©Bryan Phillips Jul 2024

GREAT NEWS! DORSET MUSEUM HAVE RAISED THE FUNDS TO PURCHASE THIS.

photo © Somerset County Council 2.0 Generic.

This late Bronze Age gold bracelet was found in Hilton. It has been declared treasure and has been valued at £1200. The Dorset Museum is in the process of acquiring it but need our help in raising a little more. Please donate here.It would be great to know that it will then be available for everyone to view instead of being locked away by a private collector in some safe deposit box.

The full Portable Antiquities Scheme description of this bracelet.

This is an important piece of our history. We know of a gold torc that was also found in Hilton in the 19th century and handed to Lady Caroline Damer. What happened to it then we do not know, it may still be with the Dawson-Damer descendants. 

It would be great to know what was happening in Hilton in the late Bronze Age, the gold objects raise so many questions. Where is the gold from? How was it traded? Why was it buried? For a funerary rite? Are there more gold objects to be found? Only archaeology and more research could tell us.