Group of coins and other objects
post-medieval
Found during excavations by Wessex Archaeology at Pinglestone Farm, Old Alresford in 1997
These objects were found with the body of a man buried in mysterious circumstances- in a shallow grave, on a hillside and outside consecrated ground. They comprise eight coins, a thimble still with thread inside, a finger ring, and two tags that might once have secured a drawstring for a purse.
Although minted in Tudor times, the coins are very worn and well-used, so were probably not buried until the early 17th century. They are small denominations- a sixpence, groats (fourpence), threepence and tuppence pieces, a penny and a halfpenny- but still enough to buy a winding sheet and some kind of funeral ceremonial. As this loose change was still in his possession, it is unlikely that the man was a criminal or the victim of one. Further, as the coins date the burial before the Civil War, death by violence can probably be ruled out.
I has been suggested that the man died of plague and had to be rapidly buried away from human habitation to avoid infection amongst the living. The thimble might give a clue as to man's occupation or might be just another of his personal possessions.
