Statue of Richard Colt Hoare in Salisbury Cathedral.

Sir Richard Colt Hoare, 2nd Baronet FRS (9 December 1758 – 19 May 1838) was an English antiquarian, archaeologist, artist, and traveller of the 18th and 19th centuries, the first major figure in the detailed study of the history of his home county, Wiltshire.

The first recorded excavations at Stonehenge were done by William Cunnington & Richard Colt Hoare in 1798 and again in 1810. They dug around a fallen Trilithon and a fallen slaughter stone and they discovered that it had once stood up. Colt Hoare excavated 379 barrows on Salisbury Plain as well as identifying many other sites in the area, publishing and classifying his findings. However as the three-age system had not yet been introduced he was unable to date his finds and therefore at a disadvantage when trying to interpret them. His two-volume book The Ancient History of Wiltshire outlined his findings.[8]

Hoare was descended from Sir Richard Hoare, Lord Mayor of London, the founder of the family banking business, C. Hoare & Co.

Links

• http://www.thepeerage.com/p1127.htm#i11267
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Richard_Hoare,_2nd_Baronet