military finds in april

I'm not posting as much as I would like, but then this is meant to be a hobby, to be picked up and put down at one's whim. We have been making some very nice progress on our 2 small pasture permissions, but as yet have not secured any others. A number of landowners I have written to have replied very promptly, and in a polite and friendly manner, declining my request, but giving legitimate and good reasons for doing so. A local farmer is already plagued by nighthawks and trespassers digging holes all over his land without permission, and so was understandably reluctant to give any credence to the claim of legitimacy to these rotters.

On our local pasture permission some good finds have been emerging , and here are a couple from this week.

The first emerged from about 4" down, after giving a faint but consistent pip on the C-scope 3. He is a little lead soldier, which is apposite, as little lead soldiers happen to be my other main hobby.

 I would guess this chap is late 19c, depicting a cavalry man of the time, or possibly earlier in the century. His head and the horses legs and tail were missing , and the horses head bent right back.  He is of a style known as a semi-flat, so almost 2 dimensional but not quite. We are starting to think the field in which he was found was a popular picnic destination in the 18th and 19th centuries. It is just far enough out of town to be a pleasant walk there and back, making a day of it, and stopping for a picnic in our field which has a lovely view of the valley below. Coins from the reigns of George II, III, William IV and Victoria have surfaced, along with an eighteenth century love token and late 19c silver matchbox and teaspoon (I will post these finds in the future). This little soldier may have dropped by some young lad on such an excursion.

One of the great things about this hobby is placing a possible story to the finds. How or why did they end up in the ground?

The next artefact (in the metal detecting world a coin is a coin, and anything else is an artefact), needs little explaining, but was equally interesting and perhaps a little alarming. This gave a strident signal, and digging down about 6" I pulled out the case first and was somewhat taken aback to see it was still filled with propellant (explosive) just visible at the damaged end as a grey black granular substance. The bullet came next and it still appears to be coated in red tracer paint, which would have burned white hot when the bullet was fired. So perhaps this was a misfire ejected from the gun of an aircraft overhead. I think the bullet is from an Allied aircraft, and the groove at the base of the case indicates it was from a belt fed machine gun. I will be doing more research, but perhaps the bullet was fired during the Baedecker Raids on Bath on 25-27th April 1942 by aircraft or anti-aircraft guns trying to defend the city?

a month down the line....

we have been putting the C-Scope 3mxi through it's paces on both our permissions, and initially were turning up horse shoes, wire and BOATs (bit off a tractor). However on the 21st March we were at our permission in an old orchard in Gloucestershire and Arthur unearthed this rather nice artefact, about 12" down. 

which we believe to be a late 16 or early 17c pewter spoon. The fig shaped bowl, hexagonal stem and pinched end point to these period. the makers mark in the bowl shows 3 spoons. Also in the same hole, were pieces of slipware which was popular at the time mentioned.

Just before Arthur found his spoon, I had a very faint signal at the foot of an ancient apple tree, and this little fellow popped out from about 3" down.

To my eye, he looks from the same period as the spoon, with a Jacobean style you might find on dark oak chairs or overmantles of the time.

There was this pottery in the same hole, and we have found more of the same since at the foot of other apple trees in the orchard. It is tempting to think of Wassailing and general merriment taking place in the orchard over the years, with bowls of cider being quaffed (quaffing is the same as drinking but you spill more) and either smashed accidentally or as an offering.

Either way, the few remaining trees in the orchard were smiling on us that day (which happened to be the Spring equinox) and yielded some of their treasure to us. I think we had better make a libation the next time we go.

detector has been summoned

Quite a few of developments have occurred in the last few days. I have ordered my detector which arrived promptly from Crawfords Metal Detecting shop (CMD). Excellent customer service and prices.

I am now the proud and slightly bemused owner of the C-Scope 3MXI-pro

There are a number of reasons I chose this machine. Firstly it is made in England, which is always nice and a refreshing change. It's well made but basic without any bells and whistles, and generally receives great reviews as a beginners machine. The price from Crawfords was £314 including headphones and batteries, as well as a camouflage baseball cap which I forebore to try on, but was eagerly adopted by my middle son. I will discuss camouflage clothing in a future post.

We have given it a test run in the garden, digging pits of varying depths and placing test metals therein. It seems to detect most metals to about 8 inches and some deeper. We did find a 20p piece which will defray the cost somewhat.

