The Thame
Hoard
In April 1940 a Thame lorry driver called
Willocks McKenzie discovered a 'hoard' of coins and rings on the
banks of the river Thame, a short distance upstream of the Long
Crendon Bridge.
Mud had been dredged from the river the
previous summer, and so the hoard may have originally been lost, or
deliberately hidden, in the river Thame itself.
It turned out that the hoard may have been in
the river for four hundred years.
The hoard consisted of 5 gold finger rings
and 10 silver coins.
The coins were dated from around 1351-1457
and the rings were more generally dated to the 14th - early 15th
century. Four of the rings are set with stones including peridot
(thought to protect the wearer), turquoise (thought to change
colour when near poison), and toadstone (thought to be found in the
mouths of toads, but actually fossil teeth). A spectacular
reliquary ring is mounted with an amethyst in the form of a cross
of Lorraine and engraved with a Crucifixion on the back, which can
be seen in the mirror behind the ring. This distinctive cross with
two horizontal sections is now a part of the Thame Cross, the
emblem or logo of Thame Town Council.
Willocks McKenzie informed the local police
of what he had found, since the coins and rings appeared to be of
great value. As is the practice in such cases, the Coroner was
informed and an inquest was held.
As a result of an assessment given by the
Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, the Coroner declared the hoard to be
Treasure Trove, and therefore the property of the Crown.
The rings and coins of the Thame Hoard remain
in the Asmolean Museum in Oxford, still on display
today.
Learn more about the Thame Hoard at the Thame
History site here.
This cache commemorates the Thame Hoard and
is hidden as near to the original hoard’s location as possible
without straying on to private property.
The cache contains the usual log and cache
notice and in honour of the original Thame Hoard also contains five
rings (unfortunately none of them are gold or valuable) and 10
intersting coins. The coins are as follows:
Ethiopian 10 Cents
Tanzanian 100 Shillings
Haitian 50 Gourdes
Haitian 5 Gourdes
Turkish 100 Old Lira
Irish 50 Pence
Indian 10 Rupee?
US Georgian Quarter
UK Euro ‘96 2 Pound
Euro 2004 Sven-Goran Eriksson Coin
If you wish to take a coin or ring then
that’s fine but to keep within the spirit of the cache can I ask
that you replace with another ring or coin.
The above co-ordinates are for the start of
the path to the first of two micros that will eventually lead to
the new Thame Hoard. For the first micro location see the waypoints
below.