The Association for Metal Detecting Sport - AMDS TIMES issue 1

The UK Journal for the Membership of this Organisation

ISSUE

MARCH 2022

In this issue Prize Crossword P.3

Public Liability Insurance

Albert the Aardvark P.4

Your membership of AMDS includes a £10,000,000 Public

Liability

Insurance

Cover

A troublesome treasure P. 5 The UK’s Largest Roman Coin Hoard P.8

when metal detecting and in accordance with the Code of Practice for Responsible Metal Detecting in England and Wales as outlined on the PAS at www.finds.org.uk.

Acting on behalf of AMDS, John Wells and David Rees met with and told Michael Lewis the head of the PAS that the C of P was being adopted by AMDS and the four regions of ARMD, the Affiliated Regions for Metal Detecting.

Within

one

notification detecting

week

of

another oprganisation

that metal that

previoulsy had failed to give that undertaking followed their lead and intiative.

That organisation then published this to their membership claiming this as their own intiative.

However, as far as AMDS and ARMD are concerned this in any case is a positive way forward for the good of the hobby.

Association for Metal Detecting Sport

AMDSTimes

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All rights are reserved on the entire contents; and nothing may be used or reproduced in whole or in part without the expressed written permission of the publisher.

Contents

Front cover picture Laura Wells in action

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Direct all advertising, articles, and general information to membership@amds.org.uk

All contents © copyrighted 2022 AMDS Times Publishing.

Prize crossword byJohn Wells

4

Steve Bestwick Albert the Aardvark

5

Geoff Burr Hawking Vervel a troublesome treasure

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David Rees The UK’s Largest Roman Coin hoard, Cunetio

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Phil Williams – Finding treasure on the web

18

Martyn Gleadon – The story of a Wessex Permission

This publication is provided with the understanding that information presented is from many sources for which there can be no warranty or responsibility by the publisher as to accuracy, originality or completeness.

The forwarding of material is a guarantee that material is original and not an infringement on the rights of others. The author, in submitting material to AMDS Times Publishing, signifies by this act agreement with the above terms.

Readers should abide by the Code of Practise for Responsible Metal Detecting and never detect anywhere without the permission of the land owner. AMDS Times Publishing assumes no liability for information shared in editorial or advertising content.

AMDS Times Publishing shall be rendered harmless from and against any claims or suits for liable, violation or right of privacy, plagiarism, copyright infringement, improper use of the mails or violation of UK criminal or civil law based on the subject matter of editorial and advertisement content.

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John Wells – Nighthawking it’s still problem

23

Nick Keeler - Charity Donation and Competition WINNER

24

The Bishops’s Ring – Syd Hallam

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Club News

AMDS Times Publishing reserves the right to refuse advertising deemed questionable or in bad taste and assumes no liability for omitting advertising for any reason.

All data in this publication, technical or otherwise, is based upon the personal experience of individuals using specific tools, equipment and components under particular conditions and circumstances, some of which may not be reported in the article or advertisement and which the Association for Metal Detecting Sport has not otherwise verified.

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Prize Crossword created

by JOHN WELLS the Chairman of the Midland Region ARMD for the March 2022 edition.

The YELLOW SQUARES will give an you an eight letter anagram. Solve the coin related answer and email this to Rachel at membership@amds.org.uk correct answers will be entered into the FREE draw and the winner will receive £25.

CLUES DOWN 1 A Martian day, of 24 hours, 39 minutes and 35.244 seconds (3) 2 Citizen of the kingdom in the Yemen peninsula (5) 3 A set of moral principles (5) 4 A rubbish amount of gratuity (3) 5 Container for tea and ashes (3) 7 English silver coin worth four old pence, issued between 1272 and 1662 (5) 8 Old English gold coins worth about ten shillings, also called a ryal (4,5) 9 Bay between India and Myanmar (6) 12 ***** Dyke…. ditch named after 8thcentury king of Mercia (5) 13 Re-public’s local (3) 14 King of England from 959 to 975 known as the peaceful king (5) 15 English gold coins worth a nominal value of one pound (10) 17 Alkaline solution that's used for cleaning about 200 years ago (3) 19 A children's game of chance (5) 20 A feathery serpent? (3) 22 Plants introduced to Europe by Austrian biologist Carolus Clusius1526-1609 (6) 23 A stupid person may get this answer (5) 25 An aggressive or unkempt dog (3) 27 A former Italian coin and monetary unit worth the twentieth part of a lira (5) 28 Oliver ***** English physicist who studied electromagnetic radiation and was a pioneer of radiotelegraphy (1851-1940) (5) 29 English gold coin introduced by Edward IV in 1465 (5) 31 Traditional Japanese masked drama with dance and song (3) 32 Basic monetary unit of Japan (3) 34 Large seaside resort on the West Coast of Scotland (3)

CLUES ACROSS 1 Ancient Roman coin and monetary unit equal to one quarter of a denarius (10) 6 A food thickener obtained from red seaweed (4) 10 County in the Republic of Ireland (5) 11 Of great weight (9) 13 A Spanish dollar, equivalent to 8 reals (5,2,5) 15 Initially the eastern bloc countries prior to December 25 1991 (2) 16 A rectangular object or flat figure with unequal adjacent sides (6) 18 An English sweet frothy drink popular from the 16th to 19th centuries made of milk or cream, curdled by the admixture of wine (8) 21 Natural or artificial alloy of gold with at least 20 per cent of silver, used for jewellery, especially in ancient times (8) 24 Historical region of Greece, between the Nostos and Evros rivers in the northeast of the country (6) 26 American, to no purpose (2) 27 A coin of precious metal used in the U.S. worth 100 cents (6,6) 30 20 penny coin introduced in 1257 (4,5) 33 Teaching, belief, conviction (5) 35 A wide-beamed sailing dinghy (4) 36 Head of a university (10)

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Albert the Aardvark by Steve Bestwick Imagine my surprise when leafing through a copy of The Searcher (September 2018) and I came across a series of large pictures of a find I made in April (2017) while I was out on one of our regular Sunday “Club Digs”.

We the Leicester Search Society often go out with the Melton Mowbray MDC as our “site finder” is a member of both clubs.

As you can imagine, we usually get a good turnout and this often leads to a few good finds.

He’s a curious little beast and as you can see from the picture not very big. I passed him around to various members on the day (he’s obviously male isn’t he!) trying to gauge what he may be and what he may be for – if anything. What sprang to my mind was that he looked like an aardvark, probably named Albert.

After an exchange of emails sorting out dates and times, she finally arrived at our door. I’ll be honest I thought she would be somewhat underwhelmed by his diminutive stature. But no, full of praise and admiration for what is now known as The Shearsby Terminal.

