A METAL detectorist has discovered the north of England’s largest ever Roman coin hoard.

The 1,857 Roman coins from the age of Roman Emperor Constantine were found in east Yorkshire by a Hartlepool man and are worth £44,000.

David Blakey, 57, of Hartlepool, was detectoring in east Yorkshire with the Dunelm Metal Detecting Club in 2014 when he had to leave because his recently replaced ankle was hurting.

As he left he noticed his detector signalling. He dug about ten inches, noticed there was still a strong signal, and called over a friend to help. “He said, ‘keep going, Dave, it could be a hoard,’ and left me to it,” smiled Mr Blakey.

Mr Blakey, a granddad of two, kept going at the site at Wold Newton eventually found the top of a pot. He pushed his finger in the hole and pulled out a coin. “I did my little dance and got everyone round,” he said. “We called all the museums but couldn’t find anyone to respond and dug it ourselves. It took us two-and-a-half hours to get the pot out. It was 4ft deep.”

Two days’ later, Mr Blakey took it to Durham City’s Finds Liaison Officer who got in touch with the British Museum and a full, professional dig took place.

It was declared Treasure Trove by the Hull coroner and now The Yorkshire Museum is trying to raise £44,000 to buy the hoard against a four month deadline. Half the money would go to Mr Blakey and half to the landowner.

The hoard dates to 307AD, a period of great uncertainty in the Roman Empire and Yorkshire. It features coins depicting Constantius who died 1,710 years ago and also the first coins to proclaim his son, Constantine, Augustus after he was proclaimed emperor in York.

Andrew Woods, curator of numismatics at the Yorkshire Museum, said: “This is an absolutely stunning find. It contains coins from the time of Constantius who died in the city and then the first to feature Constantine, rising to power.”

At the time of burial the hoard was worth the equivalent of a legionary’s annual salary, three year’s salary for a carpenter or six years for a farm labourer. It could buy 700 chickens, 2,000 of the finest fish or 11,000 pints of beer.

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