Latest news with #NationalHeritageMemorialFund
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Yahoo
Castle acquires largest Anglo-Saxon gold coin hoard
A museum is to become the new home to what is believed to be the largest collection of 7th Century gold coins found in Britain. Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery in Norfolk has acquired the hoard which is made up of 129 coins and includes 118 different coin designs and 51 different European mints. The hoard was discovered by two metal detectorists in a west Norfolk farmer's field between 2014 and 2020. Charles Bingham-Newland, chair of the Friends of the Norwich Museums, said: "The hoard will add immeasurably to our knowledge of the Anglo-Saxon period." The museum has been able to acquire the hoard with funding by the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the Art Fund and The Wolfson Foundation. The collection is believed to most contain Frankish tremisses which were minted in the Merovingian Frankish kingdoms that occupied modern-day France, Germany, Switzerland and the Low Countries. They are said to be the first coins made and used in Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire and predate the first gold coinage made in Anglo-Saxon England. The find is one of only eight hoards of this type of coin known from Europe and the third in the United Kingdom. Jail for PC who kept gold coin proceeds Largest hoard of gold Anglo-Saxon coins unearthed Anglo-Saxon coin hoard could be worth £400,000 When the coins were declared as treasure by a coroner's court in November 2021, Norwich Castle said it hoped to be able to acquire the hoard. At the time of their discovery, one finder notified the authorities whereas the other tried to sell a number of coins and was jailed for 16 months. Prior to their discovery, the largest hoard of coins from the same period was a purse of 101 coins discovered in Crondall, Hampshire, in 1828. Another purse found that contained 37 coins was discovered at the famous ship burial site in Sutton Hoo, Suffolk, which was excavated in 1939. Giving the coins to the museum will make sure they remain intact and accessible to researchers and visitors. Dr Tim Pestell, senior curator of archaeology at the castle, said: "This internationally significant find reflects the wealth and continental connections enjoyed by the early Kingdom of East Anglia. "Study of the hoard and its find spot has the potential to unlock our understanding of early trade and exchange systems and the importance of west Norfolk to East Anglia's ruling kings in the 7th Century." The hoard going on display marks the reopening of Norwich Castle's Anglo-Saxon and Viking Gallery which has been closed for several years while work to transform the castle's Norman Keep has been under way. Follow Norfolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X. Museum work delay 'causing financial pressure' Detectorist finds hoard of Roman silver coins Country's treasure hotspots revealed by new data Norwich Castle
BBC News
20-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Norwich Castle acquires largest Anglo-Saxon gold coin hoard
A museum is to become the new home to what is believed to be the largest collection of 7th Century gold coins found in Britain. Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery in Norfolk has acquired the hoard which is made up of 129 coins and includes 118 different coin designs and 51 different European mints. The hoard was discovered by two metal detectorists in a west Norfolk farmer's field between 2014 and 2020. Charles Bingham-Newland, chair of the Friends of the Norwich Museums, said: "The hoard will add immeasurably to our knowledge of the Anglo-Saxon period." The museum has been able to acquire the hoard with funding by the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the Art Fund and The Wolfson Foundation. The collection is believed to most contain Frankish tremisses which were minted in the Merovingian Frankish kingdoms that occupied modern-day France, Germany, Switzerland and the Low are said to be the first coins made and used in Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire and predate the first gold coinage made in Anglo-Saxon England. The find is one of only eight hoards of this type of coin known from Europe and the third in the United Kingdom. When the coins were declared as treasure by a coroner's court in November 2021, Norwich Castle said it hoped to be able to acquire the hoard. At the time of their discovery, one finder notified the authorities whereas the other tried to sell a number of coins and was jailed for 16 months. Prior to their discovery, the largest hoard of coins from the same period was a purse of 101 coins discovered in Crondall, Hampshire, in 1828. Another purse found that contained 37 coins was discovered at the famous ship burial site in Sutton Hoo, Suffolk, which was excavated in 1939. Giving the coins to the museum will make sure they remain intact and accessible to researchers and visitors. Dr Tim Pestell, senior curator of archaeology at the castle, said: "This internationally significant find reflects the wealth and continental connections enjoyed by the early Kingdom of East Anglia."Study of the hoard and its find spot has the potential to unlock our understanding of early trade and exchange systems and the importance of west Norfolk to East Anglia's ruling kings in the 7th Century." The hoard going on display marks the reopening of Norwich Castle's Anglo-Saxon and Viking Gallery which has been closed for several years while work to transform the castle's Norman Keep has been under way. Follow Norfolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
BBC News
09-04-2025
- Science
- BBC News
Alan Turing papers worth £397k saved from export
A collection of rare documents by World War Two codebreaker Alan Turing have been saved for the year, a temporary export bar was placed on the wartime project writings to prevent them being taken abroad.A successful campaign was launched to keep the papers on home soil, which were described by the government as some of Turing's most "inventive, secret, and overlooked work".Lisa Nandy has announced that the documents will join the largest collection of Turing artefacts at King's College, Cambridge. "This is a powerful example of what can be achieved when private and charitable sectors come together," she said."This collaboration has ensured that these treasures will be preserved for years to come."In the UK, significant cultural objects require a licence to be considered too important to leave can be placed under a temporary export ban, which allows British buyers time to raise funds to purchase the items digitised, they will become part of the Turing Papers online archive, freely available to scholars. The papers, valued at more than £397,000, relate to the Delilah project, which developed a portable encryption system - or voice scrambler - to protect secrets during military worked on the project at Hanslope Park, near Milton Keynes, in 1943 following his groundbreaking work on the Enigma machines at Bletchley documents consist of more than 40 pages of unpublished notes written by Turing and colleague Donald evidence of Turing's work has rarely survived. The project to save the documents was led by the Friends of the Nations' Libraries donors included the National Heritage Memorial Fund and King's algorithmic trading firm XTX Markets donated £250, College provost Gillian Tett said: "Alan Turing's work laid the foundations of computer science, artificial intelligence and much of our modern world."We are honoured to house the Delilah papers at King's and are deeply grateful to our partners in this endeavour."Turing arrived at King's College as an undergraduate in 1931 and was made a fellow in Turing Archive was founded in 1960 following a donation of his papers by his mother, Sara died of cyanide poisoning in June 1954. His death was thought to be suicide. Follow East of England news on X, Instagram and Facebook: BBC Beds, Herts & Bucks or BBC Cambridgeshire.
