Builders were stunned when they came across one of the largest collections of Roman coins ever found in Britain – worth £100,000.
A total of 1,368 Iron Age and Roman coins from the reign of Emperor Nero were unearthed at a construction site near Worcester.
Experts say the ‘miracle’ discovery represents one of the most important discoveries of the century.
Most of the coins are silver dinars, which were minted in Rome and date from the Roman Republic in 157 BC to the reign of Nero between AD 54-68.
The Worcestershire Conquest Hoard is one of the largest coins of the Roman Conquest period and the largest of Nero’s reign, ever found in Britain.
It is believed that the money belonged to a rich farmer who provided grain and livestock to the Roman soldiers.
The hoard was found in the Leigh and Bransford area, west of Worcester, late last year and is worth more than £100,000.
Dr Murray Andrews, lecturer in British history at University College Londonhe said: ‘It is the most miraculous thing I have seen in the last 100 years.
Builders were stunned when they came across one of the largest collections of Roman coins ever found in Britain – worth £100,000.
A total of 1,368 Iron Age and Roman coins from the reign of Emperor Nero were unearthed at a construction site near Worcester.
‘It is an important part of archaeology.
‘It tells us what was going on here 2,000 years ago, when the Malvern Hills may have been the border of the Roman Empire.’
The hoard contains a single gold coin that scholars have identified as an Iron Age stater.
This coin was made for a British tribe, the Dobunni, who were in Worcestershire in AD 20-45.
It appears that the pot containing the coins was made at a pottery kiln at the foot of the Malvern Hills.
In June the barn was declared a treasure and now Worcestershire Heritage, Art & Museums is aiming to raise £6,000 to display it.
Chair of Worcestershire County Council’s museum committee, Karen May, said: “What an exciting and important event for anyone wanting to know more about the county’s heritage.
‘This is a real Worcestershire treasure, and should be seen and enjoyed by the people of Worcestershire for generations to come.’
The deposit is the third to be found in the area in the last 25 years.
In 1999, 434 silver coins and 38 pottery shards were found near Chaddesley Corbett.
In 2011 two metallurgists from Redditch found a clay pot filled with 3,784 coins on Bredon Hill.
