Hampshire hotspot for treasure after record haul of discoveries

Treasure hunters landed a record haul of discoveries in 2019 – with Hampshire a hotspot, official figures show.
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Provisional figures from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) show there were 1,311 treasure finds in 2019 – which is the highest figure on record.

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It was also the sixth year in a row in which more than 1,000 finds of treasure were reported, according to DCMS data for 2018/19.

Arthur Mack (left) who found the site of HMS Invincible and artefacts from the ship with Christopher Gale, senior curator of The National Museum of the Royal NavyArthur Mack (left) who found the site of HMS Invincible and artefacts from the ship with Christopher Gale, senior curator of The National Museum of the Royal Navy
Arthur Mack (left) who found the site of HMS Invincible and artefacts from the ship with Christopher Gale, senior curator of The National Museum of the Royal Navy
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Of the 1,311 discoveries that were made in 2019, 1,262 of them happened in England, 45 in Wales and four in Northern Ireland – up from a total of 1,094 in the previous year.

Hampshire appeared as the hotspot in 2019 as 104 cases, or 8 per cent, of the total treasure discoveries in England, Wales and Northern Ireland were made there.

Studies are still being carried out on the items found in 2019 to help pinpoint the period of history they came from and the number of pieces that museums in the UK are interested in acquiring.

The DCMS data states that 2019 is the sixth time since the 1996 Treasure Act replaced the old common law of Treasure Trove in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, that the number of treasure finds exceeded 1,000.

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Treasure hunters armed with metal detectors seemed to have had the most success in 2018, as 96% of finds were unearthed this way.

Another 3 per cent, or 29 cases, were made through archaeological finds in 2018 – along with seven cases that were chance finds.

England had 1,068 treasure finds in 2018, while 20 were made in Wales and six in Northern Ireland in that year.

A breakdown of the 1,068 discoveries shows that 20,906 artefacts, including objects and coins, were among the individual items which were found.

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Museums had a windfall as they managed to buy or receive donations of 348 of the finds in 2018.

Treasures dating back to the post-medieval period made up 32 per cent of the finds in 2018, while 25 per cent were from the medieval times, according to the data.

The richest pickings across 2018/2019 seem to have been in the South East of England which had the highest number of reported finds at 322, followed by the East of England with 285 finds.

London had the fewest reported finds with 15, while the North East was the second lowest region with 17.

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Norfolk was the discovery hotspot in 2018 as 103 cases, or 9 per cent of total finds in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, were made there.

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