The Midland Railway crest

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THE MIDLAND RAILWAY ASSEMBLAGE TRAILS
"The Family Trail"
Stop Fifteen: The Oakham Hoard

Back over to the drawers on your left — the 'A' aisle.

A collection of rusty, mucky badges and buttons in plastic bags

Stop 15

Where: A21 (drawer)

What: Buried Treasure!

Material: Nickel steel, brass and some earth.

Why: We kid you not! The “Oakham Hoard” was unearthed in 2017 under the foundations of an outbuilding that was being demolished in Oakham. The hoard consists of over 70 Midland Railway uniform buttons and insignia. We think we have pieced their story together... Around the time the Midland Railway became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway in 1923 and all the uniform insignia was updated, the house where the hoard was found was occupied by a signalman. It would therefore seem that he (or someone from his family) helped themselves to the cache of redundant buttons from the Station Master before they were returned for recycling, and hid their stash under the foundations of the outbuilding... never to be retrieved.

Ref: RFB30628

The collection of buttons and badges (still rather rusty and mucky) laid out on a cloth