Reimagining Worthing Museum

Support and Join Us

A new vision for old treasures

Worthing Museum’s archaeology collection captures the history of the South coast over millennia, with over 50,000 artefacts telling countless astonishing stories. For over 100 years, the museum has been the home for archaeological finds from across the region, a place where the preservation, research and display of priceless discoveries have been made possible with the help of local people and scholars alike.

In 2025, we have a unique opportunity to reimagine our collections and create a gallery which truly brings our objects to life through new display cases and refreshed wayfinding. From our woolly Mammoth tusk to the exquisite Highdown goblet, we will use ambient lighting, technology and innovative interpretation to create immersive experiences that showcase evolution from a time when extraordinary giants roamed the area to complex social histories involving invasion, conquest and migration.

The calibre and significance of Worthing Museum’s collection have only been made possible through the interest and commitment of local people in preserving their past.  In that tradition, we’re asking you to join us in our ambition to create a world-class archaeological destination and curate our collections in a way that reveals their remarkable secrets and empowers a better understanding for generations to come.

Sponsor an artefact and help it find its home through tiered donation packages, which gives back to you and the community! 

Every donation, no matter how big or small, will make a difference. £5 can help home one of our thousands of flint objects, essential to our learning programme, engaging local primary schools with hands-on discovery. Donations of £500 and over can help house our more significant finds, such as the Patching Roman hoard. In recognition of donor investment, our Archaeology curator, James Sainsbury, will invite you to a tour of the gallery ahead of reopening and an exclusive handling session explaining the intricacies of the hoard.

Choose your level of support. 

You can select an amount below. If you want to donate to a specific object, select 'Find out more' for each level and make a donation. 

This polished flint axe was discovered at Durrington in 1950. Dating to the Neolithic period, this flint was likely extracted from the chalk at one of the flint mine sites north of Worthing, such as Cissbury. After being roughly shaped by a skilled flint knapper at the mining site, the axe would have been ground or polished elsewhere, using a polishing block, sand and water. This process could take up to 72 hours, and produced a sharper cutting edge, as well as increasing the aesthetic value of the tool within Neolithic society.

£5

Flint
Worthing Museum has hundreds, if not thousands of incredible flint objects in our collection - just like this Neolithic polished flint axe from c.4,000 BC...
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A copper-alloy coin known as a ‘sestertius’, depicting Emperor Marcus Aurelius on the obverse and a figure depicting Victory on the reverse. Minted in Rome, this coin was found associated with a Roman farming settlement on the downs north of Worthing.

£10

Roman Coin
This copper-alloy coin known as a ‘sestertius’, depicting Emperor Marcus Aurelius was found on the South Downs just north of Worthing...
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A complete cast silver annular brooch with inscription dating to between 1300-1400 AD, found at Findon by a metal detectorist. Examples like this one often bear religious or sentimental mottos, the example here has attempted to copy a fairly common legend associated with apotropaic powers such as ‘IESVS NAZARENUS’ - however the maker created a garbled and nonsensical motto which reads INV.ONVONV.ONVO.

£20

Medieval Silver Brooch
This silver brooch, discovered in Findon by a metal detectorist, is thought to be from 1300-1400AD...
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This rare bronze cauldron was found in 1946, along with numerous copper-alloy axe heads, a shield boss and fragments of at least one other cauldron. It is an example of very fine metalworking techniques, and the display of power in a period of transition when the use of iron began to spread. Almost certainly made in Ireland, the cauldron would have been used by the owner to display power and status during feasts and other communal events. Discovered as part of a ‘founders hoard’, the intention seems to have been to melt down this piece, along with the rest of the hoard, to recycle the artefacts into new bronze items.

£50

Bronze Cauldron
This rare bronze cauldron was found in 1946 in Sompting. We believe it was made in around 700 BC, most likely in Ireland...
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One of a pair of juvenile woolly mammoth tusks caught up in fishermen’s nets off West Worthing in 1920. This individual would have inhabited a low-lying landscape of shallow valleys, with a rapidly changing environment heralding the retreat of tundra and the emergence of streams and conifer woodland. The shore was at least two miles further south than today, even millennia after this mammoth died.

£100

Mammoth Tusks
This is one of a pair of young woolly mammoth tusks caught by accident in fishing nets off West Worthing in 1920...
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The Highdown Goblet is one of the stars of our extensive archaeological collections. This unique glass vessel was discovered during excavations of a post-Roman cemetery atop Highdown Hill in the 1890s. Associated with a male inhumation burial, the goblet has no direct parallels within the Roman empire, and was manufactured in either Alexandria or Antioch around 400 AD, with a Greek inscription which translates as ‘Use me and good health’

£200

Highdown Goblet
The Highdown Goblet certainly has the wow! factor! One of the stars of the archaeology gallery, this one-of-a-kind glass vessel was discovered at the top of Highdown Hill in the 1890s...
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The Patching Hoard was discovered by two metal detectorists, Terry Bromley & Terry Silver, in a field near Patching village in 1997. A total of 23 gold solidi, 27 silver siliquae, 2 gold rings of exceptional purity and a Roman-pound weight of hack silver were recovered from the site. The hoard is one of the last ‘Roman’ coin hoards to be found in Britain, much of it being acquired on the Continent and brought into Sussex at a time when the Western Roman Empire was crumbling and new polities were emerging on either side of the Channel.

£500

Patching Hoard
This incredible hoard of 50 gold and silver coins, 2 gold rings and a Roman-pound (approximately 329g) of hack silver...
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Until the museum fully opens in spring 2026, our regular programme of archaeological walks and lectures will continue in surprising and inspiring settings with some of the most exciting opportunities to experience the unearthing of ancient objects.  Sign up for membership and keep an eye on our events page for the latest information.

Worthing Theatres & Museum

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