Renovating an old house always comes with hidden costs. Sometimes you find rot. Sometimes you find bad plumbing. Every once in a while, you strike a ceramic bowl packed with over a thousand gold and silver coins dating back to England's Civil War.
That is exactly what happened to Robert and Betty Fooks. Back in 2019, they bought South Poorton Farm, a 17th-century long house in West Dorset. They wanted to fix it up. They stripped the walls bare. They ripped out the modern concrete floor. When Robert started digging down nearly two feet by torchlight to squeeze out a bit more ceiling height, his pickaxe hit something hard. For another perspective, read: this related article.
It wasn't a pipe. It was the Poorton Coin Hoard.
What Was Actually in the Hole
Most home renovation surprises are garbage or asbestos. The Fooks family hit jackpot history. When Robert scooped up the contents into a bucket, he pulled out 1,029 coins. Further analysis regarding this has been shared by The Spruce.
The British Museum looked over the stash and pinned the burial date squarely between 1642 and 1644. That places the hiding right at the start of the First English Civil War, when Parliamentarian and Royalist forces tore through the countryside.
The mix of currency wasn't from a single year. It was a multi-generational piggy bank. The hoard held:
- Gold coins minted under James I and Charles I
- Silver half crowns, shillings, and sixpences
- Older silver pieces dating back to Elizabeth I and even Philip and Mary
Whoever built this stash saved money across decades, keeping currency spanning multiple monarchies tucked away for a rainy day.
Why They Buried It Under the Floor
If you lived through the 1640s in Dorset, you didn't trust banks. You didn't even trust your neighbors. Armies marched through rural towns, requisitioning food, burning buildings, and seizing property from anyone unlucky enough to be in their path.
Burying your wealth was standard survival strategy. You dug a hole in your own dirt floor, smashed or dropped a ceramic pot into the earth, covered it up, and hoped for the best.
Betty Fooks noted the obvious truth about the find: the original owner clearly intended to come back for it. They didn't dump it in a field or toss it in a river. They put it right inside the house where they could keep an eye on it—if they survived the war. Whatever happened to them, they never made it back to dig it up.
What Happens When You Find Treasure
You can't just keep a 400-year-old coin hoard and list it on local marketplaces. In the UK, major historical finds have strict legal pathways.
The Fooks family did everything right. They reported the find to the local Finds Liaison Officer. The collection went straight to the British Museum for formal cleaning, cataloging, and official identification.
Once the bureaucracy cleared, the coins headed to Duke's Auctioneers in Dorchester. Collectors went wild for them. A single Charles I gold unite coin pulled in thousands on its own. The entire hoard cleared over £60,000 at auction—nearly double the initial estimate.
Not a bad return on investment for a standard kitchen renovation.
Can You Find Something Similar
Short answer: probably not.
Most homes don't sit on top of 400 years of layered history. If you're tearing up your kitchen floor in a modern suburban build, you're going to find old cables and maybe a stray Lego brick.
If you own an old property, though, keep your eyes open. Don't swing your pickaxe blindly. Real history sits right beneath the surface in places like Dorset, waiting for someone willing to dig deep enough.
Stop dreaming about ancient treasure and go check your own floorboards. Just don't expect a bucket of gold.
