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The hoard comprised 1,237 gold coins and some jewellery. It was probably deposited between winter 1463 and summer 1464, during the first decade of the Wars of the Roses.

Most of the coins were English nobles, half-nobles and quarter-nobles, ranging in date from the reign of Edward III (1327-77) to a type issued by Edward IV between 1460 and August 1464. The hoard also included 223 Scottish, French and Burgundian coins: Margaret of Anjou was raising money in these areas on behalf of her husband Henry VI in 1461-63.

The face value was about £400, equivalent to some £300,000 today. Medieval coin hoards generally consist of much smaller sums, as the rich and powerful never needed to hide their treasure in the ground. Thus, the Fishpool hoard, which possibly formed part of the Lancastrian royal treasury, must have been deposited in an emergency situation, namely the circumstances of the failed revolt of 1464.

This is a tangible link with events of national importance during the Middle Ages.