She originally identified him as a terminal from a high status personal drinking horn (possibly belonging to a child Chief’s son, Prince or similar) but she has since revised this opinion and suggested that he may be the terminal from an Aestel or “rod of office”, similar to one found in Mound No 1 at Sutton Hoo no less (double blimey!). She has now returned to America and has contacted me to say that as soon as her book goes to press, she will let me know.

Just goes to show how the smallest of finds, when recorded and added to the PAS database, can generate international interest – record it all guys - you never know !

What a brilliant hobby! Steve

At our next club meeting he was duly recorded by Wendy Scott, our FLO. She proposed an I/D of some sort of terminal. From then I kept him safely stored (and if I’m honest, a little forgotten) with my other finds until early this year (2018) when Wendy contacted me with a request that she be able to pass on my contact details to an American Art Historian/ Archaeologist (and a Professor no less!) from a prestigious US university. She had seen the images on the PAS website and since she was undertaking a study of Viking/Saxon terminals, and intending to visit the UK, for more detailed examination of the few recorded terminals of this type. The Professor contacted me and asked if she could visit to examine and better record my find – blimey she’s only crossing the Atlantic to have a look at him – WOW Albert the Aardvark gets famous!

It’s a great read so don’t forget to order your copy of the SEARCHER MAGAZINE every month.

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Hawking Vervel – troublesome treasure by Geoff Burr

Lullingstone Castle

On Saturday 21st March, 2015 I was metal detecting a small 10 acre field that I had already searched on a number of occasions, having had permission from 3 different landowners over the years! It has been productive but is heavily contaminated. I was already very pleased having just found my first Saxon coin here, a primary series silver sceatta, series B bird above cross reverse type, in very fine condition. I had found a small number of Early Medieval artefacts over the years but this was the first coin of this period.

However, just as I was working my way back to the car I received another small, scratchy signal and from just a couple of inches down up came a small silver coloured convex shield shaped artefact with two partly squashed loops on the back and an inscription on the front. The inscription was extremely small but I thought I could make out

the name Harte and Lullinston in Kent.

I then realised I had found, my first ever vervel! I recognised both the owner’s name and the location as being Lullingstone Castle, approximately 4 or 5 miles away.

Geoff Burr

Having done some geophysics with West Kent Archaeological Society a couple of years ago, we were looking for the missing inner gatehouse and moat that was removed 400 years ago, I had a phone number to contact.

Realising this could be a ‘Treasure’ item I only gently rinsed off some of the dirt at home in order to be able to read the inscription accurately. It read ‘Sr. Persivall Harte of Lullingston in com Kent’. I later discovered from a local historian with a special interest in Lullingstone Castle from my local history society that ‘com’ was a Latin abbreviation for County.

I telephoned the landowner to let her know about the find and I thought it would be good to notify and show it to the present day owners of Lullingstone Castle (mentioned in the Domesday Book) Guy Hart-Dyke and his family – direct descendants.

Two days later Lesley, my wife and I had a meeting in the Great Hall below a triptych portrait of Sir Percyval Harte 5

(I) painted when he was 80 years old in 1575. In the picture he is wearing his silver hilted knife of ceremony, the symbol of his Royal office of Chiefserver, to four monarchs Henry VIII-Elizabeth I and holding a staff decorated in gold. The triptych also shows, on either side of Sir Percyval, two of his three sons George & Francis.

Guy explained that the first son, also a Percyval, had died young and so was not featured in the painting.

They then showed us another portrait of Sir Percyval (II), which was hanging in the State Dining Room. He was knighted in 1601 and died in 1642 and he was also shown holding a goldheaded staff and wearing the same silver hilted knife. There was a third, Sir percyval Harte (1738), who had been a lawyer but no portrait was available.

There being three Sir Percyval’s it made it difficult to know who had actually owned the vervel!

Guy, together with Sarah his wife, were very excited to see and handle the vervel which I hoped to return to them, to go on display at the castle which is open, together with the famous ‘World Garden’, to the public for weekends and Bank Holidays between Easter and October each year.

I had emailed the Kent FLO to officially report the find as potential Treasure on the Monday, the next working day after finding the vervel. I was expecting to see the then Kent FLO, Jennifer Jackson the very next weekend. I happen to be the Treasurer of LEGISE (SR) and the representative for West Kent Detector Club (a founder member 1978) and we had one of our regular meetings coming up. Knowing that if I hand it over the next weekend for Treasure, I would be unlikely to see it again for at least a year or possibly for ever, I photographed and recorded it. Jennifer had missed my email and did not have a Treasure receipt with her so just as well that I had this chance to re report it! I explained to her that I remembered a clause in old Treasure Trove law that was transferred into the new Treasure Law 1996 in which if the original owner or their direct descendents could be traced then the item would not be Treasure but treated as lost property and returned disclaimed. This seemed to confuse Jennifer and she thought it best for me to retain the vervel until she clarified the situation. Following this she then requested the vervel back for an inquest but with recent financial cuts to the PAS she had just stopped club visits. The next convenient opportunity was at one of her ‘finds surgeries’ at a local museum but not until June (19/6/2015). This was on a normal working day for me so Lesley took the vervel to Jennifer on my behalf but got in a lot of traffic due to a problem on the M25. However, she was seen straight away on arrival and picked up a receipt with confirmation that I had spoken to the direct descendant who were interested in having it back – including their contact information.

Almost a year later (8/2/16) from the find date I received a letter from the Assistant Treasure Registrar at the British Museum with a copy of the find report. The report did identify the italicized inscription together with the abbreviation as late C16th-Early C17th

– predating 1716 meant that it was eligible as Treasure but this also meant that the original owner was likely to be Sir Percival Harte II (1568-1642). It explained that a local museum had expressed an interest in acquiring it and an inquest would follow. I guessed that it would be necessary for the Coroner to make a final decision even though there was no dispute about the original owner’s descendants. I wrote a letter together with other information to the Hart-Dykes and advised them to write to the Coroner just to let him know directly they had an interest in it. I received a reply from them (17/2/2016) thanking me and explaining that they had now also written to the Coroner to ‘plead their case’.

At the end of May, Lesley took a phone call from a lady from the Coroner’s office explaining the Coroner was considering the vervel but there was no mention of an inquest or date given. The next letter from the British Museum arrived on 2nd June 2016 – much to my surprise it explained that the vervel has been declared Treasure and the local museum was keen to acquire it for their collection! However, I had not been notified of the date of the inquest or supplied a statement and was consequently surprised at the verdict. I looked up the details in respect of direct descendants in the Treasure Act 1996 Code of Practise revised publication for England and Wales published by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport December 2002 and confirmed that the ownership of Treasure vests with the Crown ‘but the rights of the original owners and their heirs, where known, are fully protected’.

