Abraham de la Pryme - 1696-07-11

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Abraham de la Pryme, 1696/07/11

Abraham de la Pryme - 1696-07-11
FINA IDUnique ID of the page  16168
InstitutionName of Institution.
InventoryInventory number.
PlacePlace of publication of the book, composition of the document or institution.
AuthorAuthor of the document. Abraham de la Pryme
Associated personsNames of Persons who are mentioned in the annotation. William Camden
Publication dateDate when the publication was issued: day - month - year . July 11, 1696
KeywordNumismatic Keywords  Saxon , Danish , Medieval , Grave , Hoards , Silver , Bronze , Greek , Athens , Shape Of Letters
LiteratureReference to literature. Camden 15861, Jackson 1869, pp. 104-52, Burnett 2020b, p. 733 n. 2673
LanguageLanguage of the correspondence English
External LinkLink to external information, e.g. Wikpedia 
Other entries for the same diary
DiaryPublication dateDate when the publication was issued: day - month - year .
Abraham de la Pryme - 1696-04-011 April 1696
Abraham de la Pryme - 1696-07-1111 July 1696
Abraham de la Pryme - 1697-09-2323 September 1697
Grand documentOriginal passage from the "Grand document".

'This day I went to see Madam Anderson, and falling a talking from one thing to another, shee ran and fetched me down several old coins to look at, amongst which one was a rose noble, one of those that Ramund Lully is sayd to have made [by] chymistry. Tliore was another of silver, which was a medal made upon the return of K[ing] Charles the Second; and there was two or three old Saxon coins, such as is seen in the beginning of Cambden, and one which was a Danish one. Concerning which three or four last shee told me this very observable thing; to witt, that about four years ago, as a man was digging in the field near unto Boston, in this county, he light upon a cave, which having broke through the wall thereof, he discovered therein the dead body of a man, layd in a kind of a stone coffin, which body fell to ashes as soon as ever he touched it. And in the cave he found great heaps of money, all black with age, which money he sold in whole baggs full, by weight, to all the neighbouring country, and carry'd a great quantity of it to Gainsburr, and sold it by weight there, and there it was that this lady got those pieces thereof that I saw. They were full as bigg as large sixpenys, and were all of them of silver, and of a great many different coins.
Shee relates likewise that about thirty years ago there was discovered a very Strang thing at Godstow, which shee had from many eye witnesses, and was this. As a gardiner was digging on the side of a great hill nigh the town, he could never proceed on his work for the great stones that he continnualy encounter'd with, therefore one advised to digg on the top of the hill, and having done so for half a day, he came to a causy, as he cauld it at first, but, having pull'd up many of the stones, it appear'd to be the roof of a great arched cave, built in manner of a church, in which there were several old monuments and diverse images. Some of the latter she says were taken out and putt in the church of that place.
This brings into my mind what I heard a gentleman say, last time I was in Yorkshire, to witt, that about the year 1659, when he was in Somersetshire, there was discover'd in a hole on Malvern hills, a pot full of money, many of which this gentleman had, but has lost them all. However, they were brass and copper, and had most of them the name of Lewellin on. The same gentleman let me se an old Athenian coin, with an owl on it on one side, on each side of which was an omicron and a eupsilon, on the other side a royal head with a crown on, with two ill shaped unknown letters.' (Jackson 1869, pp. 104-5)

References

  1. ^  Camden, William (1586) Britannia siue Florentissimorum regnorum, Angliae, Scotiae, Hiberniae, et insularum adiacentium ex intima antiquitate chorographica descriptio, London.
  2. ^  Jackson, C. (ed.)(1869) The Diary of Abraham de la Pryme, the Yorkshire Antiquary, Surtees Society Vol. 54, Durham.
  3. ^  Burnett, Andrew M. (2020), The Hidden Treasures of this Happy Land. A History of Numismatics in Britain from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment, BNS Special Publ. No 14 = RNS Special Publ. No 58, London, Spink & Son.