 First edition (1999) | |
| Author | Roald Dahl |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Ralph Steadman |
| ISBN | 9780224060172 |
| 936.2643 | |
The Mildenhall Treasure is a non-fiction work written by British author Roald Dahl. It tells the story of the discovery in 1942 near Mildenhall in Suffolk of the Mildenhall Treasure, now held in the British Museum.
Dahl first published his account in the U.S. weekly magazine Saturday Evening Post , on 20 September 1947, under the title He Plowed Up $1,000,000. [1] This was one of the first pieces of journalism ever sold by the fledgling writer. The account—one of Dahl's rare forays into nonfiction—was first published in book form in 1977 in the story collection The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More. [2] It was then published as a single edition in 1999 by Jonathan Cape under the title The Mildenhall Treasure, with illustrations by Ralph Steadman. [3]
Shortly before Dahl became a fighter pilot in the RAF, he visited RAF Mildenhall as well as RAF Lakenheath, both located north of the town. Dahl had read in the newspaper about a remarkable find of Roman silver in this remote and lonely part of England. Very interested, a few days later he drove to Mildenhall to interview the ploughman involved, Gordon Butcher. Dahl also interviewed others who knew the story of the hoard, including neighbors, farmworkers, shopkeepers and Butcher's wife.
The hoard was first discovered by Butcher in the winter of 1942 at the height of the Second World War. A hired ploughman, he dug the treasure out the ground with help from a tractor. Butcher supposedly did not recognise the objects for what they were, and his boss, Sidney Ford, took possession of the hoard, which consisted of Roman Silver pieces from East Anglia with pagan themes.
In Dahl's version of events, Ford was fully aware of the significance of the find, but could not bear to part with the treasure. He kept it and restored it in secret, until two of the spoons left out were seen by an unexpected visitor, Dr. Hugh Fawcett.
The treasure was then turned over to the police, who started an investigation. An inquest was held in the summer of 1946. As a result, Butcher was deprived of the full ex gratia reward made to finders of buried gold or silver, since the find had not been reported to the authorities. The find was declared "treasure trove" and acquired by the British Museum in London. Eventually the finders were declared to be Ford and Butcher, who each received a thousand pounds compensation. Butcher had no idea that "had he been allowed [by Ford] to take the treasure home originally, he would have almost certainly have revealed its existence and would thus have become eligible to receive one hundred per cent of its value, which could have been anything between half a million and a million pounds." [4]
After Dahl's article was published in America, he sent half the money to Butcher's family. [4] Dahl later decided to publish a second version of the story, with a few tweaks. Dahl believed the first version revealed too much of his indignation against Sidney Ford. He titled the new version simply 'The Mildenhall Treasure', as the story is now known.
Richard Hobbs, curator of the British Museum, drew the attention of the academic world to the importance of Roald Dahl's account. Hobbs's first encounter with the Mildenhall treasure was in 1977 when, at the age of eight, he was given a copy of Dahl's book. [5] Many children worldwide, having read the story, are drawn to the Roman Britain gallery to see the treasure. [6] Hobbs has since addressed the difficult issues surrounding the actual finding. [7] [8]
Suffolk is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowestoft, Bury St Edmunds, Newmarket, and Felixstowe which has one of the largest container ports in Europe.
Mildenhall is a market town and civil parish in Suffolk, England. The town is near the A11 and is located 37 mi (60 km) north-west of Ipswich, the county town. The large Royal Air Force station, RAF Mildenhall as well as RAF Lakenheath, are located north of the town. The latter is used by the United States Air Force, as the headquarters of its 100th Air Refueling Wing and 352nd Special Operations Group.
The Mildenhall Treasure is a large hoard of 34 masterpieces of Roman silver tableware from the fourth century AD, and by far the most valuable Roman objects artistically and by weight of bullion in Britain. It was found at West Row, near Mildenhall, Suffolk, in 1942. It consists of over thirty items and includes the Great Dish which weighs over 8 kg (18 lb).
A hoard or "wealth deposit" is an archaeological term for a collection of valuable objects or artifacts, sometimes purposely buried in the ground, in which case it is sometimes also known as a cache. This would usually be with the intention of later recovery by the hoarder; hoarders sometimes died or were unable to return for other reasons before retrieving the hoard, and these surviving hoards might then be uncovered much later by metal detector hobbyists, members of the public, and archaeologists.
Traprain Law is a hill 6 km (4 mi) east of Haddington, East Lothian, Scotland. It is the site of a hill fort or possibly oppidum, which covered at its maximum extent about 16 ha. It is the site of the Traprain Law Treasure, the largest Roman silver hoard from anywhere outside the Roman Empire which included exquisite silver artefacts.
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More is a collection of seven short stories written by Roald Dahl. They are generally regarded as being aimed at a slightly older audience than many of his other children's books. The book was first published in London in 1977 by Jonathan Cape.
