A slice of life in 9th Century Worcestershire

It's thought the Bickmarsh Hoard would have been buried between 871 and 874 AD. It features 63 coins and an ancient board game, discovered in the Vale of Evesham.

Members of the group Go Detecting Midlands went metal detecting in a Worcestershire field that had never previously shown any archaeological finds in 2022. The equipment beeped and members kept digging up silver coin after silver coin.

The finds are being examined by the British Museum to shed life on how life in the county looked in 2026.

The project has been funded by Historic England.

Alistair Binney meets Worcestershire Archaeologist Emma Hancocks and Senior Project Manager Tom Vaughan who talks us through the intricate detail of what's been discovered, alongside a stone thought to be etched with the carvings of nine men's morris, an ancient strategy game.

Image credit: Worcestershire Archaeology