Roman coins from the Buxton Hoard

In the eighteenth-century it was believed that drinking and bathing in mineral water could cure many ailments. Buxton’s thermal waters were known to the Romans. They built baths at Buxton, then known as Aquae Arnemetiae, a name meaning the springs at the sacred grove of the goddess Arnemetiae (a Celtic Goddess).

When the baths in the Crescent, the centrepiece of Georgian Buxton comprising two hotels, lodging houses, thermal baths and an assembly room, were renovated in 1975 builders found 232 Roman coins, 3 bronze bracelets and a wire clasp. These suggests that offerings were made here by the Romans to the Goddess Arnemetiae. These objects are now on display at Buxton Museum and Art Gallery.

Coins date from the time of Marcus Aurelias, Antoninus Pius, Sabina (Hadrian’s wife).