VISITS

Sunday 22 September 2013

Treasure find.

In 1912 Mr Philip Harr, a farmer from Freiston, a village near Boston, had arranged for a new fence to be placed around his farmyard, and accordingly, workmen were engaged in erecting it. One of the men, George Clayton, had dug down to a depth of approximately 3 feet, when his attention was caught by the skeleton of an animal, apparently that of a dog. With the bones thrown out was what appeared at first sight to be a piece of old brick, but the shovel caught the object and revealed to the workman an antique jug, nearly filled with old coins.


Naturally great interest was occasioned by the discovery, but unfortunately steps were not immediately taken for the preservation intact of the jug and the coins, the former losing a piece of the lip, and the latter being given away wholesale.
It appears that when first discovered they were roughly about 160 coins of the reign of King Henry the eighth, four values being represented. The Money was in splendid preservation, the largest denomination being the shilling of that period. The other coins where the silver penny, the groat, and the half groat.
How they came to be deposited where they were found is unknown. It was suggested that they were part of a hoard secreted by the monks of Freiston Priory, at the time of the suppression of the monasteries by the King. The jug was earthenware, handmade and glazed, and was about four and a half inches in height and twelve inches in circumference at the widest part.

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