I have also gained 2 small permissions this week. One in South Gloucestershire, about 40 minutes from my house, and the other at the end of our road. The former is rumoured to be on the site of a skirmish in the 15c, the latter an area of pastureland belonging to a neighbour. We shall see what, if anything they yield.

the reason why

the family (sans teenager) went for a walk round the Avebury landscape today as the weather was stunning. We parked at the Sanctuary, walked along the Ridgeway towards Avebury and then back up past Fyfield Down. Here is your host and his two youngest taking a break overlooking Windmill Hill on the path out of Avebury village. The landscape is a heady brew of chalk, megaliths and barrows. Meat and drink to we happy few.

working in mysterious ways

No reply as yet from my first request (but as I only sent it the day before yesterday, that is not surprising). However, on rolling up to work today very early, I bumped into the chap who delivers bread to our garden centre farm shop. He is a charming fellow and when he is not delivering bread and buns, he is a non-stipendary vicar. If this chap was our vicar, I would be attending every service. He is affable, cheery and down to earth, everything that our own vicar isn't sadly.

In the course of our conversation I brought up the fact I was going to buy a metal detector, perhaps hoping that as a long term resident (12th generation or near enough) of a rural community, he may know someone who has some land. Sure enough he was very enthusiastic and told me his church organist was keen to have a detectorist on her land as it was rumoured their had been a skirmish there in the Wars of the Roses. He will be seeing her on Sunday (inevitably) and with luck I should have my first permission. About 45 minutes drive away, but in very pleasant surroundings.

I had better buy myself that detector now.

first contact sent to a farmer!

I have just sent my first missive to a farmer asking for permission. I am not holding my breath as it appears to be notoriously difficult to gain a farmers trust and get access to his or her land... perhaps this is not surprising really, as metal detectorists can open whole cans of worms if they find anything important, and I daresay some act in irresponsible ways.

The farm I have contacted has a disused roman road running through it which may prove fruitful, but equally may mean the farmer has already granted permission to other detectorists, or is being continually harrassed by people such as me.

Here is a copy of the mail I sent. I decided to use email as it is less hassle for the recipient, and saves paper. On the down side it can be deleted instantly and forgotten about.

Dear ................

 I do hope you don't mind me contacting you. My name is ............ and I am writing to you to ask for permission to come metal detecting on your land. I am contacting you by email as it is probably more convenient for you and saves paper!

I am fully insured with third party civil liability cover, no damage at all is done by my detecting and any holes are always small and well filled in.

I am a member of the National Council for Metal Detecting which is recognised by The National Farmers Union, and I am completely aware of the law of reporting items that could be classified as Treasure. Of course I would show you anything that I find that is interesting first.

If you are willing, I would like to come and see you to discuss this at your convenience.

I do hope you can consider my request. and if you need any more information from me, please do not hesitate to ask.

many thanks for your time.

kind regards

The wording is lifted almost word for word from Dave Crisp's book Metal Detecting, all you need to know to get started, which I thoroughly recommend.

searching the loamy earth

Hello, welcome to my new blog. It will be about reclaiming the scattered memories of those gone before us..... or metal detecting with whimsy and a soul.

This will be a very personal journal, written for my own benefit, but of course if you find my ramblings entertaining so much the better and thank you for reading. If you disagree with anything I say, please remember these are my points of view and I fully accept other folk may have different ideas and agendas.

I am entirely new to metal detecting. So far I have neither a detector or any permissions (that is permission from a landowner to detect on their land). I hope to record my successes and failures, acquisitions and finds on my journey.

Initially I intend to stay afar from the mainline detecting community and go it alone, with the help of my sons. Mainly because I do not have the time to commit to a club (most of which are oversubscribed as it happens), but also I am something of a dreamer and don't want to inflict my flights of fancy on anyone face to face (you dear reader, are another matter). If things change and I need advice or fellow detectorists to talk to, then I will no doubt go seeking them.

I have too many hobbies already, but with this new one, I hope to encapsulate my love of lore and landscape. I also want to champion a breed of underdog which I feel I belong to. Neither scholar nor sensationalist, well educated but poorly qualified, neither one thing nor the other. I have met similar persons and always liked them, and this small post is dedicated to an inspiration of mine, Albany F Major OBE FSA who although certainly erudite and scholarly has been ridiculed and pilloried in the archaeological world since his death in 1926, and the posthumous publication of his book The Mystery of Wansdyke . 

I will discuss A F (the F stands for Featherstonhaugh rather splendidly) Major anon. but I'll leave you with his words that introduce his volume, from which I detect a healthy disregard for his fellow scholars.

the land of england lieth like a mighty palimpset,

deep scored with a record graven from the east to the farthest west,

but the tale that it tells is written in runes that are hard to read,

blurred by the wind and weather and overgrown with weed,

burrowed by mole and rabbit, furrowed by spade and share,

trodden by men and cattle scorched by the summer glare,

fretted by all the breezes, scarred by the winters frost,

drenched by the driving rainstorms when the trees are tempest tossed,

till the learned deem in their wisdom that the tale of those years is lost.

for they hold by their musty parchments and the written word in their pages,

scorning the record that dimly keeps the tale of long vanished ages,

writ on the land in a script unknown to the scholars and sages.