The Dolphin Inn Hoard: Re-examining the Early Nineteenth-Century Discovery of a Mid-Thirteenth-Century Hoard from Cambridge

This paper discusses the evidence relating to a mid-thirteenth-century hoard of coins and jewellery discovered beneath a cellar in Cambridge in 1817. Five gold rings with gemstone settings survive from this group and are now in the possession of Trinity College library; these rings are examined, and their date and significance explored. The history of the material - from its initial discovery up until the mid-nineteenth century when the rings were donated to the college - is also investigated. Finally, the original context of the hoard is discussed, including its possible association with the medieval Jewry of Cambridge.