Hoxne is a village in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk, England, about five miles (8 km) east-southeast of Diss, Norfolk and 1⁄2 mile (800 m) south of the River Waveney. The parish is irregularly shaped, covering the villages of Hoxne, Cross Street and Heckfield Green, with a 'tongue' extending southwards to take in part of the former RAF Horham airfield.
The Cuerdale Hoard is a hoard of more than 8,600 items, including silver coins, English and Carolingian jewellery, hacksilver and ingots. It was discovered on 15 May 1840 on the southern bank of a bend of the River Ribble, in an area called Cuerdale near Preston, Lancashire, England. The Cuerdale Hoard is one of the largest Viking silver hoards ever found, four times larger than its nearest rival in Britain or Ireland, according to Richard Hall. In weight and number of pieces, it is second only to the Spillings Hoard found on Gotland, Sweden.
Mildenhall may refer to:
The Hoxne Hoard is the largest hoard of late Roman silver and gold discovered in Britain, and the largest collection of gold and silver coins of the fourth and fifth centuries found anywhere within the former Roman Empire. It was found by Eric Lawes, a metal detectorist in the village of Hoxne in Suffolk, England in 1992. The hoard consists of 14,865 Roman gold, silver, and bronze coins and approximately 200 items of silver tableware and gold jewellery. The objects are now in the British Museum in London, where the most important pieces and a selection of the rest are on permanent display. In 1993, the Treasure Valuation Committee valued the hoard at £1.75 million.
The Milton Keynes Hoard is a hoard of Bronze Age gold found in September 2000 in a field at Monkston Park in Milton Keynes, England. The hoard consisted of two torcs, three bracelets, and a fragment of bronze rod contained in a pottery vessel. The inclusion of pottery in the find enabled it to be dated to around 1150–800 BC.
The Frome Hoard is a hoard of 52,503 Roman coins found in April 2010 by metal detectorist Dave Crisp near Frome in Somerset, England. The coins were contained in a ceramic pot 45 cm (18 in) in diameter, and date from AD 253 to 305. Most of the coins are made from debased silver or bronze. The hoard is one of the largest ever found in Britain, and is also important as it contains the largest group ever found of coins issued during the reign of Carausius, who ruled Britain independently from 286 to 293 and was the first Roman Emperor to strike coins in Britain. The Museum of Somerset in Taunton, using a grant from the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF), acquired the hoard in 2011 for a value of £320,250.
The Shrewsbury Hoard is a hoard of 9,315 bronze Roman coins discovered by a metal detectorist in a field near Shrewsbury, Shropshire in August 2009. The coins were found in a large pottery storage jar that was buried in about AD 335.
The Winchester Hoard is a hoard of Iron Age gold found in a field in the Winchester area of Hampshire, England, in 2000, by a retired florist and amateur metal detectorist, Kevan Halls. It was declared treasure and valued at £350,000—the highest reward granted under the Treasure Act 1996 at that time.
The Bredon Hill Hoard is a hoard of 3,784 debased silver Roman coins discovered in June 2011 by two metal detectorists on Bredon Hill in Worcestershire, approximately 400 metres north of Kemerton Camp, an Iron Age hill fort. The coins were found in a clay pot that had been buried around the middle of the 4th century in a Roman villa, identified by the subsequent archaeological excavation. The coins include the reigns of sixteen different emperors during the mid to late 3rd century, and are the largest hoard of Roman coins to have been discovered in Worcestershire to date.
West Row is a small village and civil parish in the English county of Suffolk.
The Vinkovci Treasure or Cibalae Treasure is a hoard of late Roman silver plate, discovered in Vinkovci, Croatia at the end of March 2012. Consisting of 48 artifacts weighing a total of about 36 kilograms (79 lb), the hoard includes a variety of domestic utensils and tableware, some of which is elaborately decorated with various designs and depictions. The hoard appears to have been made locally, probably in a workshop in the town, and is thought to date to the late 4th century AD. Following its discovery during construction works in the centre of Vinkovci, it was put on public display in Vinkovci and at the Museum of Arts and Crafts in Zagreb prior to a programme of conservation funded by the Croatian government.
The Esquiline Treasure is an ancient Roman silver treasure that was found in 1793 on the Esquiline Hill in Rome. The hoard is considered an important example of late antique silver work from the 4th century AD, probably about 380 for the major pieces. Since 1866, 57 objects, representing the great majority of the treasure, have been in the British Museum.
Roald Dahl (1916–1990) was a British author and scriptwriter, and "the most popular writer of children's books since Enid Blyton", according to Philip Howard, the literary editor of The Times. He was raised by his Norwegian mother, who took him on annual trips to Norway, where she told him the stories of trolls and witches present in the dark Scandinavian fables. Dahl was influenced by the stories, and returned to many of the themes in his children's books. His mother also nurtured a passion in the young Dahl for reading and literature.
