The Roman Society

Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

Beau Street Hoard Symposium

Wednesday 22 - Friday 24 April, 2015

The Assembly Rooms & The Roman Baths, Bath

The Beau Street Hoard, 17,577 silver Roman coins, was found on the Gainsborough Hotel site in Bath in 2007. The coins range from 32BC – 274AD and are unusual as they were buried in eight separate leather bags. Identified and conserved at the British Museum, it is now at the Roman Baths where it will go on show.

The Symposium started on Wednesday 22 April, with a public lecture in the Pump Room delivered by Richard Abdy, Curator of Coins and Medals at the British Museum, who has led on the research and conservation of the hoard.

An audience of over 200 gathered to hear Richard speak on the Beau Street Hoard: Money Bags from Roman Bath.

Programme

Thursday 23rd April

9:15 Welcome

Session 1: Historical and Archaeological Background  

9:30 – 10:00: Dr Adam Rogers, Leicester University Research Associate: Roman Britain in the Third Century A.D.: questions and analyses

10:05 – 10:35: Peter Davenport, Cotswold Archaeology: Roman Bath

10.40 – 11:10 Coffee

Session 2: The Beau Street Hoard I

11:15– 11:45: Mark Corney, AC Archaeology: Discovery of The Beau Street Hoard and its archaeological context

11:50 – 12:20: Julia Tubman: The Beau Street Hoard

12:30 Lunch

Session 3: The Beau Street Hoard II

14:00 – 14:30: Benedict Sayers, British Museum: Composition of The Beau Street Hoard

14:30 – 15:00: Kevin Butcher, University of Warwick and Matthew Ponting, University of Liverpool: The Beau Street Hoard and the metrology of the Roman silver coinage in the 3rd century

15.00- 15:30 Tea

Session 4: The Beau Street Hoard and museums

15:30 – 16:00: Steve Minnitt, South West Heritage Trust: The impact of hoards on museums - the experience of Somerset

16:00 – 16:30: Stephen Clews, The Roman Baths: The Beau Street Hoard as a learning and social project

19.00 Civic Reception in The Roman Baths

Friday 24th April 2015

9:15 Welcome

Session 5: The Broader Context of The Beau Street Hoard

9:30 – 10:00: Eleanor Ghey, The British Museum: Hoarding in Britain

10:05 – 10:35:Roger Bland, The British Museum: An embarras de richesse? Making sense of radiate hoards from Britain.

10:40 – 11:10: Professor Aleksander Bursche, Instytut Archeologii, Warsaw: A hoard of antoniniani from Piła, north-western Poland – the plundered property of Legio XXII Primigenia?

11:20 – 11.50  Coffee

Session 6: Hoarding in Iron Age and Roman Britain I

11.55 – 12:25: Ian Leins, The British Museum: Iron Age coin deposits from Bath and other sites

12.30 – 13:00: Adrian Chadwick, University of Leicester: Lucre and lightning seeds – the work of the Hoarding in Iron Age and Roman Britain project

13:00 – 14.25   Lunch

Session 7: Hoarding in Iron Age and Roman Britain II

14.30 -15:00: Philippa Walton, University of Oxford, Ashmolean Museum: Objects of devotion? Interpreting coin assemblages found at Romano-British temple and shrine sites

15:00 – 15:30: Sam Moorhead, The British Museum and The Roman Society: Unravelling the Frome Hoard

15.30 – 16:00 Tea

Session 4: Panel Discussion

16.00 – 17:00: Chair: Stephen Clews, The Roman Baths

With panellists: Roger Bland, The British Museum; Andrew Burnett, Royal Numismatic Society, Aleksander Bursche, Instytut Archeologii; Steve Minnitt, South West Heritage Trust.

Beau Street Hoard Symposium 1

Beau Street Hoard Symposium 2

Beau Street Hoard Symposium reception at the Baths

Chair of Bath and NE Somerset Council- Martin Neal

Vice-President - Andrew Burnett

Civic reception at the Roman Baths

Beau Street Hoard Symposium - closing panel

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