XVI. Account of Antiquities discovered in Cornwall, 1774. By Philip Rashleigh, Esq. F.A.S.

Extract

In the year 1774, as some tinners were searching for tin in a stream-work near St. Austell, in the county of Cornwall, about 17 feet under the surface of the ground, they discovered a silver cup, which is now used for wine at the Communion Table, in which were several antient pieces of ornament, for a person of high rank, as represented in Pl. VIII. The cup was placed in a heap of loose stones, the refuse of an old tin-work, and covered with a common slate, where it was probably hid in troublesome times, either by the owner, or by some person who stole it. The quantity of earth and stone which had accumulated over the cup since it was deposited in the stream-work, shews that it had remained there for a great number of years. The cup was very thin and brittle, and fell into so many pieces as to prevent its being united. Besides the articles represented in the drawing, it contained many of the most curious Saxon coins ever discovered at one time. These with the other pieces of antiquity fell out in moving the ground, and some were probably lost in Shovelling about the rubbish. Those which were picked up were in a few hours disperst about the country, and many of them broken. The greatest part were afterwards collected; and are at Menabilly in Cornwall.