Review – The Beau Street, Bath Hoard

1 min read

Verity Anthony, Richard Abdy, and Stephen Clews
Archaeopress, £60
ISBN 978-1784915940
Review Philippa Walton

This new volume tells the fascinating story of a hoard of 17,660 Roman coins discovered during an archaeological excavation in Bath city centre in 2007 (see CA 278). Although it is not one of the largest hoards to be found from Roman Britain, its careful recovery and subsequent micro-excavation at the British Museum mean that it is now one of its most interesting.

Alongside an illustrated catalogue, a series of short chapters outline the painstaking process of laboratory analysis and set the hoard within its archaeological and numismatic context. Together, they reveal that the hoard was compiled over a considerable period of time and comprised eight individual bags sorted by value to create a small thésaurus or treasury. While many questions about the hoard remain unanswered – for example, whose treasury was it and why was it hidden? – this book illustrates the value of careful scientific and contextual research in the study of Roman coin hoards and is to be applauded.


This review appeared in CA 361. To find out more about subscribing to the magazine, click here.

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