On 13/6/2016 I appealed to the Treasure Registrar at the British Museum by email, restating my claim that the original owners or their heirs should have priority over it and that I was surprised that it was declared Treasure at inquest. I had gone to great lengths, all through the process, to make sure that it was known that there were heirs with a potential claim. I suggested that 6

care. However, I would have to go to the British Museum to get it or wait for Jennifer to collect it and then meet with her at Maidstone to recover it. In the end Jennifer posted it back to me to save time.

I would be more than happy to donate the vervel to the heirs but I would require a reward should the vervel be acquired by the museum. I proposed that should the museum (as was suggested by the Treasure Registrar in his letter) forego the acquisition and the Crown disclaim its ownership then the object should be returned to me, the finder, when it could then be donated to the Hart-Dykes personally by the landowner and I. I had not received a response to my email so I messaged the Treasure Registrar again on 8/8/2016 and received an email the same day, apologising for the delay and

confirming that the local museum had agreed to forego the acquisition and that the vervel would be released into my

On 12/10/2016 the landowner and I officially donated the vervel to the Hart-Dykes at Lullingstone Castle.

We were made very welcome and had a private tour of the castle and given free range to look at the grounds including the World Garden. The landowner happens to have a keen interest in Japanese orchids. The garden has been created by Tom Hart-Dyke, a very enthusiastic botanist and the son of Guy and Sarah. Ten years ago Tom was held captive by drug barons in Columbia for two years while looking for rare orchids and conceived the idea of a World Garden during his captivity. It was on the national news several times at the time and there was also a television documentary series about it. During our tour we looked in St. Botolphs, the family parish church next to the Castle, in particular we wanted to see the tombs of Sir Percival Harte (left top) and his father George Harte (left lower down).

So this small item, approximately 1cm2 was my first vervel.

It transported me back in time to early C17th from the inscription. I learned of the owner by name, visited his ‘house’ and walked under the gate house that he had travelled under numerous

times. I had a good image of him with the portrait and an effigy on his tomb – his final resting place in the church just next door. I also have had the privilege of returning the vervel to its original home where it can be appreciated by the public. On top of all of this it won the West Kent Detector Club Any Sites artefact of the year for 2015 and then on to the Southern Region to win again and represent the Southern Region at National level where it won the Robin Hatt Memorial Trophy for Artefact of the year.

All in all a very rare, if rather small, find indeed!

The Yorkshire, Midland, Southern and Western regions as ARMD now work together to truly represent the hobby.

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Cunetio Hoard – the largest hoard of Roman Coin found in Britain by David Rees the hobby was not that well organised. Relationships now often enjoyed with archaeologist, museums and the FLO did not exist. There were not as many people involved in the hobby, and they also were not so clued up as we are now with regards to the rights and wrongs; including the law.

Fig. 1

When the A419 bypass was being built between Wanborough and Stratton in 1976, metal detectorist Peter Humphries met John Booth.

It was during a dig involving a small group of enthusiasts, that consisted of mainly going over road work spoil heaps. Together, in 1978 they were the finders of the Cunetio Hoard, also known as the Mildenhall Hoard. It remains to this day the largest hoard of Roman money found in Britain.

The official number of coins found is recorded as 54,951. The hoard was mostly base silver radiates, which were produced in large numbers prior to the burial in around AD 274. As this story reveals there could well have been considerably more, but back in those times things were different than they are today; people were naive. John now lives abroad, and Peter (Fig. 1) is 79 years old and lives in Wiltshire, although spending some of his time each year in America prospecting, but that is another interesting story.

What sparked Peter’s interest in metal detecting goes back to when he was fourteen years of age at school. One of his friends brought in a couple of Roman coins, and told him his girlfriend finds them quite close to Mildenhall where he lived. She would find them whilst walking across a field named Black Field (Fig 2).

It was so named due to the colour of the soil; it was very dark. In those days, if you walked the length of that particular field with keen eyes, you would find three or four Roman coins on the surface. It is now a listed site.

Peter started metal detecting in the hot summer of 1976. The first machine he

had and used was a Garrett Bloodhound, that he describes as a little green machine. It wasn’t working all that well, and so he took it back to the shop he bought it from in Swindon, Wiltshire that was called Treasure Chest.

The lady running the shop said, “Put it back in the rack and to take another one.” This made him think it wasn’t a good advert for this detector, and he wondered how many other people were going to pick up, and try to use that machine with the same results?

He then had a C Scope TR200 (Fig. 3) which wasn’t too bad, and he stated it was a good old machine.

Then he moved to a White’s Beachcomber, and although it was not the best it helped him make better finds.

He recalls, that in those early days of the hobby people were quite green about how best to use the machines.

Compass was about at that time and they were good machines, and he had one of them.

Fig. 2

The find was made back in the late seventies, and in those times, there was no social media, or mobile phones, and

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his crops, and do other things believing they had the right to do so.

Fig. 3

He also had an Arado 120 (Fig.4), and at that time it was a popular machine.

When considering the various machines, he owned and used, he believes the Compass was probably the best.

The particular field he had been told about when younger was Crown Estates Land. He went to see Jefferey Young who was the tenant farmer, who already owned and farmed some other land close by. Jeffery had tried to buy the field, but the Crown Estates beat him to the purchase, and he was quite upset about this. He told Peter that he could detect his land, but was not to ever leave the gate open.

Fig. 5

Peter remembers that Jefferey had a thing about gates being left open, and didn’t get on well with the archaeologist based at Devizes. He explained that over past years they apparently would visit the site and then leave the gates open. They would also trample down

Most Saturdays and Sundays there would be four or five people out on the fields searching, including boys from the local Marlborough College. Going back further in time gypsies also use to visit and hoe the fields searching. Now with his permission, Peter and his friend

Fig. 4

John Booth would visit the site detecting every Sunday afternoon, and normally they would manage to find at least 20 Roman coins each within a couple of hours. If they didn’t, that would be seen to be a bad day.

John was always changing his detector; there was always a better one. With his wife and daughter, he would come across to Peter’s home each Sunday, and the two of would go out leaving the wives. This particular Sunday, they had one machine between the two of them, the Whites Beachcomber; John had sent off for another machine and it hadn’t arrived. Peter agreed he would come along and do the digging for him. The field (Fig.5) was a short drive in Peter’s car from his home, and once there they took it in turns detecting and digging for about five minutes each.

