The Poorton Coin Hoard: How a Hidden Civil War Treasure Lay Buried for 400 Years

A routine renovation turned into a remarkable historical discovery when a couple in West Dorset, England, accidentally unearthed a cache of 17th‑century coins buried beneath their farmhouse floor.

Nearly five years ago, Robert and Betty Fooks were lowering the floor of their long‑house cottage at South Poorton Farm to improve headroom. As Robert swung his pickaxe, the tool struck a glazed pottery bowl hidden deep in the soil. Inside were roughly one hundred coins—gold pieces from the reigns of James I and Charles I, along with silver half crowns, shillings, and sixpences dating back to Elizabeth I and even Phillip and Mary.

The find, later named the Poorton Coin Hoard, was sent to the British Museum for cleaning and identification. Experts determined that the coins were likely buried all at once between 1642 and 1644, during the height of the English Civil War. The hoard recently sold at Duke’s Auction House for about $75,000.

Betty Fooks recalled the moment of discovery: “I was with the children, and my husband was digging with a pickaxe when he called to say they’d found something. He put all the coins in a bucket.”

Why People Buried Their Wealth

During the Civil War, Dorset was a strategic corridor for troop movements. Both Parliamentarian and Royalist forces routinely entered private homes, demanding food, supplies, and sometimes stealing valuables outright. Families learned to hide their savings in walls, floors, and pottery containers—places they hoped to return to once the fighting ended.

But many never came back.

“If you were a royalist or suspected royalist, you could have your estates seized by the Parliamentary side—and vice versa,” explained Waseem Ahmed, a historian at University College London. The chaos of shifting allegiances meant that wealth often had to be hidden quickly and quietly.

Nearby Lyme Regis endured an eight‑week siege in 1644, supplied only by smugglers who slipped food and gunpowder past naval blockades. In rural hamlets like Poorton, families lived with the constant fear that soldiers could arrive at any moment. The coins found by the Fooks may have belonged to one such household—people who hid their savings for safety but never returned to reclaim them.

A Window Into a Turbulent Past

For more than 400 years, the hoard remained untouched beneath the farmhouse floor. “If we hadn’t lowered the floor, they would still be hidden there,” Betty said. “I presume the person intended to retrieve them but never got the chance.”

Today, the Poorton Coin Hoard offers another glimpse into the everyday lives of people caught in the turmoil of England’s Civil War—ordinary families who tried to protect what little they had in a world suddenly turned upside down.