The ingots were discovered by metal detectorists Nick Yallope and Peter Nicolas, who were searching with permission from the landowner, local farmer Geraint Jenkins. The objects were found about half a meter down and less than two meters apart - suggesting they were deposited together rather than lost separately.
- Roman Offerings at Sacred Spring Whisper of the Druids' Last Stand
- Record-Breaking Hoard: 15,000 Roman Coins Unearthed in Wales
Two lead pigs found at dig in Ceredigion. (Alex Martin/Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales)
Treasure find near Llangynfelyn shines a light on Roman Wales
Yallope said he felt “incredibly proud” to have uncovered something “so rare and important to our local heritage,” while Nicolas described his motivation as trying to “save history for the local community and future generations.” Jenkins, meanwhile, called the ingots a “tangible link to Wales’ Roman industrial past,” adding that it was striking to think organically farmed land today once sat within a wider Roman landscape.
The story also sits neatly alongside other Roman-period discoveries in Wales covered by Ancient Origins, including a previously found inscribed ingot from North Wales (a reminder that “Roman lead ingots” can carry names, dates, and official marks), reminding us how small objects can redraw big maps.
- Metal Detectorist Finds Rare Lost Roman Lead Ingot in Wales
- Port Talbot's Pompeii: Roman Villa Discovery Rewrites Wales' Story
The Roman lead ingots with finders Nick Yallope and Peter Nicolas and landowner Geraint Jenkins. ((C) Nick Yallope - Peter Nicolas/Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales)
How Emperor Domitian Links to a Lump of Lead
Museum Wales says the lettering on the Ceredigion ingots points to Emperor Domitian, dating the pieces to AD 87. That is not just a neat label: it anchors the objects to a specific moment, little more than a decade after the final conquest of the area in the mid-AD 70s, strengthening the case that extraction and administration moved quickly in west Wales.
Roman “lead pigs” elsewhere in Britain are known to carry imperial ownership statements and origin marks, and Domitian-era examples are documented in specialist epigraphic records. The Roman Inscriptions of Britain database, for instance, records Domitianic lead ingots with text identifying them as property of the emperor and giving an origin designation.
The name of Emperor Domitian on one of the lead ingots. ((C) Nick Yallope - Peter Nicolas /Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales)
Roman lead ingots and Ceredigion’s industrial landscape
Carrie Canham of Amgueddfa Ceredigion Museum said the find underlines how Ceredigion’s mineral and ore deposits helped draw Roman interest, adding that lead mined in the area “travelled across the breadth of the Roman Empire.” The museum plans to incorporate the story into a new archaeology gallery scheduled to open in 2027, making the timing hard to ignore.
The wider picture is supported by older reporting on Roman-period lead working in the same county. In 2005, the BBC reported archaeologists uncovering a Roman lead-smelting site in a peat bog in Ceredigion, noting that lead could have been transported across the empire - an echo of what “Roman lead ingots” were built to do.
What happens next: reporting, valuation, and (hopefully) display
With the objects now declared treasure, the next steps typically involve responsible reporting and expert handling—something authorities repeatedly stress to detectorists. Museum Wales advises that suspected treasure in Wales should be reported through PAS Cymru routes, with the coroner ultimately deciding whether the legal threshold is met.
Across the UK, the legal backbone for this process is the Treasure Act 1996, while practical reporting guidance is also summarised on GOV.UK. For Ceredigion, the outcome many locals will watch for is simple: whether the ingots can be acquired and displayed so the public can see them - two blunt objects that, improbably, carry a date-stamp for Roman power in west Wales.
Top image: Lead pig found by Nick Yallope and Peter Nicolas after being dug out of ground. Source: Nick Yallope and Peter Nicolas/Wales Museum
By Gary Manners
References
Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales. 2026. Rare Roman treasure found on dig in Ceredigion. Available at: https://press.museum.wales/news/rare-roman-treasure-found-on-dig-in-ceredigion
Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales. n.d. The legal process of reporting Treasure in Wales. Available at: https://museum.wales/curatorial/archaeology/treasure/how-the-legal-treasure-reporting-work/
BBC News. 2005. Roman lead industry found in bog. Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/mid_/4727077.stm
Ferguson, A. 2026. ‘Exceptionally rare’ Roman lead blocks found on farmland. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8xy52wndx1o
Roman Inscriptions of Britain. n.d. RIB 2404.36. Several lead ingots of Domitian. Available at: https://romaninscriptionsofbritain.org/inscriptions/2404.36
UK Government. n.d. Report treasure. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/treasure
UK Government. 1996. Treasure Act 1996. Available at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/24/contents