John had just finished his turn and passed the machine back to Peter.

Within a few strides he had this massive signal, a really big signal.

He thought it was either a large pot of coins, or an old oil drum or dustbin lid.

Together they dug down, to about 9 inches and came to a flat piece of Cotswold stone, that is not native to the area. There was a huge signal off this piece of stone. They dug around it and as they turned the stone over found there were two coins stuck to the bottom of it. Realising that there was no way these two coins could produce such a large signal, they scrapped away the dust that had been under the stone.

The top of a pot appeared about the size of a dinner plate.

Shocked, and excited they discussed what to do, and although they had permission, there were other people in the field and the find was right opposite the village of Mildenhall. Their main concern was if they tried to dig the pot out right then people near to them in the field would come over and want to join in. If people in the village saw that going on half the village would probably come across to watch. They decided to sit on it, and not draw unnecessary attention to themselves until it got dark. They both thought as it is only had a top the size of a dinner plate: it’s not going to be very big: they could dig it out, and take it away in one go.

Peter had a bucket with him, and as it gradually became dark, he thought they would be able to dig it up: fill the bucket, and go from there. However, as they dug down filling the bucket with coins, the pot was getting bigger and bigger. He realised this pot was a lot larger than they had imagined, and there was no way they could easily dig it out with the few detecting tools they had with them.

There was a telephone box about half a mile away across the field. He told john that he would walk to this and telephone his wife, and ask her to drive there bringing boxes, buckets, and any other 9

containers she could find, and also bring shovels.

through his mind. The man and dog went on by.

John didn’t want to be left there alone, so Peter suggested he walk and make the call, but John then agreed Peter should go; stressing not to be too long.

It was a fifteen-minute drive from his home to where he was waiting, but it seemed to be so much longer whilst sat waiting. He kept thinking about the man walking the dog up the road who may come back and find him still there, and is then bound to go in doors: phone the Police and tell them there is a man loitering on the bridge. Then fortunately his wife arrived.

It was a full moon that evening, and as the moon came out it lit up the whole field, and Peter recalls he could see for miles. He walked across the field with the bucket full of coins, and every 25 yards he had to change hands because it was getting heavy; quite a solid bucket.

The village church clock strike seven, and he remembers it as plain as day; on the 15th October.

He came out of the field, continuing down a bank into a little narrow road, all the time hoping he wouldn’t meet anybody, until he came to the river under a bridge. His concern was that he would be seen carrying the bucket up through the village, changing hands from one side to the other. Also, if the Police came along, they were sure to wonder what he was carrying, and therefore he put the bucket of coins down in the bushes beside the river.

He ran to the phone box (he could run in those days) and called his wife. He instructed her to go in the shed, find two or three sacks, bring a shovel: buckets, anything she can lay her hands on as he didn’t know how big the pot was. He had envisaged, the pot contained five or six thousand coins, and they could take it out and leave, but that wasn’t to be the case. He told her to drive John’s car and meet him.

He decided to wait in the dark on the bridge over the river for his wife, and then a man came out of a house shinning a torch with a dog. His immediate thoughts were if the dog goes down by the bushes where he had hidden the bucket, and the man shines the torch there what will he do? Will he push him in the river: tell him it is his: all sorts of crazy things were going

He recovered the bucket of coins putting them in the car, and told her to drive to the top of the field so they could off load. Once they unloaded the car, he told her to take the bucket of coins back home with her. He kept thinking that it they were disturbed, or others came to join them at least they had something of their own. As she left, he couldn’t say how long they would be so told her, “Expect us, when you see us.”

He recalls John was some ten years younger than he was, and had a daughter just eighteen months before; he worried quite a lot. When he got back, he found him very edgy and he wanted to know where he had been and hat had taken place. Once he explained John settled down.

There was a full moon that night and as they carried on digging down the side of the pot, could see everything. He now had a torch his wife had brought, but couldn’t use it or it would have attracted attention. As they dug down the pot seemed to get bigger and bigger, and when he put a garden fork down the side, he found the pot was moving, but actually only the top of the pot was moving. Where the pot had been put in the ground the weight of the coins had sheered the pot all the way round the diameter. The bottom had broken away and was just lodged there.

They put all the parts of the pot into a sack as it came out, and kept that completely separate from the contents.

The coins were put into sacks: buckets:

everything his wife had brought there.

This went on for hours and hours, and each sack and container were placed in the nearby hedge just in case someone came over to them. Eventually, they got to the bottom of the pot and lifted it out.

Then carefully, using the torch in the hole they checked for lose coins and removed all they could find.

As Peter brought the torch up near the top of the hole, he noticed the soil was a different colour, and asked John to put his trowel into the soil and out came another load of coins. He kept them separate and put these all into his exarmy jacket pocket. These coins had been folded up in a sheet of lead in the side hole, and he thoroughly checked to be certain there were no other coins in the hole. The folded lead contained 865 coins.

They filled the hole back in again, so it couldn’t be found and as they were about to leave, he remembers the church clock struck midnight. They realised this had taken them five hours.

His finger nails were gone, John’s were also gone from all the searching in the soil by hand.

As they started to drive along in the early hours of the morning with the car loaded up and weighed down with coins, he hoped the Police wouldn’t see and stop them. The coins were all loaded in the back of the old banger of John’s, and this made the front sit higher. He said to John, “Dip your lights,” and he replied, “They are dipped.”

Peter remembers thinking that if they were to get stopped now, how they would explain this he just did not know.

Luckily, they did not and arrived back at Peter’s home.

They brought all the containers into this house and considered what to do next.

It was decided to count the coins, and he explained how they did this. He took a milk saucepan and filled this counting in a thousand coins.

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He found a thousand coins was just level with the top of that saucepan. He weighed it, and wrote this down and continued for another 59 saucepans. It took them hours, providing an approximate total of 60,000.

As this was on a Sunday night, and he never had to deal with anything like this before; on the Monday morning he phoned and then visited a solicitor. He was advised go to the Police Station in Marlborough, to make a report which he did.

As he went into the Police Station there was a young woman PC talking to someone at the counter, and a sergeant was sat back in the corner of the room.

Peter sat down there until PC finished, and she asked if she could help him.

He questioned Peter about the coins to ascertain they were Roman coins. He instructed four officers to go with him, breaking out two Panda vans.

Peter led the way back from Marlborough Police Station, followed by the Police through Mildenhall, and other little villages with Peter sticking strictly to the speed limits. He said laughing, “Like you do,” and they all arrived at his house.

