Lost treasure unearthed in Heathhall

Aug 19 2009 by Jackie Grant, Dumfries Standard Wednesday

A HOARD of mediaeval silver coins worth around £15,000 are on their way to Dumfries Museum after being discovered in a field north of Heathhall.

The 155 coins are a mixture of English and Scottish issues from the 13th and 14th centuries and comprise various issues of Edward I and II of England and David II of Scotland.

The find was revealed in the fourth annual report by The Queen and Lord Treasurer’s Remembrancer (QLTR).

Under Scottish law all portable antiquities of archaeological, historical or cultural significance are subject to claim by the Crown through the treasure trove system and must be reported.

When the owner of an archaeological find cannot be traced, any find will belong to the owner of the land on which it was discovered.

In the case of treasure trove, special legislation applies.

All treasure trove belongs to the Crown and, when discovered, is subject to an inquest at a coroner’s court to establish the circumstances of its loss or deposition.

Dumfries Museum was successful in its bid for the coins to be housed there.

A Neolithic stone axehead was also discovered at Lockerbie over the last year.

Stone axeheads were an essential tool for the Neolithic farmer although they also had additional symbolic and ritual connotations.

The find at Lockerbie is made not from local stone but from Langdale tuff, a Cumbrian stone which was quarried extensively in the Neolithic.

The discovery of these axeheads far from Cumbria is a striking indication of the network of long-distance contacts underpinning prehistoric societies.

Four Roman coins were also discovered at Annan; a flanged axehead found at Newton Stewart; a prehistoric excavation assemblage at Glentrool; an axehead and fastener at Dalbeattie; and a Roman coin at Glenluce.