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Written question asked by Tim Loughton (Conservative) on Monday, 11 December 2017, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 14 December 2017 (named day). It was answered by John Glen (Conservative) on Thursday, 14 December 2017 on behalf of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

Treasure: Wiltshire

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many finds have been reported as Treasure under the Treasure Act 1996 in Wiltshire in each of the last 20 years; and if she will make a statement.

Answer

The overwhelming majority of finds in England and Wales are reported directly to Finds Liaison Officers, though in a small number of cases they are reported directly to Coroners. The Coroner will normally direct the finder to the Finds Liaison Officer. In Northern Ireland, where the Portable Antiquities Scheme does not apply, finds are reported directly to the Coroner. Only individual Coroner’s officers will hold information on cases directly reported to them.

The Treasure Act, which defines what finds are treasure came into force in 1997, and since then the following finds have been reported as treasure in Wiltshire:

1997 – 6,1998 – 9,1999 – 10, 2000 – 4, 2001 – 7, 2002 – 9, 2003 – 8 (PAS first started in Wiltshire), 2004 – 11, 2005 – 18, 2006 – 18, 2007 – 25, 2008 – 26, 2009 – 20, 2010 – 36, 2011 – 41, 2012 – 35, 2013 – 30, 2014 – 30, 2015 – 35 (source Treasure Annual Report 2015) , 2016 – 46 (source Portable Antiquities Scheme Annual Report 2016)

Since the Portable Antiquities Scheme began in Wiltshire in 2003 the following finds have been reported in each year.

2003 - 107, 2004 - 1,234, 2005 - 878, 2006 - 1,533, 2007 - 1,555,

2008 - 896, 2009 - 1,213, 2010 - 1,144, 2011 - 1,601, 2012 - 1,769, 2013 - 2,684, 2014 - 3,392, 2015 - 3,913, 2016 - 4,266, 2017 - 2,695

In the last 12 months the Wiltshire Finds Liaison Officer has had discussions with the following museums and heritage organisations in Wiltshire:

  1. Museums - Chippenham Museum, Salisbury Museum and Wiltshire Museum
  2. Heritage organisations - Wessex Archaeology and Operation Nightingale

In addition the Wiltshire Finds Liaison Officer has had discussions with two Wiltshire based archaeology projects, the PAStlands Project and the Teffont Archaeological Project.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
118486
Session
2017-19
Grouped for answer
Yes
Subjects
Treasure Wiltshire
Legislation
Treasure Act 1996
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk