Carl Savage, British Numismatic Society intern discusses the Bootham School medieval coin hoard.

The Bootham School hoard has received very little attention since the mid 1950s and it is the purpose of this short blog to bring it to light and to show how new research and analytical techniques are being applied to it.

The Bootham School hoard was discovered by Mr Scaif, a workman who was digging a drain next to the kitchens at Bootham School on the 29th September 1953.

He found 908 medieval silver coins wrapped in cloth, in a corroded bronze vessel. The coins are mostly silver pennies of Edward I and II, with small number of Irish, Scottish and Continental coins. Based upon the latest coins within the hoard it can be dated to around AD 1327.

An inquest was held in the John Bright Library at Bootham School between the 1st and 7th November and as a result, the hoard was declared ‘treasure trove’ and the decision was made to split them between the School, the British Museum and the Yorkshire Museum.

Over 800 are now in the possession of the Yorkshire Museum and working with this material has been the purpose of the internship.

The hoard was originally written up by Michael Dolley and Ian Stewart, two of the experts of the day but it has not been studied in detail since then.

During the course of the internship, every coin has been added to the museums computer database. Each of the coins has had its identification undated, been weighed and their dimensions taken.

Many have been photographed and you can see the results on the Trust’s collections search. The hoard will also soon be the subject of a display showing the hoard in the context of medieval York.

The hoard has never been interpreted before and we are in the process of analysing the coins.

The weight of the coins, the mints and the types of coins present within the hoard will be compared with other coin finds from Yorkshire and contemporary hoards in England.

The purpose of this analysis is to tell the story of the Bootham School hoard in the context of medieval York and to see if the hoard follows the same patterns as other hoards in the country.

At present, initial analysis shows that the Bootham hoard fits the pattern with contemporary hoards in England. Most of the coins are in good condition and show little signs of wear, meaning that the majority of coins in the Bootham hoard were in circulation for a short time and then hoarded.

Given the length of time between the earliest coin and the latest coin in the hoard and the amount of wear it might be suggested that this hoard represented the savings of someone living on medieval Bootham.

Exactly who that person was is uncertain. Research into where the hoard was found shows that the hoard was located outside the medieval walls of York.

The earliest maps of York show that Bootham had a line of houses on either side of the street with open fields behind. There is very little evidence for the medieval layout and extent of the buildings at Bootham during the early 14th Century.

However, records state that the monks of St Mary’s abbey had trading booths along Bootham.

Exactly who the hoard belonged to cannot be said but when it was deposited in c.1327 the area had been hit by large scale Scottish raids and the great famine in 1315-22, which probably had an impact on the local economy.

In summary, using modern analytical and statistical analysis the Bootham hoard can help to shed light on medieval life and the economy of York.