In a previous post, we discussed the legend behind the Cuerdale hoard. Apparently, standing on the south bank of the River Ribble and looking upriver allowed you to see the “greatest treasure in all of England.” Many had searched for the treasure and failed. Over time, the legend began to fade away. But one day, the treasure was rediscovered… by accident.

On May 15, 1840, workers were repairing the southern embankment of the river Ribble, near Curedale Hall. It was business as usual, until a corroded lead box fell from a dirt wall the workers had dug out. It was covered in muck, but the workers knew it was valuable and began to swarm the find. The foreman broke it up, claiming it was likely pewter, solder, and tin – nothing but junk. He was proven wrong after the find had been cleaned and inspected. The greatest treasure in all of England had been found.

How great was it? The Cuerdale Hoard consisted of more than 8,600 silver items, including jewelry, coins, ingots, and hacksilver – making it the largest Viking silver hoard ever discovered in England. However, its origins are still shrouded in mystery with many theories. The silver coins in the hoard – which are usually good archeological indicators – come from all over the world, with many rare and never before seen specimens. This makes narrowing down the owner and his reasons for burying it hard to determine. For now at least, the origins of the Curedale legend and treasure are lost to time.

When most people think of buried treasure, they also think of pirates. While that has been true in a number of historical cases, Vikings are a strong (if not stronger) contender for “most buried treasure.” We’ve covered Viking treasure before, but the Cuerdale hoard is really something else. It’s another example of how much the Vikings valued silver, and how times of uncertainty and war forced them to keep their treasure safely hidden. However, people knew about the Cuerdale Hoard for hundreds of years – it just took a long time to find it.

As long as anyone could remember, there was a local legend known to most of the people in Lancashire, England. It was said that if you stood on the south bank of the River Ribble near Walton-le Dale, and looked up the river toward the village of Ribchester, you would be looking at the greatest treasure in all of England. The legend was so old that everyone had long forgotten its origin. Over time, it fell into the land of make-believe – as the river had been scoured by treasure hunters through the ages. Farmers took ploughs and dug deep all along the river and its banks, but never turned up anything. The legend was surely an old wives’ tale, or maybe even a reference to the beautiful countryside. For a long while, people gave up searching along the River Ribble and the legend began to fade into memory.

However, the treasure proved to be real after all. And the part about it being “the greatest treasure in all of England” was no understatement; not by a long shot. So how was this vast hoard finally found? Find out in our next blog post!

History is full of tales about sunken ships, hidden hoards, and other kinds of lost treasure. Among these are tales about lost precious metal mines. A typical “lost mine legend” usually follows one of several themes. Sometimes, the mine is discovered and worked on in secret – an individual prospector, town, or tribe is able to produce impressive amounts of precious metal for trade, but will not divulge where they obtain it. Other stories tell of an explorer who came upon rich precious metal deposits – but after returning to civilization for the proper mining resources, is unable to locate the deposits again.

Many lost mines have evidence of their existence and are rooted in historical fact. Many others are only the stuff of stories and legends. The Tayopa silver mines are unique in that they have been found, and lost, twice.

The story begins circa the 17th century with explosion of the Jesuit population in Mexico. While the primary goal of the Jesuits was to spread the message of their religion, they were also responsible for generating income for the church. This became so widespread that the Spanish government attempted to suppress it by criminalizing Jesuit mine ownership. However, this just pushed the Jesuits to mine in secret.

Somewhere near Sonora, Mexico someone through unknown means discovered the silver mines of Tayopa. Eventually, a town (Guadalupe de Tayopa) was built nearby with a fully equipped Jesuit church. Records of church inventory indicate that it kept a vast amount of silver artifacts. However, due to widespread aggression from Apache Indians, the entire town was abandoned and no one ventured into the area again for several years. With that, the Tayopa mines were lost.

During the early 20th century, a small group of miners ventured into the area and claimed that they had located the Tayopa mines. With such a valuable discovery, they started a mining company named Cinco de Mayo to exploit the mines. However, the Mexican Revolution in 1910 squelched their efforts and the mines were lost once again.

Colloquial stories about Tayopa claim that the mountains were not mountains at all, but colossal mounds of silver. At current market rates, Tayopa would be a valuable find, indeed.