The Tealby hoard of Medieval silver pennies of Henry II was an important find for the study of Medieval numismatics, but one of the most interesting elements of the hoard is that it is believed to have been buried inside an intact Roman storage jar, manufactured around 900 years earlier.
The hoard was discovered at Tealby (on the Lincolnshire Wolds, c.3 miles north east of Market Rasen) in 1807. The Stamford Mercury of November 6th 1807 described the find:
“A few days ago a person ploughing in a field of George Tennyson Esq at Tealby, in this county, turned up at one end of a considerable tumulus (which promises to reward the labour of a thorough examination) a coarse glazed earthenware pot, which contained about five thousand silver pennies, of Henry I and Henry II, of various mints, and some of them in excellent preservation.”
The hoard is now thought to have consisted of c.6,000 coins of Henry II (1154-1189), deposited as a hoard in the mid 1170s (Allen 2002). Combe (1817) describes how the coins were found at the side of a road which crossed a ploughed field, and that after the finder had given them to George Tennyson (grandfather to the poet Alfred Tennyson), they were forwarded on to Sir Joseph Banks, ‘who caused them to undergo the most minute examination’. After the ‘best specimens’ had been extracted for Banks’ own collection, the British Museum and several other private collectors, the majority of the coins (5,127 according to Combe) were taken to the Tower of London and melted down. In defense of this seemingly barbaric act, it must be remembered that the nation was in the throes of the Napoleonic Wars and in something of an economic crisis – that much silver was never going to be allowed to remain untouched. I’m won’t delve into the Medieval coinage of Henry II here, but the significance of the coinage is that they represented many examples of a new type, now known as the ‘Tealby coinage’ after the hoard. Sadly, however, their main claim to fame is that they were arguably the worst quality coins issued in English history! You can see a better quality example of the type from Lincolnshire here. If you want to read more about the discovery of the hoard and the involvement of Joseph Banks, then Christopher Sturman (1989) wrote an excellent article about the discovery, which includes transcripts of correspondence from Banks.
It is the hoard pot that I want to focus on here, not least as it was generally overlooked at the time and subsequently in the excitement of the glittery silver coins. The pot remained with the Tennyson family and was donated to Lincoln’s City and County Museum (now ‘The Collection’) in 1956. It has to be said that there does remain some doubt over the connection between the jar and the hoard, not least because of the time that passed between the discovery and the donation of the jar to the museum. The initial newspaper report (while not reliable a reliable source for the identification of archaeological ceramics) describes it as ‘glazed’, which it is not, and no Roman pot would be. Sadly, I am not aware of any contemporary antiquarian illustrations or a detailed description of it. We therefore have to assume that the attribution is correct, but with slight caveats remaining.
The pot is a carinated greyware storage jar, 191mm high and 181mm across at the widest part of the rim. It is the type of plain and functional ceramic jar that might have been found in kitchens of all sizes across Roman Lincolnshire. It is particularly notable that, although surviving intact (there has been no restoration work required on it at all), the jar is a waster which became misshapen during firing. Despite this, it was deemed worthy of sale, and probably purchased by someone as a functional but lesser quality ‘second’.
- Rim of the Tealby hoard pot. Image copyright The Collection: Art and Archaeology in Lincolnshire
Greyware jars of this type are known to have been produced in large quantities at kilns around the modern town of Market Rasen, c.3 miles south west of Tealby. It is likely that this jar was produced there in the late 2nd or 3rd Century and probably did not travel far at all, considering that it was re-used in the vicinity in the later 12th Century.
The idea that the jar not only survived its active life during the Roman period, but also its (presumable) time in the ground before rediscovery and re-use as the hoard container, its second time in the ground, and then its rediscovery and 149 years in private hands, is quite incredible. I find it a particularly interesting taphonomic twist that a waster vessel survived intact when many more expensive and desirable vessels are known only from single tiny sherds. I’m interested in the theory of object biography, the idea that objects have various continuing ‘lives’ from their manufacture through to their discovery and curation, which can see them imbued with different functions and cultural significance. This pot is a wonderful example of this approach. Was its antiquity realised in the 12th Century? Was its great age a particular reason for it being used as the hoard container?
References
Allen, M. 2002. English Coin Hoards 1158-1544. British Numismatic Journal Vol 72
Sturman, C. 1989. Sir Joseph Banks and the Tealby Hoard. Lincolnshire History and Archaeology Vol 24
Roman Lincolnshire Revealed 