WHEN archaeologists or metal detectorists discover important groups of coins there is an established procedure to evaluate and record them.

A good example is the Furness Hoard of Viking era silver coins which is on show at the Dock Museum, Barrow, after being reported through the Portable Antiquities Scheme.

This has not always been the case and many hoards in Victorian times, or earlier, were broken up for sale or melted for the gold or silver they contained.

Brief records of many of these forgotten finds are starting to emerge from research using digitised national and regional newspapers.

How the papers gave up their secrets was described by Dr Stephen Briggs in a talk at the Shrewsbury conference of the British Association of Numismatic Societies.

He said the online British Newspaper Archive from 1700 to the present day had more than 15m pages covering 650 publications.

Dr Briggs said: “I’m always looking for nuggets.”

A study of newspaper reports has found mention of 1,500 otherwise unrecorded post-Roman hoards in Britain and Ireland.

These include 30 new finds of Viking coins and 140 from the period of the English Civil War in the 17th century.

In the last three years he has found records of 25 previously unknown coin finds in Cumbria and 67 in Lancashire.

The Lancaster Gazette, of Saturday, October 17 in 1807 noted that a Roman coin of the emperor Vespasian: “Was found some time ago at Natland.”

It was said to be in the possession of Emanuel Burton, a clock and watchmaker in Kendal.

The Hull Packet, of June 5 in 1827, noted that a Roman copper coin of Claudius was found by Thomas Stainton in his Garden at George Street while copper coins of Charles II and James II were found by workmen on Hull’s Junction Dock.

The Carlisle Journal, of May 3 in 1834, said that a silver coin of the Roman emperor Vespasian was found by a man digging in the garden of Hutton’s, the city seedsmen.

It noted: “The coin is about the size of a sixpence and is tolerably well preserved.”

The Preston Chronicle, of January 31 in 1835, said that John Scarisbrick had been strolling the banks of the Ribble at Ribchester and spotted the glint of gold.

It turned out to be a Roman coin of the third century. You can find out more about the work of the Portable Antiquites Scheme in reporting and recording finds can be found at https://finds.org.uk/