Archaeology

The Stoke Prior silver treasure

A rabbiting expedition at Slough produced seven silver vessels.

No public image is currently linked to this place.

What this record tells us

A rabbiting expedition at Slough produced seven silver vessels. The finders are named in the Leominster Heritage newspaper transcription; the farm is associated with the Colley name. The seven objects comprise four cups and three salts, rather than the ten pieces sometimes assumed in retellings. They entered the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1893 under accessions 283–289-1893.

Hallmarks range from 1578–79 to 1639–40. They make a seventeenth-century concealment possible, but do not identify the person who buried the silver or the event that prompted it. Neither a monastic origin nor a Civil War owner should be presented as established fact. The modern Slough plan provides a useful place locator only; it does not locate the discovery hedge or burrow.

How this record is evidenced

Documented discovery

Seven surviving V&A vessels, accessions 283–289-1893, and Woolhope’s 1892 report. Finder names and exact discovery date follow the project newspaper transcription.

Published research

The investigation details are drawn from Leominster Heritage research from cited published sources; the original publication or report remains the authoritative source.

Project interpretation

The clean title and short public summary have been prepared by Leominster Heritage and remain separate from the wording of the source record.

Provisional or requiring verification

The open questions below identify the details that have not yet been securely established.

Map location

Loading map…

The Stoke Prior silver treasure

Finds and discovery record · 16 December 1891 · Approximate position

A rabbiting expedition at Slough produced seven silver vessels.

Approximate position

Slough locality locator, not the rabbit hole. Coordinates represent the centre of the stated grid square for display only; they are not an object findspot.

Explore this place on the map

Source and further reading

Leominster Heritage research from cited published sources

Woolhope Naturalists’ Field Club, Transactions for 1892, p. 279 and accompanying illustration: Stoke Prior treasure of seven silver vessels.

Victoria and Albert Museum, Catalogue of English Silver, 1920; Stoke Prior vessels, accession numbers 283–289-1893. Consult the individual collection records and acquisition file for current object descriptions.

Entry-specific references: S03; S04; Leominster Heritage project newspaper transcription

View the original source

Open questions

  1. Original newspaper page, coroner and acquisition files, and a contemporary plan locating the rabbiting discovery.

HELP IMPROVE THIS RECORD

Can you add a date, source, photograph or correction?

Contributions are reviewed before they are added to the public record.

Add to the record