On this day...19th July

Preparing to pump out the trenches in Reeddam in 2001. It sure was muddy!

An unexpected find from Trench 10 on this day in 2009 was this Hod Hill brooch attributed to the 1st Century.

Made from copper-alloy, with only the pin missing, it has a central, rectangular raised section on the front plate that has been decorated with various vertical and sloping lines.

On this same date in 2010 a silver penny of Aethelred II (the unready) was found by Jon Cousins in Trench 13 on Chalkpit Field.

The obverse of the coin (above) shows a side-on portrait of the king and the reverse (left) displays the ‘hand of God, or providence’. It bears a London mintmark and the moneyer is Wulfsige. We can date the penny to between AD 979-85.