The Bredon Hill Hoard (also known as the Bredon Hill Roman Coin Hoard) is a hoard of 3,784 corrupted Roman silver coins discovered in June 2011 by two metal prospectors on the Bredon Hills in Worcestershire, about 400 meters north of Kemerton Campground with the Iron Age Hill Fort. The coins were found in a clay pot that had been buried around the middle of the 4th century in a Roman villa , which has been identified in subsequent archaeological excavations. The coins include the reigns of sixteen different emperors from the mid to late 3rd century and are the largest hoard of Roman coins found to date in Worcestershire.
The hoard was discovered by metal detectors Jethro Carpenter and Mark Gilmore of Redditch on June 18, 2011 on Bredon Hill, where in the past they had often discovered metal with the permission of the landowner. After their metal detector found a metal object, they found a nail, but they continued to dig when the metal detector continued to register other metal objects, and they found several shards of earthenware and then some coins, about 50 cm below the surface. Once they realized there were a large number of coins in the ground, they backfilled the hole, and on June 20 they reported the find to Richard Henry, Program of Portable Antiquities.Finds Communications Officer in the Worcestershire and West Midlands regions.
A preliminary survey of the site was conducted by archaeologists on June 21, and a full excavation of the discovery site was made in early July over a two-week period. The excavation revealed that the treasure was in the remains of a villa, which is unusual since most Roman treasures were buried in an open area, away from buildings. Archaeologists found three separate layers at the site. On the lower level was a stone foundation for a half-timbered villa with artifacts and coins dating from the second to the end of the third century. The next level contained post pits for a wooden building and pottery dating to the third or fourth century, as well as two coins dating to the late third century. The upper tier was rubble with pottery from the late 4th or early 5th century. The treasure was buried in a hole dug on the upper level. A single coin dating to about 355-361 was found in the soil around the hoard pit, suggesting that the hoard was buried around the middle of the 4th century, almost a hundred years later than the date of the last coins in the pot.
After the coins were removed and separated from the soil, they were dried. Then on July 15, the 11 kg coins were sent to the British Museum in London for preservation and identification.
