‘Bad’ King John’s Lost Treasure

The legend of King John’s lost treasure has lingered for centuries, the tale has been handed down and grown in the telling for 700 years, largely by word of mouth, and anyone brought up in the Fens has heard it from an early age.

 

King John was no saint, but his harsh childhood shaped his character. Abandoned by his parents during their conflict, ignored by his heroic brother, and later distrusted by his own people, he became a king defined by bitterness and insecurity. This troubled upbringing sheds light on his later actions.

 

In 1216, a year of rebellion and political turmoil, the King crossed a treacherous stretch of Lincolnshire and lost a fortune in the swirling waters. Back then, it was common for kings to carry their treasure – including the crown jewels – as a baggage train wherever they went, including military campaigns. The story goes that as John was crossing the River Wellester – a now dried up estuary flowing in the Wash that is thought to now form part of the River Nene – flooding led to the loss of all the king’s carts and wagons that carried his treasure. In King John’s day The Wash was a dangerous causeway it was a marshy, unpredictable region where rivers met the sea. Floods and shifting tides could quickly transform safe passage into a treacherous trap and Sutton Bridge was the only quick way across.

 

King John also went to Spalding before possibly using one of the Sutton Wash crossing points to arrive back in Bishop’s Lynn on 9 October. It was in Lynn where he finally succumbed to dysentery and had no option but to stay awhile in order to recover; it may have been somewhat fortunate that Bishop’s Lynn happened to be a town where the King was well liked – in view of the fact that he had previously granted the place a Royal Charter. He was still in Lynn on October 11. According to Kings Lynn’s Borough Council records, the King stayed until the 12 of October 1216 when he left, taking a different route to his baggage.

 

There’s absolutely no evidence the royal jewels were lost in The Wash, but it makes a good story. The ailing king made it to Newark Castle, where he died, aged 49, on October 18, just two days after re-entering Lincolnshire. He was buried at Worcester – minus his missing regalia. Maybe someone else did make off with the lost treasure once the King died and The Wash story was just a ruse to cover the glaring absence of the jewels.

 

In the 14th century, a common rumor circulated that Robert, Lord Tiptoft, had salvaged a treasure, using it to establish himself as a wealthy man. Although there is no concrete evidence to support this claim, there exists at least one contemporary report mentioning suspiciously laden men leaving Newark shortly after the King’s death. Despite the lack of proof, it remains an intriguing tale. It’s fascinating how medieval rumors and legends can capture our imagination, even when the evidence is scarce. Lord Tiptoft’s alleged treasure hunt adds an air of mystery to the past!

If the treasure is really buried somewhere near modern day Sutton Bridge, then it would be covered by 20 feet or more of silt. But that hasn’t stopped people looking. A specialist team claim to have found the location of treasure reporting it was under reclaimed farm land thirty feet down, they claim they found a coastal map of 1780s showing the crossing point in a different location to one deemed to be the ancient crossing point. Their ground radar check was said to have picked up the path across the wash and showing two big metal signals, The only problem was digging the hole safely to get to it. 

 

The search goes on.