The Cirencester Cockerel Goes On Display at Corinium Museum

We were thrilled to be invited to the opening of the new Roman galleries at the Corinium Museum last evening. Before the unveiling, the front of the museum was packed with Friends, staff, CA colleagues and those associated with some of the sites that yielded the finds soon to be revealed. Museum curator Amanda Hart spoke of all the hard work that had taken place in order to make the finds accessible and CA’s Neil Holbrook talked about the background to the discoveries of two recent remarkable finds: the Cirencester cockerel and the Tetbury coin hoard.

Jamie Wright, the archaeologist who was the first person to see the cockerel since the day nearly 2000 years ago when it was placed in a child’s grave was also there. He responded to the many questions asked about the discovery with modesty, as Neil spoke of the skill and care of the excavators.

The cockerel was found during excavations in 2011 at the site of the former Bridges Garage. It was assumed that much had been lost due to truncation of the ground in the digging of tanks, along with an earlier excavation that had uncovered Roman burials. However, remarkably, more Roman archaeology was discovered, including the grave of a child aged 2 or 3, with the grave goods of the cockerel and a feeding cup touchingly and lovingly laid with him or her.

Find out more this site and the cockerel by visiting our 25 Highlights page.

Also now on display is the Tetbury coin hoard. Found by a farmer as he metal detected on his land, 1500 Roman coins were found inside a globular New Forest type flask (dating to around AD300–330). The Corinium Museum launched the ‘Adopt a coin’ scheme to help pay for the conservation of this amazing find.

Copyright Cotswold District Council

Copyright Cotswold District Council