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The Hoard turned out to contain about 500 individual
items from all around the world: Asia, the Middle
East, South America and other European countries.
Some were component items such as loose
gemstones, chains, buckles and cameos: others were
complete jewellery pieces and accessories such as
rings, pendants, brooches and fan holders. However
this is not the kind of jewellery worn by royalty –
the Hoard would seem to be the stock of a jeweller
catering to the increasingly prosperous middle-class.
So why would the jeweller bury and hide his precious
stock under his shop in Cheapside? We do not know
when or why, but there are many theories. Did he
hide his stock to prevent it being seized for unpaid
rent? Was he going away on a journey, met with an
accident and never returned? Was it simply a
burglar’s swag? The Hoard must have been buried
after 1640 (dated by the Stafford gem) and before
the Great Fire of 1666, as the Cheapside buildings
were burnt down and rebuilt, without anyone
discovering the treasure.
When the Civil War broke out in 1642, London took
the Parliamentarian side and the Goldsmiths’
Company lent money for the defence of the City.
Parts of Goldsmiths’ Hall were even converted into
a granary. The manufacture of gold and silver plate
and jewels declined and many shops were closed by
order of Parliament – in 1643 the Goldsmiths’ Beadle
reported that it was impossible to collect quarterly
payments as so many shops were shut and their
owners ‘gone for soldiers’.
Cheapside was utterly destroyed by the Great Fire,
but some of the brick vaults collapsed in the intense
heat and most of the cellars were deep enough to
withstand the inferno. So this fabulous treasure lay
hidden for centuries, waiting to give us an
unparalleled insight into the goldsmiths’ craft, and
tastes, beliefs and symbolisms of the time. It also
tells us that London was a crossroad between the
Old World and the New – the gemstones come from
exotic locations such as Columbia, Brazil, Burma,
Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Iran.
(continued next page)
Below: The London Silver Vaults
HV Morton