A Short Cross Hoard from Wrexham

A SHORT CROSS HOARD FROM WREXHAM

J. M. LEWIS

IN 1926 Mr. Harold Williams of Acton, Wrexham, and his brother (then schoolboys) were helping to level the soil in the garden of their newly built house at 312 Chester Road, Wrexham, when, four or five feet below ground level, in a sand pit that had been dug to provide sand for the building, they found a pottery vessel containing a quantity of silver coins. The finds were shown to several local antiquarians, but do not seem to have aroused much interest, as they remained at the house until the Williams family sold it in 1966. By that time the find had come to be regarded as part of the property, and passed with the house into the hands of the new owner, Mr. John Hall, who early in 1969 took it to the Grosvenor Museum, Chester. Events were then put in train which led to an inquest being held on the coins at Wrexham on 20 June 1969, when the jury surprisingly found that the find was not treasure trove. Mr. Williams, as the surviving finder, subsequently sold the sixty-eight coins that had been the subject of the inquest, together with the pot, to the National Museum of Wales, Cardiff (Acc. No. 69.211). These sixty-eight coins do not constitute the complete hoard as originally found. Over the years an unknown number of coins had been dispersed as souvenirs among the Williams family and their friends. To date only three of these dispersed coins have been recovered and acquired by the National Museum (Acc. No. 69.301). Another half-dozen or so were sold to a dealer after the inquest, but they were quickly resold so that there is no record of them. Together these make a known total of about seventy-seven. Mr. Williams is of the opinion that the original total may have been in the region of 120. The question whether the remaining coins can be taken as a representative sample will be considered below. The coins were found If- miles north of the centre of Wrexham, about 50 yards east of the Chester road at Nat. Grid 34/3384 5311. This spot is some 30 feet inside the boundary of the parish of Wrexham Regis. The area between the town and the parish boundary was occupied in medieval times by the open town fields of Wrexham.1 The find-site is on a gentle north-facing slope that dips into a hollow to the north, along which the parish boundary runs. This hollow is now drained and cultivated, but in the eighteenth century the enclosure in which the find occurred and the one adjoining it on the east were known as 'the Two Werns' (gwern—marsh), while in 1620 the corre- sponding area on the west side of the Chester road was known as Gwaun y terfyn (the Boundary Moor). It is therefore most unlikely that the find spot was occupied by cultivated strips in medieval times; rather it occupied a strip of waste, outside the cultivated area, which formed the northern edge of the parish. A place such as this, near the high road, would no doubt have been a suitable place for concealment.

1 A. N. Palmer, History of the Town of Wrexham (1893), pp. 100-4. 20 A SHORT CROSS HOARD FROM WREXHAM

A. ENGLISH SHORT CROSS PENNIES Mint and moneyer Class Rev. inscription Weight Grams (Grains) Canterbury L Goldwine IV + GOLDWIE . ON. CAN 1-33 (20-5) 2. Hernaud IV + ERNAUD.ON.CA 1-21 (18-7) 3. loan VII + 10AN ON CATER 1-43 (22-1) 4. loan Chic- VII + IOAN CHIC ON CA 1-36 (21-0) 5. loan Fr VII + IOAN.F.R.ON CANT 1-43 (22-1) 6. VII + IOAN F.R ON CAN 1-35 (20-9) 7. VII + IOAN F R ON CAN 1-23 (19-0) Chevron-barred A 8. Iohan M Vb + IO//N.M.ON.CA 1-45 (22-4) Double-struck 9. Meinir IV + MEINIR.ON. CAN 1-33 (20-5) 10. Nichole VII + NICHOLE ON CAN 1-45 (22-4) 11. VII + NICHOLE ON CA 1-16 (17-9) 12. VII + NICHOLE ON CA 1-51 (23-3) 13. VII ////OLE ON CA 1-46 (22-5) 14. VIII + NICHOLE ON CANT 1-44 (22-2) 15. Norman VII + NORMAN ON CAN 1-15 (17-8) 16. Osmund VII + OSMVNDE ON CA 1-43 (22-1) 17. Roger VI + ROGER . ON. CANTE 1-48 (22-9) 18. VII + ROGER ON CAN 1-45 (22-4) 19. Roger of R VII + ///ER.OF.R.ON CA 1-47 (22-7) 20. Salemun VII + SALEMVN ON CA 112 (17-2) 21. Simon Vb + SIMON.ON. CAN 1-42 (21-9) 22. VII + SIM///ON. CANTE 1-34 (20-7) 23. Tomas VII -I-TOMA//N CANT 1-44 (22-2) 24. VII + TOMAS ON CANT 1-35 (20-9) 25. VII + TOMAS ON CANT 1-13 (17-5) 26. Ulard IV + VLARD. ON. CAN 1-34 (20-7) 27. Willem VII + ////EM ON CAN 1-33 (20-5)

