The hedge that hid 3,000 ancient silver coins

One of the most remarkable, and least widely known, Anglo‑Saxon treasure discoveries in Sussex began with a group of farm labourers clearing a hedge on Chancton Farm in 1866.

As they worked, the men uncovered an old earthenware pot and, upon breaking it open, discovered 3,000 silver coins.

Initially accepted as payment at a local pub, the coins were later transferred to the British Museum after being declared treasure trove.

The hoard consisted of Anglo‑Saxon silver pennies from the reigns of Edward the Confessor and Harold II, with none minted after the Battle of Hastings in 1066.

This suggests the coins were buried either shortly before or immediately after the Norman invasion.

"How they got there, we don't know. We don't know whether they were buried during a war period...there's just no evidence of it," Andrew Woodfield from Steyning Museum said.

Domesday records show that the Lord of the Manor at Chancton in 1066 was Gyrth, brother of King Harold, with a tenant‑in‑chief named Aeschere of Chancton.

Gyrth was killed at Hastings, and it is possible Aeschere hid the coins to protect them from the advancing Norman army- and never returned to retrieve them.

While most of the coins are in the British Museum, some of the treasure was initially sold by the townspeople, and is now spread across private collections throughout the world.

At the time there wasn't a rule that stated a hoard had to be reported, as there is now.

"I know of one [private collection] in America - we know that Stockholm and Berlin museums have both got Steyning coins in their collections," Woodfield said.

With 240 pennies to the pound, the hoard was worth £12.10 - more than three times the annual value of the entire manor, which Domesday lists at £4.

The Chancton Farm discovery helped confirm that Steyning was an active and important mint, producing coinage under Edward the Confessor and Harold II.

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