Middleham Hoard

The Middleham Hoard is a collection of 5,099 silver coins buried during the English Civil War. It was found near Middleham in North Yorkshire, inside the grounds of Cotescue Park, just south-west of Coverham. The hoard was discovered in June 1993 by metal detector user William Caygill, who unearthed three pots containing the coins. Two pots were found together, and the third lay about twenty paces away. All three pots were covered with a local Coverdale sandstone capstone. The hoard is the largest of its kind from the Civil War period, offering insight into mid-17th-century currency and circulation. It includes coins from English, Scottish, Irish, and Spanish sources, with English issues spanning monarchs from Edward VI to Charles I. Nearly five per cent of the coins are Spanish, mostly from the Netherlands and America, reflecting royalist trade links. The total face value exceeded £312, with Spanish coins making up about a fifth of that sum due to their higher denomination. Visitors can view some of the coins at the Yorkshire Museum’s numismatic collection. The pots themselves were ordinary kitchen storage jars, likely used for food rather than cooking. The hoard’s layout suggests a single family buried the coins over time, with the latest deposits dating to the late 1640s. The mix of clipped and counterfeit coins adds to its historical interest, hinting at wartime economic pressures.