The sergeant then asked to be taken to where they had been found, so they all drove to the field. When they arrived Peter couldn’t easily find the exact spot; he just could not find it as they had covered it so well. What made it more difficult was the field was in stubble that had been burnt, and he had only noted one reference point. From that he knew roughly how far out is was from that into the field. After a worrying time, he eventually found the spot, and the loose soil.

Fig.6

He replied, “Yes, you probably can.

I’ve come to report some Roman coins I’ve found.”

She replied, “Roman coins, are you sure they are Roman coins?”

He Replied, “Yes, I know they are Roman coins.”

She then asked, “How many?”

He replied, “Give or take a few, sixty thousand.”

The sergeant swung round on his chair, and said, “How many have you got?”

Peter confirmed the number, and remembers the sergeant mentioning to him afterwards that he thought he was some sort of crank.

The sergeant told him he had better speak to his Inspector.

After a short while the Inspector came to the office and asked where the coins had been found and where they were.

Peter told him the approximate location of the find, and that the coins were at his house, and offered to take the Police to the spot.

Peter was living in a small village, you can just imagine two Police vans and four officers arriving at his home, and what villagers must have been thinking was going on; somebody had been murdered!

They came into his house where the coins were all in a huge blanket on the floor (Fig. 6). They gave him a piece of paper as a receipt for the coins, and then left going up his driveway one on each corner carrying the blanket full of the coins. Peter imagined what his neighbours must have been thinking that the blanket contained a body.

There were four Policemen, and they broke out tools, and shovels to dig the hole out again. Peter had left a neat hole on the side, about one foot from the top that had contained the coins in the sheet of lead. He pointed that out, and one of the Police Officers had a crow bar and smashed the neat hole to pieces; he just took no care smashing into it. Later Peter was unfortunately blamed for doing that damage to the fid spot. As they dug down, they recovered about another fifty or so coins.

The coins were all taken into custody to Marlborough Police Stations, and at some point, they moved them to 11

Swindon Police Station. Later in a local Newspaper there was a picture of two cleaners each holding a bag of the coins, and the caption read, ‘What a lot we got..’

Peter reflects on this and said, “Between you and I, how many went missing. There were four Policemen that took the coins in, and you have to wonder how many other people saw and handled the coins, but you cannot make accusations?”

The Sergeant who appeared in charge that he first met at Marlborough was named Raisey. One of the other officers who searched the site was a PC Haddock, but Peter doesn’t remember the other names.

maximum penalty of £20, or one month’s imprisonment.

On the 27th September 1979 the day of the court Peter had arranged for a local solicitor from Swindon to represent them, but he was not very good. The opposition had a female QC named Miss Curry from London. It didn’t look too good for Peter and John. When cross examining Peter she said, “I put it to you, that you went to the site after dark with torches, illegally, and dug up this hoard of coins and stole it.” He denied this, and explained they were already there when it became dark, and they had permission to be there from the

Peter knew, and often use to visit Colonel Charles Blount when he had an interesting and unknown coin to identify. The Colonel, who collected coins and was very helpful and knowledgeable. On one such visit he told Peter that he may get into trouble about the finding of the hoard.

Two or three months after finding the hoard, and in the New Year on a Sunday evening there were two characters at his door in dark coats. He thought that it couldn’t be Jehovah Witnesses at that time of night, and when he answered it was the Police.

They asked if he was named Peter Humphries, and on confirming he was, they gave him a summons. He asked what it was for, and they told him the charge was in relation to defacing a National monument. He questioned them about this, and the fact the Police had dug the site after he had.

The summons ordered both him and John Booth to appear at Marlborough Magistrates Court. They Department of the Environment attempted a prosecution under the 1913 Ancient Monuments Act that carried a

Fig. 7

tenant farmer. He continued that they had not done anything illegal at all.

Continuing he told her when they went there, they did not have torches with them.

The QC jumped on this, and asked how they could see what they were doing.

Peter told her to consult a calendar, and she would find that on the Sunday 15th October, the day they made the find, there was full moon. They could see for miles. He continued, explaining that both John and him were country people,

and they do not live in Cities with street lighting, and as such were used to getting about and seeing in moonlight.

There were more questions and answers back and forth, and until then Peter’s solicitor has said very little. His solicitor then told the court that in his opinion the prosecution had been unable to prove a case against his client and it should be dismissed. The magistrates retired.

When they came back, they stated they believed there was a case to answer, and adjourned for lunch. Peter and John decided to go down the pub and get a couple of pints, as they thought they may not be getting any more for a while. He remembers going into the toilet, and there was a court official there talking to another person, and he overheard him saying there was no way they can convict these two people who found the coins. It reassured him a little bit.

The court reconvened, and there were more questions, and the bench again retired. They came back, and Peter and John stood waiting for the verdict. The bench chairman stated, “We find the defendants, not guilty.” It is interesting to note that the magistrate’s bench included two farmers. Peter remembers the face on the QC, she looked shocked being beaten by a couple of country people.

The coins were collected from the Police and taken to the British Museum.

Peter and John were invited to the museum to see the coins in the process of cleaning etc., and the cleaning process took three years to complete.

The document (Fig. 7) is from Peter’s own scrap book and outlines the identity and quality of the coins.

The figure stated is 54,849.

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A book titled ‘The Cunetio Treasure Roman Coinage of the Third Century AD was written by Edward Besley and Roger Bland, and he had to buy a copy at cost price £17.50p.

In this book the total figure is given as 54,951 making it the largest hoard of Roman coins ever found in the UK, and it still is.

The Coroner’s Inquest on 4th April 1979 declared the find Treasure. The valuation committee sat, and valued the .

coins at £142,000. From this award the Crown took two thirds. Peter and John decided to accept this offer, because the British Museum had informed them that if they disputed the award it may result in them not getting anything.

Peter still enjoys his metal detecting and is a member of a Wiltshire club.

He firmly believes that fate had something to do with finding the hoard, and it was both John and himself that were destined to make the discovery of

their lifetime. Over 100 coins from the find are now displayed at the Wiltshire Museum, Devizes in Wiltshire.

These and many other interesting artefacts make a visit there worthwhile.

This is the first time a loan has been made by the British Museum (Fig 8).

For any clubs interested, Peter does provide some interesting short talks relating to the hobby, and his life experiences that include hunting for gold in America over past years

Fig. 8

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FINDING TREASURE ON THE WEB by Dr. Phil Williams BA PhD To increase the chances of finding more artifacts when Metal Detecting (MD), it is always best to do your research in advance. Below are a few ideas to help those detectorists who are not that computer save. The list is not inclusive, but covers most topics that one might need to help find more when hunting.

