DISCUSSION: The Early Ships & Boats Project comprises a national overview of known and dated wreck sites from the prehistoric period up to 1840. At present, very few ships and boats are offered statutory protection in England in comparison to the large numbers of known and dated wreck sites and even greater numbers of recorded losses of boats and ships in English waters. The project has drawn together information on known sites based on extensive work already published, in-house expertise, and a desk-based assessment of recorded and located pre-1840 wrecks and hulks. As a result, 88 sites have been identified for designation assessment. Historic England is assessing the remains of the Kateryn van Arnude (believed to be the vessel associated with a coin assemblage discovered at the Praa Sands, east of Mount’s Bay, Cornwall) for designation and the case has been added to the current project.

The Historic England Introduction to Heritage Assets: Ships and Boats Prehistory to 1840 (2012) provides an overview of early ships and boats. Our Selection Guide: Ships and Boats: Prehistory to Present (2012) provides further guidance on designation approach. While the Protection of Wrecks Act 1973 is applicable in this case, the Act is most usefully employed in restricting diver access to important historic wreck sites offshore. As the Praa Sands assemblage lies in an intertidal location, consideration for designation under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979, which contains provision for the scheduling of archaeological sites comprising vessel remains, is appropriate. Scheduling is generally the appropriate form of designation for a nationally important vessel in such a location, particularly where such designation will have a positive impact on site management (such as through unrestricted access to enable regular routine monitoring).

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s policy statement on Scheduled Monuments and Nationally Important but Non-Scheduled Monuments (October 2013) sets out the particular considerations used by the Secretary of State when determining whether sites are suitable for statutory designation through scheduling; the key non-statutory criteria are period, rarity, documentation, group value, survival and potential. Only the most relevant criteria will be applicable to an individual site.

The site consists of an assemblage of Spanish gold coins occasionally encountered as stray finds when the sand level drops on the beach in the inter-tidal zone, in and around Lesceave Rocks, at the south-eastern end of Praa Sands, Cornwall. The date range of the coin finds spans Pedro IV (1336-1387) to Ferdinand and Isabella (1475-1504). One source also notes a coin of Carlos and Juana (1516-1555), possibly from an earlier find at the site. A coin of Pope Sixtus IV (1471-1484) was also reported within an assemblage discovered in 2001, together suggesting a date of deposit from 1475 to 1500 (or possibly around 1550 including the Carlos and Juana coin). An isolated George III coin also formed part of the 2001 finds. The discovery of this assemblage resulted in the site's investigations by the Archaeological Diving Unit in 2001.

Coin assemblages do not meet the definition of an ancient monument in their own right, nor has any significant hoard or assemblage been scheduled in this way. However, coin or assemblage findspots may be included in the scheduling of a monument such as structural or earthwork remains. From their location, the Praa coins are believed to derive from a shipwreck and may be associated with the site of one or more undated wooden vessels also said to be exposed on the beach when the sand level drops. One, last seen in 1987, has been reported as being 30-35m long, but has not been formally recorded, dated, nor its precise location established.

Despite their likely shipwreck context, the association of the coins with any of the known or suspected ship remains on the beach is unproven. The wreck seen in 1987 has not been investigated or dated, and no vessel remains were seen at the time of the 2001 coin discovery or subsequently. However, there may be little potential for directly associated shipwreck remains to survive, since the discovery of coins among rocks when the sand levels drop nearby may suggest the disintegration of the original vessel on the same rock, albeit with potential for small, heavy objects to survive in rock crevices under current sand cover.

Secondary sources have attributed this site to the Kateryn van Arnude, lost near Mount's Bay in December 1478. A record survives from January 1479 for a Spanish vessel known as La Kateryne lost in Mount's Bay in December 1478, which has been conflated in secondary sources with the Kateryn van Arunde or Arnude, a German vessel lost off Deal at the same time: hence the misattribution. In date La Kateryne may be in contention for the identity of the original wreck whence the coins derive, but few other documentary records survive, of which fewer appear to derive from a Spanish context.

Sand levels in Mount's Bay are dynamic, and were particularly so during the winter of 2013-14 which saw widespread sand erosion across the region's beaches, but there appear to have been no further reports of coin finds or of vessel remains at Praa Sands. This suggests that sand cover currently remains sufficient to bury any vessel(s) or coin finds. In turn, this suggests high potential for either a vessel site and/or a coin assemblage to exist.

CONCLUSION: Despite the interest of the site as a rare example of an early Tudor coin assemblage, any associated wreck remains on the beach are little documented or understood, with poor location confidence and have no proven association with the coin assemblage. The site does not, therefore, meet the criteria for designation under the 1979 Act despite the elements of special interest the coins lend to the site. It is therefore recommended that the site is not considered for scheduling at this time.

However, should vessel structure and further coin discoveries be made, the site at Praa Sands would merit reassessment for its national importance.