Iron Age treasure goes on show

An evocative illustration from the website. Is this how 'the treasure' was lost? On a dark winter's day and under attack, the treasure was buried by the shrine's guards and never recovered, or was this just part of a larger hoard and trampled under foot in in the fighting which followed? We all love a mystery, none more than one which involves lost treasure.

Some of the 5,000 silver and gold coins found at the Hallaton shrine, the majority of which were made by the local Corieltavi tribe (formerly thought to be called the Coritani). © Leicestershire County Council.

You can now visit Harborough Museum in Leicestershire and see the Hallaton Treasure, described by a spokesman for the British Museum as a find ‘of national importance’. This is the first time the Treasure has been publicly displayed. In 2000 metal detectorist Ken Wallace, and other volunteers from the Hallaton Fieldwork Group, came across some Roman pottery in a field outside their village. They were joined by the University of Leicester Archaeological Services (ULAS), which then found what turned out to be one of the most important Iron Age sites in Britain. There is a suggestion that it may have been the location of a shrine. They discovered over five thousand silver and gold coins, the remains of an ornately decorated Roman parade helmet and some mysterious silver finds. The new Hallaton Treasure Gallery at Harborough Museum enables visitors to see film and use the latest interactive display facilities to see the treasure in all its glory.

Harborough Museum, 1st floor, Council Offices, Adam & Eve Street (entrance in Fox Yard), Market Harborough LE16 7AG, open: Mon–Sat 10.30am–4.00pm, tel: 01858 821085, website. A travelling exhibition about the treasure will be at the Museum of Nottingham Life, Brewhouse Yard Museum, Castle Boulevard, Nottingham NG7 1FB from 4 December until 22 February 2010.

22 October 2009