A stash of four silver coins - three Elizabeth I sixpences and one Spanish reale - which were found on land in Co Down have been formally declared treasure by the Coroner's Court in Belfast.

One of the coins was initially discovered 18inches underground by three men at farmland at Cloughy, Co Down in August 2016.

Three further coins were found during a subsequent visit to the site by one of the same men and another man.

It was later found that three of the coins were Elizabeth I sixpences, which are among the most common hammered, hand-made, coins found in Britain or Ireland.

Despite being minted several decades earlier, most of these did not make their way to Ireland until the 1640s.

This, along with the worn condition of the sixpences, suggest that they were either hidden or lost at Cloughy in the 1640s or early 1650s.

A fourth coin was found to be a Spanish 4 reale, the type of which originates from one of Spain's South American colonies.

"The Spanish reale in particular reflects a global trading system which eventually brought a coin minted in South America to a small field in rural Ireland".

To read the complete article, see:
Hoard of silver coins found on land in Co Downformally declared treasure by Coroner (https://www.irishnews.com/news/northernirelandnews/2018/03/24/news/hoard-of-silver-coins-found-on-land-in-co-down-formally-declared-treasure-by-coroner-1286290/)