London 28. Adam VII + AD///N LVNDE. 1-46 (22-5) 29. VII /DAM ON LV// 1-35 (20-9) 30. VII + //AM ON LVNDE 1-42 (21-9) 31. Elis VII + ELIS ON LVNDE 1-41 (21-8) 32. Geffrei VII + GIFFREI ON LV 1-17 (18-1) 33. VII + GIFFREI ON LV// 1-45 (22-4) 34. Ilger VII + ILGER ON LVNDE 1-45 (22-4) 35. VII + ILGE ON LVNDE 1-39 (21-5) 36. VII + IL///ON LVN.D 1-38 (21-3) 37. VII //GER ON LVND 1-37 (21-2) 38. Nichole VII + NICHOLE ON LVND 1-29 (19-9) 39. VII + NICHOLE ON LVN 1-44 (22-2) 40. VII + NICHOLE ON LVN 1-51 (23-3) 41. VII + NICHOLE ON LVN 1-44 (22-2) 42. VII + NICHOLE ON LVN 1-25 (19-3) 43. VII + NICHOLE ON LVN 1-48 (22-9) 44. VII + NICHOL//N LVN 1-51 (23-3) 45. VII + ///HOLE ON LVN 1-45 (22-3) 46. VII + NICHOLE ON LV. 1-38 (21-3) 47. VII + NICHOLE ON LV. 1-27 (19-6) 21 A SHORT CROSS HOARD FROM WREXHAM Mint and moneyer Class Rev. inscription Weight Grams (Grains) 48. VII + NICHOLE O/ LV 1-37 (21-2) 49. Raulf VII -f- RAVLF ON LVNDN 119 (18-3) 50. VII /AVLF ON LVN 1-16 (17-9) 51. Ricard IVc + RICARD. ON. LVN 1-08 (16-6) 52. Walter Vc + WALTER.ON LV 1-41 (21-8) 53. Willelm Va + WILLELM. ON. LVN 1-34 (20-7) 54. Vb + WI. LLELM. ON. LVN 1-42 (21-9)

Bury St. Edmunds 55. Iohan VII + IO////N SANTE 1-38 (21-3) 56. Norman VII + NORMAN ON SAN 1 "20 (18'5) 57. Simund VII + SIMVND////NT 1-43 (22 1) 58. VII //MVND ON SANT 1-01 (15-6)

York 59. Willelm lb + WILLELM. ON. /VER 0-83 (12-8)

Mint not known 60. Henri VII HENRI///// 1-43 (22-1) 61. ( )mund VII //MVND ON III 1-16 (17-9) 62. Willem VII + WILLEM ON III 1-46 (22-5) Double struck obv./rev.

B. CUT HALFPENNIES London 63. Adam VII AD//////NDE 0-78 (12-1) 64. ? IV /////N LVN HI 0-75 (11-6)

Mint uncertain 65. Adam V ADAM . 011 HI 0-70 (10-8) 66. Osber la //BER.ON. w// 0-69 (10-7) Winchester or Wilton 67. Tomas VII TOMAS O/III 0-63 (9-7)

C. IRISH PENNY John as Lord of Ireland and King of England. First coinage (c. 1204/5-1210?). 68. Roberd, Dublin ROBERD ON DIVE 1-47 (22-7) Dot 2t, cf. Dolley and Seaby, Ulster Museum i, no. 368

D. SCOTTISH PENNY William the Lion. Third coinage 1195-1214 69. Hue Walter ///WATRI 1-32 (20-4) Double struck

E. CONTINENTAL STERLINGS 70. Conrad, Bishop of Osnabruck (1227-38) Obv. SANCT'PETR' Engel et Serrure, Traite, Rev. CONRADUSEP 1-40 (21-6) ii, p. 641, fig. 1136 71. Lordship of Lippe. Herman II (1196-1229) Obv. SANCTACO(lonia) Engel et Serrure, Traite, Rev. LIPPECL(vi)TAS 1-40 (21-6) ii, p. 645 22 A SHORT CROSS HOARD FROM WREXHAM The coins were weighed in grammes, the figures in brackets being a conversion of these weights to grains. The following table is an analysis of the pennies of the parcel in respect of their classes and weights.

Weight in grains IV VI VII VIII 12-0-12-9 130-13-9 140-14-9 15-0-15-9 1 16-0-16-9 1 17-0-17-9 6 6 18-0-18-9 3 4 19-0-19-9 4 4 20-0-20-9 5 9 21-0-21-9 9 12 22-0-22-9 18 21 23-0-23-9 3 3 49 62

The Short Cross pennies in the parcel may be tabulated as follows:

Mint I IV V VI VII VIII

Bury St. Edmunds m m 4 4 Canterbury 4 2 l 19 1 27 London 1 3 23 27 York 1 1 Not known 3 3 T T T T 49 T 62

The most obvious characteristic of this distribution is the preponderance of Class VII (79 per cent) compared with the low proportion of Classes V and VI. One suspects, however, that these relative proportions have been affected by the dispersal, which is unlikely to have been a random one. It is reasonable to suppose that good quality, legible samples would have been chosen for gifts, which would tend to account for the low proportion of Class V: it is significant that the three coins recovered after the inquest all belonged to this class. While dispersal may have affected the composition of the parcel, it is unlikely that it would have affected its dating. The presence of a Class VIII coin must place the de- position of the hoard after 1242, while the absence of Long Cross coins probably places it before the recoinage of 1247. These were troubled times in north-east Wales, and possible historical reasons for the laying down of a hoard at Wrexham during these years are not far to seek. In 1244 Dafydd ap Llywelyn of Gwynedd and the Welsh princes allied to him began a policy of open conflict with the English which met increasing retaliation, culminating in Henry Ill's expedition to Degannwy1 in 1245. Wrexham was part of the territories of Powys Fadog, whose prince was not an ally of Dafydd, but it is unlikely that it can have remained totally unaffected by the fears engendered by these events.

1 Sir John Lloyd, History of Wales, ii, pp. 701-6. 23 A SHORT CROSS HOARD FROM WREXHAM

THE POT The pot that contained the coins is a small handled jug or pitcher, 9-5 cm. high with a maximum diameter of 8 cm. It is a miniature version of the squat type of medieval jug. The ware is dark grey with sparse quartz grits, fired orange/buff inside and light grey outside. A thin, light olive-green glaze survives in patches, but has been rubbed away in places exposing a light-grey pitted surface. The outer surface is regular and undecorated; the lower half of the inner surface has sharp-edged wheel marks and there is a pro- nounced boss at the centre of the base.