Metal detectorist Dave Crisp is delighted the massive hoard of Roman coins he found is to stay in Britain.

More than £400,000 has been raised to ensure the coins will go on display at museums in Taunton and Frome, Somerset.

Mr Crisp, secretary of Trowbridge Metal Detecting Club, found the 52,503 coins, in a container buried in a field in Frome last April – the second largest collection of Roman coins ever to be found in Britain.

The coins will go on display in the summer and Mr Crisp, 64, said: “I’m over the moon that the coins will be staying in Somerset. They were put in the ground by the Romans and these Romans had been there for over 200 years so they were more Somerset people than they were Romans.

“They put them in there for the gods and I think the gods will be pleased now that they are staying here.”

A grant of almost £300,000 to buy the coins was given by the National Heritage Memorial Fund, with the rest coming from The Art Fund, Somerset Museum and donations from the public.

Mr Crisp, from Devizes, will share £320,250, the British Museum’s valuation, with the landowner. He has already bought a new necklace for his wife Shirley, and plans to buy a new lawnmower. He retires from his job as chef at Chippenham Hospital in August.