1 SEARCH ENGINES - GOOGLE, MILLIONS OF REFERENCES Go to www.google.co.uk (UK site), www.google.com (worldwide, mainly USA).

Hints for searching on Google (carefully selecting the right search term can help target your searches)

h. Search images using a saved image - save the image, and then search it on Google Images (with the camera button next to the search bar). Unfortunately, this does not work well on coins because there are millions of them and lots of variations. The imaging program works OK on simple line type items such as machines.

Two types of searches I often use are things like " best metal detector 2018 " or " Minelab Equinox review " for example.

Even typing the name of a farm will give often more information on the owner, phone number etc. If the farm is a business such as a limited company (Ltd.) then you can search " Companies house plus business name " where you can get directors names, occupation and ages.

2 YOUTUBE - THOUSANDS OF VIDEOS ON “HOW

a. Use quotes to search for an exact phrase, for example gold coin will find both pages containing either one or both items (47,200,000 results) but "gold coins" will only find pages where both words are found together (10,200,000 results). The more specific you can be the better. b. Use an asterisk within quotes to specify unknown or variable words - “* is thicker than water”. For coins you can put in part of the coin's letters, for example I used *ICUS REX hammered silver coin and it came up with HEN[]ICUS. REX. If there are many hits then click on the Images tab and look to see the images match your coin etc.

TO”, PRODUCT REVIEWS AND ENTERAINMENT There are 3 main things I use YouTube (www.youtube.com) for: a. Videos on "how to ….."

c. Use the minus sign to eliminate results containing certain words: jaguar –car d. Search websites for keywords “Google site: TIME.com” e. Search news archives going back to the mid-1880s https://news.google.com/newspapers?hl=en f. Compare items using “vs”. Good for food stuffs but I expect Deus vs. Equinox might be popular? g. Use “DEFINE:” to learn the meaning of words - slang included

If you want to know how to clean a coin (6,220 results), mend a detector part etc. search YouTube and see want others have done – again be more specific to maximise your chance of success. For example, " how to clean silver coins with spit and aluminium foil " gives 304 videos. b. Reviews on products Find out about a detector, pinpointer, software etc., just search on YouTube and see what you get. For example, Deus metal detector gives 241,000 results.

If you add a filter (click on the FILTER icon on the top right), then you can specify upload date, duration and sort by Date, View count or Rating. For the latest reviews specify this month or week etc.

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There are well over 150 groups on FB dealing with MD related interests, and the 70 or so UK based ones are most useful for the items listed below. A few of the largest UK groups are listed here with their membership numbers (all numbers correct at February 2018): b. Help ID finds

c. Entertainment

Post pictures of your finds on the popular groups and people will comment on them. Alternately, you can try a few of the Identification groups, such as: ID ME 13,308 members WTF IS THIS? 6,869 members

Of course, most people will have seen funny videos via YouTube, but there are also a lot of videos on historical things, metal detecting, use of mapping techniques etc. Much like Google, searching on YouTube will quite often open your eyes (but be prepared to spend a lot of time watching them – again use Videoder if you have an Android phone (see below).

Note: if you have an android phone, you can download YouTube and other videos to watch later using Videoder. You can download YouTube music, YouTube videos, Facebook videos, podcasts, and convert YouTube videos to mp3 for listening to. I usually load these onto my phone whilst in a "free" Wi-Fi area and watch them later at my leisure. I can also quickly zap through them to see if they are really worth watching etc. and delete them etc.

c. Finding rallies and upcoming digs Most Facebook groups will advertise rallies and upcoming digs. However, some are more localised about a certain area, and there are dedicated area groups. It might be useful to do a Facebook search for your areas. By doing this you can also see if there are any Clubs near you that you might approach? d. Get latest news on MD in general 3 FACEBOOK (FB) - JOIN NEW MD GROUPS, FIND RALLIES, GET FINDS ID’ED A great source for MD hounds is Facebook at www.facebook.com . It can be used to make contact with the 40,000 or so UK members or the much bigger word-wide members (over 250,000 I would estimate). For example, FB can be used for:

Keeping an eye of the posts form the above groups can lead you to useful knowledge, such as latest hoards found, values of treasure found, laws governing MD and many personal stories and videos. Often a useful web site is mentioned, for example www.archmdmag.com – check it out if you don't know it, especially the Resources section. e. Other: Make new contacts, find out which are the best Metal Detectors and accessories.

a. Used to join groups 15

If you select a group that you have joined, the click on the members item which has the total number of members (on RHS of page), and then look down the list that is displayed – it will list any members in your area that you have already added to your Facebook profile. You can also find out which groups a person belongs to, by selecting them and clicking on the box which says " Member of …. and x other groups ".

4 HOARDS - SEARCH LOCAL HISTORY, NEWSPAPER INFO Finding a hoard worth over £50k is about 1 in 5,000, whereas with the lottery this size of win is 1 in 15,000. So, you have 3 times more chance of finding a good hoard. If you look at finds/wining around £1,000 then the figures are even better for MD - 1 in 288 for the Lottery and 1 in 10 for nice to find items (based on reported Portable Antiquities Scheme) by MD – so 29 times more chance than the lottery! Plus, with MD you get to meet people, fresh air exercise and every target might be a winner!

You can use the local library to do research or use the web.

Of course, you can also use google and Facebook to search local hoards, so for Google you might use " Warwickshire coin hoards " for example. For old newspapers search Google with " old newspapers online free UK ". Here are a few web sites that help locate hoards etc. www.digital-documents.co.uk - Find Archaeological Sites in Britain and Metal Detecting and Treasure Hunting Finds, Old Maps, LIDAR and aerial photographs in the UK, England, Scotland and Wales. Great for metal detecting sites, archaeological sites and archaeological digs. http://classic.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/dept/coins/projects/hoar ds/ - some museum sites have lists and records of hoards – this one cover 450-1180 BC – click on "Checklist" and click on one of 448 numbers to get more details.

silver penny Edward II " then you'll get a better lot of images.

If you click on the image, you can then often go to a website showing this coin, and home in on a larger better image which sometimes can be saved by a right mouse click. You can also use the "Tools" option (top centre on page) and specify image size etc.

If you can't download the image, you can always use the Snipping Tool (google this to find out what I am talking about) Again, by just typing the name of the coin you wish to know more about together with as much detail as is possible often gives examples on the web sometimes with prices. www.Ebay.co.uk is also good to look at coins people are selling and the prices can be rather disappointing for us MD guys – you can pick up a reasonable hammered penny for under £7! You can also use the Advanced search with the "completed listings" ticked to see what these coins sold for in the past.

