| In
March 2002 a metal-detectorist, Mr Sean Flook, while
scouring the woodlands above The Bell, discovered 40
ancient coins. He immediately contacted the local Roman
Legion Museum and subsequently the coins were removed
to the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff for further
examination.
The
coins - 40 in all - were dated between 1250 and 1399
and were in the main of "good-quality silver".
The majority were English pennies, with one penny
from each of Scotland and Ireland.
England
Edward
I and II (1272 - 1307 - 1327) 8 pennies
Edward III (1327 - 1377) 16 pennies and 6 groats
Richard II (1377 - 99) 6 pennies and 1 groat
Richard II or Edward III 1 penny
Ireland
Edward
I (1272 - 1307) 1 penny
Scotland
Alexander
III (1249 - 86) 1 penny
In
view of the close distribution of the coins, the museum's
numismatist believed that they had been "derived
from a single sum of money". He also went on
to suggest a date for their "being lost or deposited"
at between 1412 and 1422: all of the groats had been
clipped "to match the reduced weight standard
introduced in that year [1412]", and there were
no coins present from the "prolific silver issues
of the early 1420s".
Patriots
and students of Welsh history will immediately appreciate
the significance of this early 15th century coin hoard:
on 16th September 1400, Owain Glyndwr had been proclaimed
Tywysog Cymru (Prince of Wales) at a gathering in
the majestic Castell Bran overlooking the sacred River
Dee.
Glyndwr
was of Noble birth being directly descended from the
princes of Powys and Cyfeiliog. He had served as the
loyal and distinguished shield-bearer to the English
king Richard II in France, Ireland and the Scottish
campaigns of 1385. He had been instructed in law at
the Inns of Court and had married Lady Margaret Hanmer,
daughter of a Norman-English Marcher lord and a respected
Kings Council. But when Richard II was usurped, Glyndwr
found himself regarded as a threat by the new king
Henry IV (Bolingbroke).
From
1400 until his death in 1415, Glyndwr waged war against
the usurper Henry, and for much of that time controlled
the whole of Wales against overwhelming forces. Five
armies entered Wales to return defeated. He also captured
the rightful heir to the English thrown, Edmund Mortimer,
Lord of the March, who subsequently joined Glyndwr
and married his daughter, Catrin. Glyndwr formed alliances
with the powerful de Perceys and together with the
Mortimers they agreed to carve up England: the so-called
Tripartite Indenture. Treaties with France, Brittany,
Castille and Scotland ensured Glyndwr had access to
much needed military resources and in August 1405
a combined Welsh, Breton and French army marched across
south Wales to confront Henry 10 miles from Worcester.
Alas the battle did not take place: Henry had no reason
to risk defeat by attacking Glyndwr's army and Glyndwr
assessed the risk too great in attacking the English
up a heavily-defended hillside. Lacking the provisions
to sustain a lengthy campaign, Glyndwr returned home
to Wales.
During
the ensuing years disaster after disaster struck:
Glyndwr's family was captured, later to die of plague
in the Tower, then his main ally in France, the Duke
of Orleans, was assassinated and soon after France
signed a truce with England. Finally his ally Northumberland
was killed at the battle of Bramham Moor. All was
lost.
In
1413 Glyndwr's battle-field adversary Prince Hal,
born in Monmouth, succeeded his father becoming Henry
V. He immediately invoked massive taxation to fund
the rebuilding of his castles across Wales.
And
therein lays the probable secret of the Bell's Coin
Hoard. From 1413 onwards King Henry V's agents were
abroad across the whole of Wales collecting taxes
for the bankrupt English treasury. The Bell Inn is
believed to date back to the early 1600's, though
no doubt there was an earlier, possibly timber, building
on this site. Being outside Caerleon's town walls
the property would have been inhabited by Welsh-speaking
Welsh folk who would have been prey to the King's
tax collectors, though even as late as 1415 crown
officers refused to collect taxes for fear of ambush
and murder.
Despite
the offer of free pardon Glyndwr refused to emerge
from his places of refuge. Owain Glyndwr, Wales's
greatest warrior and statesman, is believed to have
died on September 20th 1415, at his daughter's home
in Monnington Straddel, Golden Valley, Herefordshire.
Many of Glyndwr's feared longbow men and guerrilla
fighters served as mercenaries in Henry V's army and
just one month later on 25th October were, ironically,
instrumental in Henry's victory over the French at
Agincourt.
Author:
Tony Willicombe, The Bell Inn, Caerleon.
|
