Emily Chan
During a home renovation, a family in England stumbled upon more than 1,000 gold and silver coins from the 17th century. The coins were hidden beneath their floors and thought to have been buried at some point in the First English Civil War.
The find was made in 2019 by Betty and Robert Fooks at their cottage in South Poorton Farm, located in West Dorset. Robert had been using a pick axe to dig up their kitchen floor.
After digging through about two feet of dirt, concrete, and flagstone, he spotted a glazed pottery bowl that was broken. The coins were inside it.
“It is a 400-year-old house, so there was lots of work to do,” Betty said. “We were taking all the floors and ceilings out and took it back to its stone walls. We decided to lower the ground floor to give us more ceiling height.”
Betty added that if they hadn’t decided to lower the floor, the coins might never have been discovered. She believes that the person who concealed them probably meant to come back for them but wasn’t able to for some reason.
The couple reached out to a local liaison officer about the discovery. The officer contacted the British Museum, and the coins were sent there so experts could clean and examine them further.
Experts think that the coins were hidden during the First English Civil War, which started in 1642 and ended in 1646.
The war began because supporters of Parliament attacked King Charles I. They were afraid that the crown had too much power.
At the end of the war, King Charles was executed. His execution marked the brief downfall of the English monarchy and the establishment of a Parliament-led republic.
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