Official Statistics

Statistical Release for Reported Treasure Finds: Key findings

Published 9 November 2016

1. Key findings

This statistical release presents data on the number of reported Treasure finds for 2014 and 2015 within England, Wales and Northern Ireland . The data for 2014 are available broken down by county, period and disposition, and method of discovery. Provisional headline figures are provided for 2015 by county only.

● In 2015 the number of Treasure finds reported reached over a thousand finds (1,009) for the second year in a row and only the second time since 1996. The equivalent number for 2014 was 1,011 .

● In 2014, 87.1 per cent of Treasure finds were object cases (881 cases), of which just over half of these were disclaimed/returned to finder (RTF) cases (447 cases). Just under a quarter of object cases were acquired (248 cases).

● In 2014, the vast majority (96.1%) of Treasure finds in England, Wales and Northern Ireland were discovered by metal detecting. A further 2.1 per cent of cases were by an archaeological find and just under 1.0 per cent by chance find.

● In 2014, 77 cases of Treasure finds were donated allowing them to be acquired by museums at no (or reduced) public cost. 89.6 per cent of donated cases were object cases.

2. Tables

Table A: Number of Treasure cases in 2014 and 2015 by county (geographic distribution)

England
County 2014 2015 (prov.)
Bath and North East Somerset 3 1
Bedfordshire 12 8
Berkshire & Reading 16 11
Bristol 0 0
Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes 24 30
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough 22 22
Cheshire and Merseyside 14 8
Cornwall 14 5
Coventry 0 0
Cumbria 11 10
Derbyshire 3 6
Devon 25 19
Dorset 35 40
Durham and Darlington 10 6
Essex 80 50
Gloucestershire 15 13
Gloucestershire, South 2 1
Hampshire 40 42
Herefordshire 4 11
Hertfordshire 25 13
Isle of` Wight 17 25
Kent 33 38
Lancashire 13 6
Leicestershire and Rutland 11 15
Lincolnshire 53 49
Lincolnshire, North and North East 9 6
London, Greater 5 13
Manchester, Greater 2 1
Norfolk 119 127
Northamptonshire 20 11
Northumberland 4 7
Nottinghamshire 10 22
Oxfordshire 28 46
Shropshire 9 13
Somerset 22 28
Somerset, North 1 0
Staffordshire 11 11
Suffolk 72 87
Surrey 6 8
Sussex, East 10 3
Sussex, West 9 8
Teesside, Redcar & Cleveland 0 0
Tyne and Wear 0 0
Warwickshire 16 14
West Midlands 2 1
Wiltshire and Swindon 30 36
Worcestershire 18 8
York, City of 7 15
Yorkshire, East 19 24
Yorkshire, North 48 34
Yorkshire, South 8 11
Yorkshire, West 7 7
Unknown 1 0
Total 975 970
Wales
County 2014 2015 (prov.)
Blaenau Gwent 0  
Bridgend 0  
Cardiff 1  
Caerphilly 0  
Carmarthenshire 1  
Ceredigion 0  
Conwy 0  
Denbighshire 2  
Flintshire 1  
Gwynedd 1  
Isle of Anglesey 0  
Monmouthshire 4  
Neath, Port Talbot 0  
Newport 1  
Pembrokeshire 4  
Powys 2  
Rhondda Cynon Taf 0  
Swansea 0  
Torfaen 1  
The Vale of Glamorgan 11  
Wrexham 4  
Total 33 37
Northern Ireland
County 2014 2015
Antrim 1 0
Armagh 0 0
Down 2 1
Fermanagh 0 1
     
Total 3 2
     
Grand Total 1,011 1,009

Table B: Analysis of Treasure cases in 2014 by period and distribution - England, Wales and Northern Ireland

Object Cases
  Disclaimed/RTF Acquired Donated Not Treasure To Be Determined Total
Bronze Age 12 32 4 2 9 59
Iron Age 0 0 1 0 0 1
Romano-British 39 25 10 3 4 81
Early Medieval 36 66 15 10 4 131
Medieval 144 66 15 3 10 238
Post-Medieval 216 59 24 30 8 337
18th-21st Centuries 0 0 0 8 0 8
Undiagnostic 0 0 0 25 1 26
             
Totals 447 248 69 81 36 881
Coin Cases
  Disclaimed/RTF Acquired Donated Not Treasure To Be Determined Total
Bronze Age            
Iron Age 5 3 1 0 1 10
Romano-British 20 29 2 4 6 61
Early Medieval 4 4 3 0 0 11
Medieval 16 7 0 3 1 27
Post-Medieval 11 5 2 1 1 20
18th-21st Centuries 0 0 0 0 0 0
Undiagnostic 0 0 0 1 0 1
             
Totals 56 48 8 9 9 130
             
Overall 503 296 77 90 45 1,011

Table C: Method of discovery for 2014 Treasure finds - England, Wales and Northern Ireland

Number of finds %
Metal detecting 972 96.14%
Archaeological find 21 2.08%
To be confirmed 3 0.30%
Chance find 10 0.99%
Reported by buyer 1 0.10%
Fieldwalking/Searching the Foreshore 4 0.40%
Total 1,011