Medieval Bridge over Exe
Medieval Bridge over Exe
The RAMM – where the Pinhoe and Dawlish hoards are held.

Hoard Stories – The Dawlish and Pinhoe Hoards

25 Years of Bronze Age Discoveries
with Tom Cadbury on Thursday, 10 October 2024
at 7pm at Leonardo Hotel Exeter

Our talk was by Tom Cadbury, archaeology curator at RAMM since 2005, and as mentioned in his introduction his main focus is RAMM’s antiquities collection. This covers local archaeology and history, numismatics, and the archaeology of Egypt, the Mediterranean, and Western Asia. He has degrees in archaeology and museology.

His talk concentrated on what metalwork hoards can tell us about life in Bronze Age Devon, especially the Pinhoe Hoard and Dawlish Hoard, finds made by detectorists over the last 30 years. Tom mentioned that detectorists were not always looked upon favourably in the past but with the creation of the Portable Antiquities Scheme, finds made by these mainly amateur archaeologists have become more accepted and have fed into the PAS national database (https://www.finds.org.uk).

Tom went on to show examples of finds from other places including Washfield (spearheads and a mirror), Bloody Pool (weapons, spearheads), Cranbrook (beaker pot, cremation urn, wrist protector), and White Horse Hill on Dartmoor (a stone burial chamber containing bear pelts, amber beads, tin studs and a bracelet). This last find has gone to The Box in Plymouth. Sword fragments were found at Aliscombe and Colyton. Ingot hoards were found at Otterton, Newton Abbot, and Colyton. A study by two universities (Chester and Durham) was being made on two bits of tin to determine where they had come from. Tin ingots from the mouth of the River Erme had been found by divers searching prehistoric wrecks.

Tom talked about the finds at Island Farm, Ottery St Mary, where a palstave axe of 1400-1100 BC was found by archaeologists in a medieval granary, and then only because of a fire. The mystery item was a Middle Bronze Age embossed gold sheet of quite thin gold which was crumpled up. It had been acquired for RAMM and there was speculation that it could be part of a bigger item like the Mold Coat or a gold hat which was common in Central Europe. Tom showed us an example which was depicted in an interesting slide.

A map by Dr Matthew G. Knight who had the foremost knowledge of the South West, showed the extent of finds in Dorset, Devon, and Cornwall, but not so much in Somerset. Another map showed the locations which were very much in East Devon. This may have been because of a greater concentration of sites, or because of the very active group of metal detectorists in East Devon!

The Dawlish Hoard

The Dawlish Hoard was found around 2016, in a boggy field. It was dated to the late Bronze Age 1100-650 BC. It consisted of gold and bronze items found by two detectorists Andy Wareham and David Scott. The photo of them, shown to us by Tom, included Danielle Wootton from RAMM, who was there to assess the items. Tom explained that gold items are classed as treasure and go to the British Museum. RAMM had to raise funds to purchase them. Four gold bracelets were bent out of shape before they were buried. There were also weapon fragments and Bronze Age tools along with eleven copper alloy ingot fragments and two pieces of tin. Tom posed the question: “What does it mean and why was it buried in a bog” as all the pieces were broken up? Was the association to a time in a person’s life meaning the association had been kept, but the power of the object had been removed? The lumps of bronze and copper ingot in the Dawlish hoard were formed into cow pat shapes and then chopped up into pieces.

The Pinhoe Hoard

The Pinhoe Hoard consisted of bracelets and axes of the Middle Bronze Age 1450-1250 BC. The Pinhoe Hoard and Dawlish Hoard are housed in different galleries in the RAMM for visitors to see.

The very interesting talk ended with a lively round of questions.

Sue Jackson
Images supplied by Tom Cadbury
Photo of the RAMM by Judith Hosking

A Postscript

Following the meeting, Rod Northcott handed me part of a report relating to an area close to his home, which says:
“Following archaeological investigations across the Monkerton/Tithebarn/Mosshayne areas, there is evidence of Neolithic settlements including a prehistoric settlement and burial, early medieval crop processing, a ring ditch and a potential Iron Age Marsh fort. The importance of nearby Blackhorse Lane underlines the historical significance of this area. The significance of Monkton House and the importance of the marshland around this area are well documented. Local folklore documents the tale of the local monks gathering withies for the local militia fending off attacks by the Danes in 1001-1003 CE.”
Rod adds: “The article can be tied into the talk on early bronze age peoples in Pinhoe, it comes from a meeting held recently to discuss the local plan in relation to East Devon. As with the Pinhoe Hoard it shows that thousands of years ago Bronze Age man probably walked through my garden. What I find really puzzling is that since the people did not write or read as far as we know and lived a nomadic hunter gatherer existence, who taught them how to smelt metal at high temperatures and develop ingots and moulds and how to work the metals to a fine art? This is a kind of technology that involved a lot of skills.”

Sue Jackson


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