Archaeologists reveal shock evidence of bustling 'English village' in medieval Rome

The University of Cambridge-led team discovered 20 coins - 19 silver pennies and a halfpenny - beneath the walled garden of the Palazzo della Rovere, which sits between the Holy See and the Castel Sant'Angelo.

The coins were minted in East Anglia, Kent, London and the West Midlands during the reign of Alfred the Great’s son Edward the Elder, who ruled from 899 to 924, and his grandsons Æthelstan, who reigned from 924 to 939, and Eadred, who ruled from 946 to 955.

They were found during a dig carried out before the development of the hotel.

Rory Naismith, a professor of early medieval English history at the University of Cambridge, said the find revealed that "a very large amount of money was flowing in Rome from England at this time".

Historical records have shown there was a Schola Saxonum, or Schola Anglorum, founded in 8th century Rome as a community to host pilgrims, merchants and royalty visiting from the British Isles.

But, until now, there has been no physical evidence of this Anglo-Saxon community.

The coins are the first physical evidence of an 'English quarter' in Rome

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Francesca Tinti, professor of medieval history at the University of the Basque Country, who was a visiting research fellow at Cambridge last year, said: "Before this big discovery, we never had any material remains of the English quarter in Rome.

"We’ve been hoping this moment might come for most of our careers."

Fourteen of the 20 coins were found mangled, deformed, and fused together after years of being buried for more than a millennium - the other six were scattered nearby.

"The coins aren't pretty but they have a lot to say," Mr Naismith said.

The coins were found below where these people are standing near Rome's Palazzo della Rovere

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The research, published in the new book Rome and the Others: Foreigners in the City between Conflicts and Integration, raises questions around the use of foreign currency in the ancient city.

"To see Anglo-Saxon coins in such numbers, from a site where they must have been used and lost over a sustained period, is therefore surprising and raises questions about the status of English currency in tenth century Rome," the book reads.

Those in the English quarter may have been given special dispensation by papal authorities to use their own coins, the research has suggested.

Mr Naismith said foreign coins in Rome are not often found, adding that it was "very much an English thing".

Ms Tinti said the English in Rome were "quite unique", and made the "greatest effort" to walk the more than 800-mile trip to the city.

Many of the coins were found mangled, deformed, and fused together

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"Their journey was really dangerous and many people died on the way," she said. "But once in Rome, they were special.

"We knew they had the privilege of being able to bury their dead in this area and now, it seems, they were permitted to use their own currency."

Researchers said the scattered locations of the coins suggested they had been lost by craftspeople and shoppers in an area that may be a "bustling hub of craft and trade".

"This was a fairly big community, probably hundreds of people, living there on a permanent basis," Mr Naismith said. "So they’re keeping a miniature Anglo-Saxon town going."

"You can easily imagine craftsmen arriving from Winchester, London or York and setting up shop by the Tiber."