Hot on the trail of buried treasures

The Chronicles of Alda

You may recall from my last series how my father’s beautiful and sacred Viking golden ring was found in a stream at Greenfield by a Mr Horsfall of Springhead in 1914.

Can you imagine the sense of that gentleman’s excitement when he first spotted the shimmering jewellery in the water? And then his utter astonishment when handling such a valuable and historic treasure that had lain undisturbed in a Saddleworth brook for over a 1,000 years!

Such rare finds, of course, have immense historical value because they unequivocally evidence the presence of ancient peoples in our district.

This week, we shall explore some other fascinating finds which have been unearthed over the years throughout the borough.

Curious schoolboys have a charming habit of poking about and discovering the most amazing objects. One such boy was a Michael Crompton who, when he was 11, saw something protruding from the banks of the River Medlock near Holts.

What he pulled out of the river bank was a most striking golden brown flint adze from the Late Neolithic period – that’s a type of axe used by an Oldham man some 4,500 years ago — incredible!

Another incredibly appealing local find was by a schoolboy called Norman Gartside in 1924. At Ragstone, about a mile north west of Castleshaw Roman Fort, this 12 year old boy found the most exquisite flint dagger which had probably last been used in the early bronze age over 3,500 years ago.

As you might expect, several Roman silver coins have been unearthed at Castleshaw during various excavations but other Roman coins have also been found by pure good luck at Grotton, Uppermill and Crompton.

One of the most extensive finds was a deliberately hidden Roman coin hoard uncovered in a wooden box during the construction of a mill at Hollinwood at the end of the 19th century. These bronze coins were the personal savings of a Roman auxiliary who was marching from the fort at Chester to York. Having deviated slightly from his route on the Roman Road through Failsworth and Hollinwood (Roman Road at Failsworth today follows its exact line) he buried his savings for safekeeping.

Sadly, he was killed while later stationed at Hadrian’s Wall and never came back to retrieve his treasure.

Rare and precious silver coins dating back to the time of the Armada have been found at both Chadderton (while gardening on Foxdenton Lane!) and at Uppermill lying on a farm track. I bet the Elizabethans who dropped them were none too pleased at their loss.

A very important and lovely find within Oldham Parish Church in 1861 takes us all the way back to the Wars of the Roses.

A hammered silver groat of Edward IV (1461-1483) was found while work was taking place around Cudworth’s Chapel. Edward was the first Yorkist king having defeated and murdered the Lancastrian Henry VI. Oldham church’s groat (a 4d coin in old money) was inscribed in Latin “Edward by the Grace of God King of England and France”and had the letter E’ stamped on the King’s bust. This indicated that the coin had been minted at Eboraci (York) — it then found its way to Oldham before being lost in the church and then being found again centuries later — I wonder where it is now?

So discovered treasure you see, as well as being ever so exciting gives us a fantastic insight into our own local history — it will be interesting to see if anyone ever finds Alda’s buried little hoard of Viking gold and silver!


Author’s footnote: The Chronicles of Alda are based on historic fact with a little conjecture and a sprinkling of poetic licence.