Coin Report

R.J. Brickstock

The Church Chare excavations yielded 20 objects preliminarily identified as coins. Of these, one (no. 18) is an extremely corroded silver halfpenny of the reign of Edward III, and a second (no. 19) is a worn Scottish turner (2d) of the reign of Charles I. A third object (no. 20), although illegible to the naked eye, is shown by x-ray to be not a coin but a modern button.

The remaining 17 coins are Roman imperial, one an illegible 3rd or 4th century issue, the rest a fairly unremarkable series ranging in date from a very worn dupondius of Vespasian (no. 1, A.D.69-79) to an unworn VRBS ROMA of Constantine I, issued in 330-31 at Trier. There are two worn 2nd century denarii (no. 2, Hadrian, and no. 4, Marcus Aurelius, Caesar) and an extremely worn sestertius from the reign of Antoninus Pius (no. 3, Faustina I, posthumous issue). All four early coins are very likely residual. There is then a gap in the series, followed by nine antoniniani of Victorinus and the Tetrici (268-73), or copies of the same (nos. 5- 13), all showing only slight wear. An aurelianus of Carausius (no. 14), a coin of Constantine II, Caesar (no. 15, issued 327-28), plus the coin of Constantine, all similarly little worn, complete the list.

There are thus no coins of the second half of the 4th century, but the present sample is too small for this absence to carry any particular significance. However, the combination of these finds with earlier discoveries from Chester-le-Street produces a sufficient total for a statistical comparison with other sites in the region to be more viable. Various small assemblages of coins, mostly from the bed or banks of the Cong Burn, but a few from close to the deanery, were exhibited to the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle, and are recorded in that body`s Proceedings (IX³, 1921, 30, 273; X³, 1923, 41, 112; I⁴, 1925, 11). Another body of coins, found in the deanery garden, was published by the Rev. Walker Featherstonhaugh at the end of the last century (1885).

However, for the purpose of the histogram (Fig.12), I have included only two lists in addition to the present finds: the finds from the 1978-79 excavations (32 coins, of which 25 are legible Roman imperial - McKay 1991), and John Casey`s unpublished catalogue of coins from the Chester- le-Street vicarage (104 coins, 95 of them Roman imperial - P.J. Casey, unpublished card catalogue). The earlier published finds, numbering some 55 in total, are omitted on several grounds: firstly, there is the possibility, even likelihood, of overlap with Casey`s listing; secondly, the earliest finds are not published in sufficient detail for the fourth century coins to be assigned to individual date periods; and thirdly, the last published group (PSAN I⁴, 1925), although allegedly found on the banks of the Cong, is made up of eastern issues (the legible mint-marks are of Cyzicus and Nicomedia), suggesting that this group is either a small hoard, or is not a local find. In either instance, its inclusion in a list of site-finds could only be misleading.

This leaves 136 coins, which sub-divide into periods⁶ as follows:

The periods are those used by P.J. Casey (1980, 23), and the histogram is constructed in the now usual way, using the formula

The histogram (Fig.12) reveals a pattern that is strikingly similar, in periods 8-24, to various sites in the region, including Corbridge, South Shields, Wallsend and Piercebridge. However, differences are apparent in the earlier and later periods, allowing observations about both the date of foundation of the fort, and the date to which occupation continued. Nevertheless, the tentative nature of such observations should perhaps be re-emphasized: given the relatively low site total of 136 coins, the presence or absence of a single coin can make a significant difference to the shape of the histogram. For example, the value for period 1 (A.D. 43- 54) is provided by a single coin which, being a Claudian copy, might well have been produced during period 2 (A.D. 54-68), and therefore should perhaps be transferred to that period.

