List of hoards in the Channel Islands


The list of hoards in the Channel Islands comprises significant archaeological hoards of coins, jewellery, precious and scrap metal objects and other valuable items discovered in the Channel Islands. It includes both hoards that were buried with the intention of retrieval at a later date, and also hoards of votive offerings which were not intended to be recovered at a later date, but excludes grave goods and single items found in isolation. The list is subdivided into sections according to archaeological and historical periods.
At least fifteen hoards have been found in the Channel Islands since the early 18th century, most of them in Jersey, and only one each in Guernsey, Alderney and Sark. Of the known hoards, about a third date to the Bronze Age and are mostly founder's hoards comprising broken tools, weapons and other scrap metal buried with the intention of recovery at a later date for use in casting new bronze items. Another third are hoards of Iron Age Celtic coins, mostly coins called staters cast in debased silver, the majority deriving from Armorica, but some deriving from Southern Britain. The remaining hoards comprise Roman coins, some of which may have been buried by Armorican Celts fleeing from Roman armies during the campaigns of Julius Caesar in the mid 1st century B.C. Although the contents of most Iron Age and Roman hoards found in the Channel Islands originated from nearby France or Britain, one hoard that was discovered in Guernsey during the late 19th century comprised Roman coins minted in Alexandria in Egypt during the late 3rd century A.D.

Bronze Age hoards

The table below list hoards that are associated with the Bronze Age, approximately 1300 BC to 700 BC.
HoardImageDatePlace of discoveryYear of discoveryCurrent LocationContents
Cadoret Hoard
Jersey
1995Founder's hoard comprising 178 miscellaneous bronze items, including broken pieces of weapons, tools and ornaments, as well as casting debris
La Blanche Pierre Hoard
Jersey
1976114 bronze items, mostly broken axes, spears and swords, in an urn
Mainlands Hoard
Jersey
1871bronze items
Longy Hoard
Alderney
1832Guille-Allès Museum, GuernseyFounder's hoard of about 200 bronze items, including axes, spear heads, sickles, chisels and bronze scraps
St Ouen's Hoard
Jersey
2002200 bronze items
Town Mill Hoard
Jersey
183688 bronze axes, most miniature versions of an Armorican type
Trinity Hoard
Jersey
2012Pot containing tools and weapons, including 23 bronze axeheads

Iron Age hoards

The table below list hoards that are associated with the Iron Age, approximately 8th century BC to the 1st century AD.
HoardImageDatePlace of discoveryYear of discoveryCurrent LocationContents
Grouville Hoard
Jersey
2012In the hands of Jersey Heritage 30,000 – 50,000 late Iron Age Celtic and Roman coins, as well as some items of silver and gold jewellery
La Marquanderie Hoard
Jersey
193510,547 Armorican coins, almost all issued by the Curiosolitae
Le Câtillon Hoard
Jersey
1957Dispersed, but the La Hougue Bie Museum holds some coinsabout 2,500 Armorican, Belgic and Southern British Iron Age coins, most billon staters issued by the Curiosolitae, as well as some pieces of jewellery, including fragments of a gold torque, several silver and bronze fibulae, a silver chain and some bronze rings
Rozel Hoard
Jersey
1820LostAt least 982 Armorican billon staters, mostly issued by the Curiosolitae
Rozel Hoard
Jersey
1875Mostly lost, some at the British Museum, LondonSeveral thousand coins

Roman hoards

The table below list hoards of Roman artefacts and Roman coins.
HoardImageDatePlace of discoveryYear of discoveryCurrent LocationContents
Île Agois Hoard
Jersey
18 antoniniani, dated A.D. 253–268, in a pot
Jerbourg Hoard
Guernsey
before 1890Dispersed68 tetradrachms minted in Alexandria during the reigns of the emperors Probus, Carus, Numerian, Carinus, Diocletian and Maximian
Quennevais Hoard
Jersey
1848Jersey Museum about 400 coins in a pot, mainly Roman folles dated A.D. 290–354
Sark Hoard
Sark
1719Lost18 Roman and Gaulish silver coins, a silver mount in the form of a dolphin, and 13 silver or silver-gilt phalerae in an iron-bound pottery urn

Footnotes