After Emerging from the Ground in Chelmsford, the U.K.’s Largest Hoard of Ancient Gold Coins Has Found a New Home

Five years after emerging from the grounds of Chelmsford, the U.K.’s largest recorded hoard of ancient gold coins has found a new home.

Five years after it was unearthed in the U.K., the largest-recorded hoard of ancient gold coins from the country’s Iron Age has found a new home.

The Great Baddow Hoard—named after the village in Essex, England, where it was discovered—has been acquired by the Museum of Chelmsford, the institution announced this week. The acquisition was supported by a group of funders, including the National Lottery Heritage Fund, which contributed £250,000 ($333,775) toward the purchase. The U.K.’s Treasure Valuation Committee valued the trove at £300,050 ($400,590).

“The Museum of Chelmsford’s curatorial team has worked extremely hard over the last year to secure funding to bring the Great Baddow Hoard back to Chelmsford, where it belongs,” added Chelmsford City Council’s cabinet deputy for cultural services, Jennie Lardge, in a statement. “Not a lot is known about Chelmsford’s Iron Age history and the Great Baddow Hoard helps us fill some of the gaps in the archaeological record of this period.”

The museum has nothing less than a one-of-a-kind collection on its hands. The hoard is composed of 933 gold coins, as well as assorted fragments of glass, leather, and a possible vessel, all dating to 60–20 B.C.E. It was during this time period that Iron Age tribes in Britain—among them the Trinovantes and Catuvellauni—began minting their own currency, after long importing Celtic coins from across the sea.

Of the coins, 930 are Eastern British staters of the same design and value, though varying slightly in shape and size due to the striking and aging processes. In form, they are similar to the Eastern British coins in the Whaddon Chase hoard, found in 1849, which were produced in the Northern Thames region. The remaining three coins include an uninscribed Eastern British quarter stater, a Continental Gallo-Belgic E uniface stater, and an uninscribed East Anglian “Norfolk Wolf” gold stater.

The coin trove could hold clues to a clash between the neighboring Trinovantes and Catuvellauni groups, about which little is known.

As most of the gold coins were struck in a region linked to the Catuvellauni, they were most likely being paid as tribute to the Roman Emperor Julius Caesar following his conquest of Eastern Britain, the museum explained. But the fact that they were unearthed in what is considered Trinovantian land to the east “may indicate movement or influence from western tribal groups into the east, potentially aligning with accounts of upheaval during Caesar’s second invasion of Britain in 54 B.C.E.,” said Claire Willetts, curator at the Museum of Chelmsford.

“While these events were recorded in Roman sources, until now there has been little archaeological evidence to support them, making the Great Baddow Hoard a significant find for our understanding of eastern Britain in the late Iron Age.”

In 2020, more than 2,000 years after it was buried, the hoard was discovered by metal detectorist Shane Wood on private land in Grand Baddow. He did not have permission to detect on those grounds and also failed to report the discovery under the U.K.’s Treasure Act 1996. (Wood and his partner, Kim Holman, were later found guilty and fined by magistrates for failing to declare treasure and keeping 23 coins worth up to £12,350, or $16,480.)

After notifying the landowner about the discovery, as required by law, Wood presented the hoard to the Essex Finds Liaison Officer. It was then catalogued at the British Museum, where it was confirmed to be treasure. A reward of £180,030 ($240,290) for the find was paid to the landowner rather than to Wood due to his actions, the museum said over email.

The new acquisition will be the subject of further research by the museum, which is also planning programs to connect local visitors with the city’s ancient past. The collection will go on display at the museum in the spring of 2026.

“By displaying the hoard in its entirety at a local museum, local audiences have a valuable opportunity to engage with part of their history,” said Lori Rogerson, Finds Liaison Officer for Essex. “Visitors seeing the hoard at the Museum of Chelmsford will be in awe at its size and gold content and they’ll be led to ask questions such as ‘who owned such a large stash of precious coins?’ and ‘why was it put in the ground, never to be returned to?'”