Having noted the possibility of statistical distortion, however, it is possible to observe that Chester-le-Street is slightly weaker than either Corbridge or Housesteads (founded c.A.D. 125) in periods 1-3 (A.D. 43- 81), but shows a considerable peak for period 7 (A.D. 138-61). This would be not inconsistent with a foundation date in the latter part of the third quarter of the second century: much of the earlier coinage, and particularly the base-metal coinage, shows very considerable wear, and the presence of coinage of period 2 onwards on Antonine Wall sites demonstrates that it is reasonable to regard much of such coinage as residual. Equally, the peak for period 7 at Chester-le-Street can reasonably be seen as an indication of the common base-metal types in everyday circulation at the time of foundation: given the relative disregard shown by the imperial authorities towards the base-metal coinage relative to the silver (in which the armies were paid), one would perhaps expect the base-metal circulation pool to lag a little behind the times.

In the fourth century, sites such as Corbridge, South Shields and Piercebridge demonstrate occupation throughout, with the presence of coins of A.D. 388-402, some of the latest to reach Britain. At Chester- le-Street, however, the peak for period 25 (A.D. 364-78) is somewhat lower than that of Corbridge, and coinage of the following periods is absent. In this it mirrors Housesteads, although there the fall-off arguably begins earlier still, in period 24 (A.D. 348-64), and also Wallsend, where the fall-off in period 25 is even more marked. On face evidence, this suggests the cessation of, or at least a marked fall-off in, occupation at Chester-le-Street during period 25, and this remains the probability.

The 1978-79 finds, including two issues of 364-67 out of three Valentinianic coins, arguably point to the earlier part of period 25 for the decline in level of occupation. However, the small size of the sample (25 coins) makes such an argument no more reliable than would be the theory of an end to occupation soon after A.D. 330, postulated on the basis of the 1990/91 sample (16 coins, end-date A.D. 330-31). The fuller list used here adds a further four Valentinianic coins, one not closely dateable, the other three issues of 367-75 or 367-78, and thus makes a conclusion about the date of decline in coin use within the period 364-78 much more tentative, as it is based on the size of the period 25 peak alone.

In addition, a note of caution should perhaps be sounded: both South Shields and Piercebridge yield peaks for period 25 almost identical to that of Chester-le-Street. Both are considerably larger site lists than Chester-le-Street (Piercebridge yielded 2496 legible imperial coins), and both show relatively 'normal' peaks for periods 26 and 27. Coins of period 26 (A.D. 378-88) are almost always rare as British site-finds, and it would be surprising for them to appear in a site-list of only 136 coins. Theodosian coinage of period 27 (A.D. 388-402), however, is rather less rare, but even so the presence of only two such coins at Chester-le- Street would match the value produced by Piercebridge, and three that of South Shields - and Theodosian bronzes are small and easily missed.

The following abbreviations are used throughout this catalogue:

Mints.

RM

Rome

TR

Trier

Denominations

ANT

Antoninianus

DP

Dupondius

AS

As

AUREL

Aurelianus

DEN

Denarius

SEST

Sestertius

Catalogue

[cat:]

[Numbers refer to RIC unless otherwise stated.]

RIC

The Roman Imperial Coinage, volumes 1-9, ed. H. Mattingly, E.A. Sydenham, C.H.V. Sutherland, R.A.G. Carson. (1926-1981)

E

Die Munzprägung der Gallischen Kaiser in Köln, Trier und Mailand, by G. Elmer, 1941.

HUNT

Roman Imperial Coins in the Hunter Coin Cabinet, Vol. II, Trajan to Commodus, by A.S. Robertson, OUP, 1971.

North

English Hammered Coinage, by J.J. North, Spinks, London, 1960.

Stewart

The Scottish Coinage, by I.H. Stewart, Spinks, London, 1955.

A copy or counterfeit of a particular ruler/issuer is denoted by single quotation marks, e.g. 'TETRICUS II', and by the use of a lower case 'c' in the catalogue reference, e.g. c.of 270 = a copy of RIC 270. The use of the word 'of' indicates that a precise catalogue reference has been obtained; 'as' is used, for both official issues and copies, to denote an incompletely catalogued coin.

The condition (wear:) of both the obverse and reverse is denoted by the following abbreviations:

UW

Unworn

SW

Slightly worn

W

Worn

VW

Very worn

EW

Extremely worn

C

Corroded

NSU

Not struck up.

The flan diameter (diam:) is given in millimetres (mm) and the weight (wt:) in grams (g).