Late Iron Age to early Anglo-Saxon coins and other finds, Borough Field, Great Chesterford (EHER 83270)

Many Roman coins have been found in 'Borough Field', which is described as the area within the walls of the Roman town and adjacent grounds. A hoard from the north end of the field comprised 197 Roman coins ranging in date from AD 37 to 192. 326 coins dating from AD 41 to 565 were also recovered from the southern end of the field, though it is not clear if they had been recovered as a hoard or as dispersed finds. Also recovered from this area were pottery sherds, styli, fibulae and other finds. The coins may be associated with the octagonal temple, EHER 4936.

The name ‘Borough Field’ included not only the area within the town walls, but also ‘the adjacent grounds, particularly all that lies between the encampment and the river’. In 1847, Lord Braybrooke (Hon. R.C. Neville) recorded a large hoard of 197 Roman coins found in the northern end of the Borough Field, ranging in date from AD 37 to 192. He attached ‘a catalogue of the names of the different emperors which occur, merely remarking that the whole are in fine preservation, indeed many of them have never been in circulation’. At the southern end of the Borough Field numerous varieties of pottery, styli, fibulae, etc were found, as well as 326 coins which ranged in date from AD 41 to 565. In the ground between the encampment and the river is the spot supposed to have been an amphitheatre (EHER 4936, now interpreted as a temple). <1> Note: The mapped point is representative of the location but not the extent of the findspots. The true extent of Borough Field is described above, but has not been plotted.