N 2.048°W	1875	Mostly lost, some at the British Museum, London	Several thousand coins (drawings of 700 of them are known)[10]

Roman hoards

The table below list hoards of Roman artefacts and Roman coins.

Hoard	Image	Date	Place of discovery	Year of discovery	Current Location	Contents
Île Agois Hoard		mid 3rd century	Île Agois, Saint Mary Jersey 49.249°N 2.182°W			18 antoniniani, dated A.D. 253–268, in a pot[11]
Jerbourg Hoard		late 3rd century	Jerbourg Point, Saint Martin Guernsey 49.425°N 2.535°W	before 1890	Dispersed	68 tetradrachms minted in Alexandria during the reigns of the emperors Probus (4 coins), Carus (3 coins), Numerian (3 coins), Carinus (4 coins), Diocletian (34 coins) and Maximian (19 coins)[3]
Quennevais Hoard		mid 4th century	Les Quennevais, Saint Brélade Jersey 49.197°N 2.194°W	1848	Jersey Museum (264 coins)	About 400 coins in a pot, mainly Roman folles dated A.D. 290–354[11][12]
Sark Hoard		1st century B.C.	La Vaurocque Sark 49.430°N 2.365°W	1719	Lost	18 Roman and Gaulish silver coins, a silver mount in the form of a dolphin, and 13 silver or silver-gilt phalerae in an iron-bound pottery urn[13][14]

See also

• List of hoards in Great Britain
• List of hoards in Ireland
• List of hoards in the Isle of Man
• List of metal detecting finds
• History of Guernsey
• History of Jersey

Footnotes

1. Finch, Olga. "Le Câtillon Hoard" (PDF). Jersey Heritage. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
2. "Jersey Celtic Coin hoard contains gold and silver items". Jersey Heritage. 5 July 2012. Retrieved 6 July 2012.
3. Robinson, E. S. G. (1937). "A Hoard of Alexandrine Coins from Guernsey". The Numismatic Chronicle and Journal of the Royal Numismatic Society: 135–138.
4. "Schedule of sites of archaeological importance" (PDF). States of Jersey. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
5. Kendrick, Author Thomas Downing (1928). The Archaeology of the Channel Islands. 1. Taylor & Francis. pp. 62–64.
6. "Bronze Age pottery find in Jersey". BBC News. 10 October 2012. Retrieved 18 November 2012.
7. "Airport x-ray scans reveal haul of new Bronze Age axeheads in pot found in Jersey field". Culture24. 13 November 2012. Retrieved 18 November 2012.
8. "Roman and Celtic coin hoard worth up to £10m found in Jersey". BBC News. 26 June 2012. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
9. de Beaulieu, Colbert (1958). "Armorican coin hoards in the Channel Islands". Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society. 24: 201–210. doi:10.1017/s0079497x00016807.
10. Allen, D. F. (1971). "The Sark Hoard". Archaeologia. 103: 1–31. doi:10.1017/s0261340900013849.
11. Eadie, Peter McGregor (1981). The Channel Islands. E. Benn. p. 23. ISBN 0528846191.
12. Higginbottom, R. W. (1981). Burnett, Andrew M. (ed.). Coin hoards from Roman Britain. 2. British Museum. p. 69. ISBN 0-86159-031-7.
13. Allen, D. F. "The Sark Hoard of Celtic Coins and Phalerae". The Numismatic Chronicle: 37–54.
14. Harding, Dennis William (2007). The Archaeology of Celtic Art. Routledge. p. 227. ISBN 9780415351775.