A few useful websites for coin identification are: The Coinage of Britain by Ken Elks http://www.kenelks.co.uk/coins/index.htm www.coins-of-the-uk.co.uk/coins.html by Tony Clayton (covers more modern coins) Ancient Coin resources: http://www.forumancientcoins.com/catalog/roman-andgreekcoins2.asp?title=Resources+for+the+Ancient+Coin+Collect or&pgc=..%2Fresources%2FCollectors_Resources_.html Coin inscriptions: http://www.psdetecting.com/Inscriptions.html Roman Coin Help - http://www.romancoin.info Coin Collecting with useful resource web sites http://www.kwinto-coins.com/NumismaticNews.html

-

UK Finds Database - http://ukdfd.co.uk The Portable Antiquities Scheme - https://finds.org.uk/ http://www.englishhammered.com English hammered coins 5 COINS – LOOKING THEM UP, EBAY AND CAPTURING IMAGES

6 MAPS – GOOGLE MAPS, SATELLITE MAPS, LIDAR, VIEWSHED

Using Google on the image tab will display lots of pictures of coins, again if you narrow the search down by using say "

a. DON'T FORGET TO USE GOOGLE AND YOUTUBE 16

Search for "using maps in Metal Detecting" on both Google and YouTube b. HISTORIC MAPS www.digital-documents.co.uk is a useful guide.

Ancient Monuments Map UK http://www.ancientmonuments.info/map

7 GETTING NEW PERMISSIONS – HOW TO CONTACT FARMERS, SCHOOL FUND RAISING & CHARITY DIGS a. Getting permissions – finding farmers, written agreements There are many web sites that can help with getting new permissions, try: www.forumukdetectornet.co.uk

c. MAP TOOLS – DUAL VIEW • Side by side historical maps http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/# d. LIDAR - LIGHT DETECTION AND RANGING This mapping technique can show up old sites – see www.digital-documents.co.uk for examples and search YouTube to find out more. www.lidarfinder.com is a useful web site. e. VIEWSHED A useful mapping tool that lets you view the high points form a reference location. Type " Viewshed " into Google or YouTube to get more information; f. OS grid & Postcode finder http://www.gridreferencefinder.com/

• •

Use the web to ID good sites and get the name of farmers Take a print out from LIDAR or hoard info Use a suitable letter/flyer (be personal and introduce yourself, state you have insurance and ways in which you can help the farmer, also list local finds in the area)

b. School searches – using your children's school?

If you have children who attend a local school, then sound out the headmaster or PTA members for searching their fields etc., but insure them you can recover items with little mess and offer to donate 50% to their school funds. c. Charity contacts – Facebook?

If you search Facebook with " Area Charities " where Area is your local town etc. then it will come up with many groups.

See if they know any land owners who would allow a MD rally in support of their charity?

Good luck and happy hunting Phil

Once you have your membership card don’t forget to create your own unique account in the members’ area of the web site.

You can also join the private Facebook group using the link provided and watch out for other benefits that will be made available in this members’ area.

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A Wessex Permission by Martin Gleadon Is there such a thing as a perfect permission?

Imagine a grassy downland running high for many kilometres between two rivers, with clusters of Bronze Age tumuli standing along the ridge.

Along this the local Durotriges tribe decides to mark its territory by digging a long, deep ditch and bank, possibly defensive but more likely just to stop their stock roaming, like the disused Banjo Enclosures down in the valley.

Several Iron Age settlements spring up behind this ditch, peacefully farming, trading, and casting metal – then the Romans invade…

The Durotrigians retreat to the safety of their many Hill Forts but as two strongholds of Maiden Castle and Hod Hill fall to the Romans, the Durotrigians adopt a policy of “if you can’t beat them, join them” adding the Romans to their trading partners and giving up their Celtic lifestyles in favour of Roman ways and fashions.

Not all local people agree with peace with the Romans however so the old

Iron Age ditch is reinforced and deepened, this time to protect the Romano-British farms and settlements behind it, but just as the Romans come, the Romans go a few hundred years later leaving a power vacuum which the Kingdom of Wessex fills – along with a new set of invaders.

Saxons moving from East and Viking raiders from the nearby coast mean the old ditch is once again called into use, seeing a few short but bloody skirmishes along its length.

Eventually peace settles on this deeply rural part of Wessex, untouched by civil wars and world wars, ignored by industry, protected by the old Ministry of Works, and just allowed to follow the farming calendar and be the hunting playground for its wealthy landowners.

Apart from the occasional plough this shallow chalk soil remains undisturbed, its forgotten treasures laying buried, waiting…

Until I arrive! Drawn by the history of the place I start field walking. A coin here, a flint

scraper there, a pocket full of pottery sherds, the occasional piece of bronze, and several areas of metal-smelting slag. I shamelessly use my farming upbringing and my academic qualifications to talk around a very reluctant landowner into give me permission for a metal detecting survey and dig a couple of metre square test pits.

As I have a policy of returning everything to the landowner (after it’s been recorded on the PAS) it isn’t long before I’m handing over Roman fibula and coins, musket balls, worked flints, thimbles, and several pieces of silver and gold probably lost by Georgian, Victorian, etc horse riders. I’ve included some pictures of my finds.

The few areas I’m allowed onto turns into several hundred hectares and, although there’s a bit of green waste to clear, it’s a permission which keeps on giving. Yes, some bits are Scheduled and so beyond my reach but the rest?

Oh, it’s definitely permission!

my

perfect

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Detecting History and Nighthawking by John Wells Although the paper that follows was given at the English Heritage seminar on Nighthawking in 2009 at the Linnean Society headquarters at Burlington House in London by John Wells, when President of the NCMD, the context of the paper is as relevant today as it was then, probably even more so.

The offer to give a paper detailing the views of organised detecting and our support for the criminalisation of nighthawking was taken up by John Wells, who at that time was also the Chairman of the NCMD, a position he voluntary gave dedicated service to for eighteen years.

• • •

Registered battlefields Protected military remains of aircraft and vessels of historic interest Undesignated but acknowledged heritage buildings and sites.

More on this can be found at this website: https://historicengland.org.uk/advice/caring-forheritage/heritage-crime/tackling/ In 2009 the hobby of metal detecting was under fire from several quarters and the need to refute these allegations that detectorists were equally culpable of nighthawking, when clearly the evidence showed the opposite. The protection of the hobby by those elected to counter all threats was paramount. They did so in order that today’s detectorist have no longer have those concerns and who now thrive on the efforts and hard work done back then.

