The pair were in for the long haul with their renovations but a find under the floor side-tracked them. “It is a 400-year-old house so there was lots of work to do,” Betty said.
Betty added: “We were taking all the floors and ceilings out and took it back to its stone walls. One coin from the King Charles I lot sold for a cool £5,000 while a James I coin netted the couple £2,700.
The 1,000 items fetched nearly double the estimate given by auctioneer Duke’s while private collectors snapped up the best of the Civil War stash. Betty added: “If we hadn’t lowered the floor they would still be hidden there.
Coin specialist Julian Smith said: “The modern concrete floor was removed and the floor dug down by nearly 2ft to provide greater height to the downstairs of the property. “In some areas there were old flagstones under the concrete but the area the coins were found was bare earth.
