A hoard of silver coins has been found buried in school grounds near a medieval castle in Northumberland.
The 128 coins were discovered by the caretaker, who was using a metal detector in the grounds of Warkworth Church of England Primary School.
The school is near Warkworth Castle, once the seat of the powerful Percy family.
The coins date from the 15th and early 16th centuries, covering the reigns of Edward IV, who became king after victory in the Wars of the Roses and Henry VII, the first monarch of the House of Tudor who won the throne when his forces defeated King Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field.
The coins were declared as treasure and have been valued at more than £11,000 by the British Museum, which did not take up the option to buy them.
They have been divided between the finder and the landowner, the Diocese of Newcastle.
On Wednesday, September 13 the 66 diocesan coins will be sold by Newcastle auctioneers Anderson and Garland.
They comprise groat and half-groat coins from the reigns of the two monarchs, plus nine Charles the Bold coins from the 1460s.
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Charles the Bold was ruler of Burgundy in France and on good terms with Edward IV. The rulers agreed that the Burgundian coins could be legal tender in England.
The chairman of the school governors, John Hobrough, said: “The coins were found by the school caretaker who was given permission to use the metal detector. We have kept it under our hat to a certain extent.”
Andrew Agate is Newcastle-based finds liaison officer for the North East for the Portable Antiquities Scheme, to which such discoveries are reported
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