Find Spot record 2373/2 - Congleton coin hoard 2

<1> National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside, 1992, Coin Hoards from Priesty Fields, Congleton: Survey and Documentary Research (Client Report). SCH4160.

One of four separate hoards of 16th and 17th century silver coins found in close association by metal detectorists in April and May 1992. The four caches of coins, each contained in a pottery vessel, had been deposited in a steep, 10-metre high, natural bank alongside the Howty Brook on the outskirts of Congleton. There appears to be a close relationship between the four hoards in terms of the similar date of coinage, the close location of deposition (hoards 3 and 4 were almost touching), and the similarities of the pottery vessels in which they were buried (two lidded jars and two earthenware bottles). These similarities indicate a link between the hoards and possibly that that one individual or family was responsible for their deposition. In the early 1670s the field was owned by John Walker, a prominent and wealthy Congleton business man, three-times mayor and a Royalist, who died in 1675. The initials of 'J:CW' appear on the vessel of hoard 2, they may represent the name of John Walker and his wife.

Hoard 2 contained 791 coins ranging in date from 1554-1670 and consisting of 1 shilling of Philip and Mary; 231 sixpences and 106 shillings of Elizabeth I; 46 sixpences, 129 shillings and 8 half-crowns of James I; 5 sixpences, 169 shillings and 74 half-crowns of Charles II. The latest coins are two half-crowns dated 1670, one of which was uncirculated and the other showing wear on only its reverse side; it is thought likely therefore that the hoard was deposited in or shortly after 1670. The coins were contained in an agate ware bottle of later 17th and early 18th century date and engraved with the letters 'ICW' (the 'I' being crossed so probably representing a 'J'). These letters may relate to the initials of John Walker who, until his death in 1675, owned the land on which the hoards were found.

<2> Chester Archaeology, 1992, Four Coin Hoards from Congleton: Report on the Pottery (Report). SCH8027.

<3> Cheshire County Council, 1992, Congleton Coin Hoards: Catalogue (Report). SCH8026.