Help Save Oxfordshire's Iron Age Hoard

Help us, the Friends of Oxfordshire Museum, raise £10,500 to acquire an important Iron Age Hoard for the Oxfordshire Museums Service collection. Your support safeguards this special hoard forever.

Crowdfunder: Save the Oxfordshire Iron Age Hoard

This is our first ever Crowdfunder campaign and we have chosen this very special hoard to fundraise for. The hoard consists of an Iron Age horse harness fitting with ornate ‘Celtic’ style decoration, a brooch, an enamelled patera handle, Roman coin and lead weight. All were found in a large ceramic urn and sealed by a quern stone.

In the late Iron Age horses and the chariots they pulled were an important part of life. The harness and chariot fittings were a way of displaying someone’s wealth, status, and skill in caring for these animals. Burying this hoard may be seen as a way of protecting the owners from the Roman invaders, they could be part of the grave goods of someone who died or heirlooms, and now, to us in 2025, they give us a glimpse of life in the Iron Age.

 The Hoard was discovered in the parish of Rotherfield Peppard in August 2020 by a metal detector user and together with archaeologists, was excavated. We believe that the hoard was buried in AD 50 to 150 which means it was buried shortly after the Roman invasion.

 We, as The Friends of the Oxfordshire Museum, are keen to help the Museum get this hoard in to their public archaeology collection where it can be viewed, studied and appreciated by Oxfordshire’s residents and visitors to our county.

 Please support us using this link. Crowdfunder: Save the Oxfordshire Iron Age Hoard

 If you can, opt in for Gift Aid, this boosts the money we receive and helps us meet our target faster!

 Many thanks for your support, every little helps and we hope to share the hoard with you soon, when we are successful in our fundraising efforts.