Find Spot record MWX2620 - Roman coin found at entrance to Lulworth Cove

A Roman coin (Billion tetradrachm, 2nd or early 3rd century minted in Alexandria), recovered just off entrance to Lulworth Cove in 1983. <1-3>

<1> Receiver of Wreck, Droit of the Receiver of wreck 349/02 (Unpublished document). SWX156.

<2> Le Pard, G, 1995-2003, Dorset Coast Forum Maritime Archaeological Database, Single Find 53 (Digital archive). SWX8707.

<3> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 2003, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 2002, 129 (Serial). SDO11600.

‘ROMAN COIN FROM THE SEA OFF LULWORTH COVE.
In, or before, 1983 Ian Finlay, a scallop diver, found two Roman coins (one broken) on the sea bed off Lulworth Cove. He reported the find to Mike Markey of the Poole Bay Archaeological Research Group who arranged for the site, as identified by Mr Finlay, to be investigated. Divers searched the area (50°46.53’N 2°15.44’W WGS84 datum) without finding any further archaeological material; additional searches in 1993 proved to be similarly negative.
In the autumn of 2002 one coin was passed to the author (the half coin has apparently been lost). This was subsequently identified as a Billon Tetradrachm which had been minted in Alexandria in the late 2nd or early 3rd century. The distribution of this type of coin was apparently generally confined to the eastern regions of the Empire and is not commonly found in the west.
This coin is not the only Roman object to have been found off Lulworth Cove, an anchor and bottle having been found in 1966 (Farrar 1970). As with the coin the area was searched in 1967 and again in 1985, with negative results (Southampton University 1985).
Despite the lack of additional finds, the existence of one or more Roman shipwrecks off Lulworth Cove remains a possibility. The presence of the finds certainly lends credence to the idea that Lulworth Cove served as a small port during the Roman period, as it almost certainly did during the Iron Age (Farrar 1950; Wheeler 1953; Markey et al. 2002).
The coin has been passed to the Dorset County Museum with the consent of the Receiver of Wreck.’

Record last edited

Jan 22 2020 4:11PM