Museum hits target to buy Iron Age hoard

A MUSEUM has successfully raised the £10,500 needed to buy an Iron Age hoard found in a field in Rotherfield Peppard.

Friends of the Oxfordshire Museum wanted to buy the hoard, which included a 2,000-year-old brooch from a horse harness used to pull a chariot.

There was also a dress broach, a coin and an enamelled handle from a shallow bowl.

It was found by a metal detectorist in a sealed pottery urn in August 2020 and later excavated by archaeologists.

Declared treasure, the county council’s museum service had the first chance to buy the items and started fundraising in July.

The charity had until midday on October 6 before the hoard was able to go up for public sale.

The museum wants to keep the items, thought to have been buried in AD 50-150, shortly after the Roman invasion, for public display and avoid it going to a private collection.

The Friends of the Oxfordshire Museum, a registered charity that supports the Oxfordshire Museum, said: “Thank you so much for your donations. We are touched, overwhelmed and inspired by all your support.”

Last month, Sonning Common Parish Council said it would not donate to the fundraising effort.

Councillor Stuart Howe questioned why the person who made the discovery should benefit, arguing that if he is local, he should consider gifting it to the museum.

He said: “I can’t really get excited by it just looking at the pictures, it’s just a bit of tat.

“I mean, God knows how many thousands of years old it is now. I get a better visual from this [picture] than going to see it in person.

“More importantly, the person who found it, why should he benefit from the windfall? Maybe he should look at being a bit more generous.”

Cllr Vicki Boorman added: “Before I would be happy to even consider contributing, it would be good to know exactly where it was and confirmation it would be something actually relevant to parishioners to benefit from it.”