Milton Keynes Hoard

bronze age hoards found in and around Milton Keynes, England

52°01′59″N 0°42′40″W / 52.033°N 0.711°W / 52.033; -0.711

Milton Keynes Hoard
Milton Keynes Hoard of torcs and bracelets at the British Museum
MaterialGold, bronze, pottery
Size2 gold torcs,
3 gold bracelets,
bronze rod fragment,
pottery bowl
Period/cultureBronze Age Britain (middle to late)
DiscoveredMonkston Park, Milton Keynes by Gordon Heritage and Michael Rutland in September 2000
Present locationBritish Museum, London
Identification2000 (Fig 5)
P&EE 2002.7–1.1–7

The Milton Keynes Hoard is a hoard (buried treasure) of Bronze Age gold found in September 2000 in a field at Monkston Park in Milton Keynes, England.[1] The hoard consists of two torcs, three bracelets, and a fragment of bronze rod contained in a clay pot.[2] Based on the type of pot used, the British Museum estimates that it was made about 3,000 years ago.[1]

The hoard weighs 2.020 kg (4.45 lb). The British Museum described it as "one of the biggest concentrations of Bronze Age gold known from Great Britain" and "important for providing a social and economic picture for the period".[1] The hoard was valued in 2001 as being worth £290,000. The hoard is now in the British Museum.[3] [a]

Several other antiquities, including Romano-British hoards, have been found within a 10–12 miles (16–19 km) radius of the centre of Milton Keynes.


Notes and references change

  1. About £483,000 today, based on the Retail Price Index only. Inflation in the art and antiquities market may be considerably more.
  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 "The Milton Keynes hoard". British Museum/Google Cultural Institute. Retrieved 31 January 2018.
  2. "Bowl". Incomplete post Deverel-Rimbury pottery bowl and two bags of pot sherds and one box of pot sherds. Undecorated, with eroded traces of lightly burnished surfaces. Walls are moderately thin and well made. Biconical profile, with short rim.
  3. "Treasure Annual Report 2000" (PDF). Department for Culture, Media and Sport. 2001. pp. 13–15, 133. Retrieved 26 July 2010.