SHERIFFHALES ROMAN INVESTIGATION
PRELIMINARY REPORT
The Sheriffhales Roman investigation was carried out by members of the Newport History
Society on the 14th November 2013. It took place in the field where the ‘Sheriffhales Roman
Coin Hoard’ was found by Mr Terry Hayward on
the 2nd August 2009. The aim of the survey was
to locate the site of the hoard and re-excavate it in
an attempt to find further coins and pottery
related to the original hoard. When the hoard was
discovered, only the base of the pot was found to
remain intact. The rest had been lost, probably
due to the field being ploughed over many years.
The hoard was found on a slope and the plan was
to excavate a series of test pits at two metre
intervals descending the slope, to locate further
pot fragments and coins.
A fieldwalking and metal detecting survey of the
A tray of finds from the site, The Roman
field was also planned in an attempt to see if
pottery can be seen in the top half of the tray.
further examples of Roman pottery could be
Later 18th/19th century pottery in the lower half
found spread around the field and other metal
artefacts from the Roman period. Unfortunately, the weather had been particularly bad the
week before our survey and as a result the ground was to wet to effectively excavate test pits.
As a result only the fieldwalking and metal detecting surveys took place. However, both
produced an interesting collection of finds. Various types of Roman pottery were recovered,
with fragments found spread throughout the surveyed area. The majority of the pottery
fragments found were various forms of ‘Severn
Valley Ware.’ Such as storage jars, bowls and
other forms of tableware. This form of pottery was
produced locally from the 1st century AD and
continued to be made locally well into up the late
4th century. Severn Valley ware has an oxidised
(red colour) appearance with a fine micaceous
fabric containing occasional limestone fragments
ill-sorted rounded quartz and iron ore.
Fragments of a mortaria (mixing bowl) were also
recovered. These kitchen vessels are very
distinctive, with prominent grit fragments in the
bowl. Mortaria were imported in the early 1st
Black Burnish Ware found on site
century and these early imports have thick wall
sided rims, where as the locally produced are thinner with a more curved rim. The examples
found at the hoard site are light in colour, unlike the locally made mortaria which have a red
fabric and would appear to 1st century imports. Mortaria fragments were also found in the
original hole dug by Mr Hayward in 2009, around the hoard site during the Roman period.
site. This was the basic form of kitchen ware in the early years of the Roman occupation of
Britain, becoming the dominant form of everyday tableware by the end of the occupation in
410AD. It is usually decorated with a very simple cross hatch decoration around the side.
Early forms of Black Burnished Ware are
often found at Roman military sites.
The metal detectorists recovered a number of
Roman items, the most important being two
Roman fibula brooches. Both appear to date
from the period of the hoard, late 1st century
to mid 2nd century. The brooches are poorly
preserved, although one still retains some of
its silver plating, although both have lost there
pins and springs. A lead spindle whorl was
also found on site. Resembling lead washers,
spindle whorls were used in the early spinning
tool known as a drop spindle, brought to
Britain by the Romans and which continued in
The two Roman fibula brooches found on site
general use until the mid 17th century when
they were eventually replaced by the spinning wheel.
A number as of yet unidentified brass objects were also found by the detectorists and these
will need to be examined by experts in the Roman period to determine if they are related to the
time of the hoard.
The Sheriffhales coin hoards location, so close to the 1st century Roman fort at Red Hill and
the fact that most of the identified Roman artefacts date from that period suggest we may be
dealing with civilian settlement, possibly related in some way to the fort either through trade,
or other form of service.