In January 2019, metal detectorists discovered a large hoard of Anglo-Saxon and Norman coins in the Chew Valley area of what is now Bath and North-East Somerset, although firmly within the historic county of Somerset.1 The hoard was buried in the years immediately following the Norman Conquest, and was essentially a two-type hoard, composed of the PAX type of Harold II, and the Profile / Cross Fleury type of William I, and thus spans the Conquest, like a small number of other hoards of similar date, including Soberton, Rotherham and Corringham. However, the Chew Valley hoard is by far the largest hoard recorded to date from the immediate post-Conquest period, and although a number of other hoards were deposited in 1066, presumably in the build-up to Hastings (see below, p. 44), Chew Valley contained nearly twice as many coins from Harold’s short reign as the whole of the previously recorded corpus. The hoard thus provides an unprecedented opportunity to re-examine Harold’s coinage, which will be considered here in its historical context. At the same time, the fact that the hoard was compiled and deposited in William’s reign also offers a chance to reflect on the brief period of transition between Harold’s death on 14 October and William’s coronation on 25 December 1066. This transition period rarely receives detailed consideration, being viewed either as a coda to studies of Harold (or of the late Anglo-Saxon period) or as an introduction to William’s inevitable establishment of Norman rule in England.

This essay will first provide a brief account of the hoard itself, before moving on to consider Harold’s coinage as a whole, with some preliminary thoughts on how the hoard impacts on our understanding of that coinage. The next section will consider what previous scholarship has already established as the otherwise minor mint of Wilton within this coinage, and how the Chew Valley hoard reinforces a previous suggestion that Wilton’s sudden pre-eminence may post-date Harold’s death at Hastings. The final section will discuss the possible role of Edith, widow of Edward the Confessor and sister of Harold, both as the likely instigator of the anomalous Wilton coinage and as one of the most important political figures in England in the aftermath of Hastings.