Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 4.djvu/129

 AN ACCOUNT OF COINS AND TREASURE FOUND IN CUERDALE. In May, 1840, some workmen were employed in Cuerdale, near Preston, in carrying earth to replace the soil which had been washed away from behind a wall formerly built to pro- tect the banks of the river Ribble. In digging for this pm'- pose, they discovered, at a distance of about forty yards from the banks, a large mass of silver, consisting of ingots or liars of various sizes, a few silver armlets tolerably entire, several frag- ments, and a few ornaments, of various kinds, cut into pieces of different dimensions and weights, amounting to upwards of a thousand ounces, exclusive of about six or seven thousand coins of various descriptions ; the whole had been inclosed in a leaden chest, which was so decomposed that only small por- tions of it could be secm'ed. The coins have been so fully described, in papers published in the Numismatic Chronicle, that they will not here be alluded to further than is necessary to prove the probable date of the ornaments, which it is the object of this communi- cation to describe. The coins consisted of Anglo-Saxon pennies, pieces of the second race of French kings, a few oriental coins, and some which partially resemble both the Saxon and the French series, which certainly do not belong to any acknowledged dynasty of any country, but were probably struck by some of those piratical northern chiefs who obtained at different times a temporary authority both in England and France. An attentive examination of all these leads to the conclusion, that this mass of treasure was deposited about the year 910, and the ornaments must be considered such as were worn about the time of Alfred, or perhaps somewhat earlier, for none of them appear to .have been actually in use at the time of the deposit, but rather ornaments laid aside ready to be broken up, and cut in pieces for the greater convenience of traffic, or for facility in melting. It will be convenient to arrange the treasure in classes, in order to give a clearer idea of the various objects of which it was composed.