One of the exciting aspects of archaeology is never knowing what you might find. This is the story of an object that post-dates the villa by a thousand years.

In 2009 we trialled some systematic metal detecting using the grid system that had been set up for the geophysics. We found a small number of Roman coins (which I’ll try and post something about in the future) and much to our surprise a gold coin struck in the name of Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon (1526-1533).

The coin was identified as a ‘Crown of the Double Rose‘ by Dr Rob Collins and logged on the Portable Antiquities Scheme as NCL-833393.

Gold coin of Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon © The Lufton Project

Obverse description: double rose crowned, with crowned initials (h & K) to each side

Obverse inscription: hENRIC VIII RVTILANS ROSA SIE SPIA

Reverse description: shield bearing royal arms of England crowned, with crowned initials (h & K) to each side
Reverse inscription: DEI G R AGLIE FRANC DNS hIBERNIE
Initial mark: lis
Degree of wear: Hardly worn: extremely fine