The Linnean Society of London is the world’s oldest active society devoted to natural history. Founded in 1788 and Charles Darwin is one of the Linnean Society's most famous Fellows. His theory on evolution by natural selection was ground breaking in its time and is the subject of study and controversy even today.

This picture above of John Wells making his presentation was taken by S. Critchley

Back then the crime of nighthawking did not exist as a criminal offence and was treated as a civil offence that rarely involved police action due to either lack of reporting or failure to follow up by those affected, and the lack of manpower in policing these occurrences.

That is no longer the case. Today we have laws that are explicit in describing what is available to the authorities in order to counter heritage crime. They include going equipped to steal, theft, criminal damage, arson and anti-social behaviour offences that can also damage and harm heritage assets and interfere with the public's enjoyment and knowledge of their heritage.

Heritage assets are sites which are considered to have a value to the heritage of England and include: • Listed buildings • Scheduled monuments • World Heritage Sites • Protected marine wreck sites • Conservation areas • Registered parks and gardens

When the Nighthawking project was commissioned by English Heritage in 2009 it appointed Oxford Archaeology to carry out a pre-report survey and produce a final report. At that time the sponsors of the report did not feel the need to involve metal detecting organisations or request input of any kind. In fact, apart from the initial brainstorming session to which detectorists were invited, that then evolved into a steering committee, from which the hobby was then excluded.

This came as no surprise as the history of past relations with the Archaeological fraternity is littered with promises to

19

involve the hobby on issues that directly impact it only to discover that an invitation has been mislaid or overlooked.

We have over the years, become accustomed to having metal detecting issues being spoken about and examined by those who have a particular agenda to follow or have a less than comprehensive understanding of the issues. There has always been reluctance on the part of archaeology and the government to involve metal detecting or their organisations in opinion-making who, because of their wealth of experience are usually best placed to give informed, constructive opinion and comment. This has been the case since the early 1980’s when originally the NCMD was set up to oppose Surrey Archaeology’s (STOP TAKING OUR PAST) or STOP campaign. The STOP Campaign is now widely recognised as the biggest own goal archaeology has managed to date and was directly responsible not only for the loss of 30 years of portable antiquity records, something which not only could

have changed the way we look at this nation’s historical development, but also the rise of the nighthawk.

Since then, due to John’s involvement it had been a reactionary organisation that has been forced to challenge and oppose any threats to its existence and the hobby that have frequently arisen. When in 1994 Lord Perth invited detectorists to his home to discuss the proposed changes to the ancient laws of treasure trove and its effects on the hobby, assurances were given that the hobby was safe from any efforts to ban it. To this end it was agreed that the Treasure Act and the introduction of the Portable Antiquities Scheme would be supported and endorsed wherever practicably possible. This appeared to signal a change from the confrontational and adversarial position for so long adopted by the archaeological fraternity towards the hobby. We took the view that if our members fundamental rights, enshrined in law, were protected, then we would not only work within the law but also within the spirit of the law. However, all is not sweetness and light and there are still those in the archaeological fraternity who would see the hobby restricted or even banned. So, when news of a survey into nighthawking was announced and that we were not to be involved, then suspicions arose that this was yet again to be another means of demonising and vilifying us. The difficulties of preparing the Nighthawking report have been well documented which despite such an inauspicious start, it was agreed to assign two experienced officers to the project. They attended all Steering Group and other meetings they were invited to as observers.

This provided a valuable insight into the tactics and at times tantrums of some of the representatives of the project’s sponsoring bodies. The report’s scope and terms of reference inevitably provided ammunition for conflicting viewpoints and in particular what the final recommendations would be and whether these would satisfy the agendas and expenditures of the sponsors.

Despite the best efforts of Oxford Archaeology, whom were believed to have been honest brokers in this enterprise, who were commissioned to carry out the pre-report survey and produce the final report, no radically new findings were uncovered to illustrate the archaeologically perceived widespread scale of the problem. Despite many attempts to modify the brief and broaden the scope of data collection, the continued failure to identify and obtain unequivocal factual data to support the sponsors’ perceptions and satisfy their agendas against metal detecting in general, was very telling.

The reliance on suspect, often anecdotal and hearsay data did little to raise expectations within the hobby that a fair and balanced report would be forthcoming. This was highlighted by the inclusion of information and photographs from contributors, who had reported badger diggings and accompanying latrine photographs, complete with contents, as the activity of nighthawks. When this was pointed out it was removed from the final report whereas its inclusion would have further highlighted the poor quality of data and desperation employed to support these preconceptions with unequivocal evidence. There were other examples of misleading evidence where boot prints, a common feature in any public access countryside area, were highlighted as being those of a nighthawk! The strong suspicion that some evidence was fabricated or an event precipitated remains.

There is not the time today to dwell on all the facts and figures of the report suffice to highlight an example of the final data such as that referring to incidents on Scheduled Ancient Monuments.

NIGHTHAWKS AND NIGHTHAWKING: DAMAGE TO ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES IN THE UNITED KINGDOM AND CROWN DEPENDENCIES CAUSED BY THE ILLEGAL SEARCH FOR AND REMOVAL OF ANTIQUITIES. Having given a brief summary of the hobby’s perception of the report’s preparation and execution I must return to the main focus of this seminar.

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Firstly, to fully understand the issues we must consider the reasons for nighthawking: it would seem somewhat selective to simply look at combating a problem without looking at the causal factors as it is here that is the key to dealing with it.

Nighthawking is not a new phenomenon, it being a frequent topic for discussion within the hobby and meetings for many years. Nighthawking was a response to Archaeology’s prejudiced and uber ethical approach to metal detecting beginning around the time of the first STOP Campaign of the early 80’s. The introduction of negative access policies at the instigation of some of the organisations and individuals here in this room today, began the slippery slope to the nighthawking free- for- all of the mid 80’s to the late 90’s.

Access was denied in many areas to detectorists because of archaeological influence on private as well as institutional and local authority landowners, and in many instances these policies are still active today. The propensity of archaeology to view metal detecting and the accompanying recovery of portable antiquities in black and white terms perpetuated the problem simply because there was not the will to see anything in-between. Instead, the progressive and planned alienation of detectorists became greater, and regrettably there were some who saw the invitation to many thousands of acres of ploughed out Scheduled sites as a temptation too great to miss. The introduction of better detectors capable of operating in a switch-on-and-go mode made the rewards even greater for those willing to become criminals simply by using a metal detector as a tool for theft.

Criminal damage to a Scheduled site

The problem was self-perpetuating as archaeology sought to portray all detectorists as the issue and promote more and more negative access policies and thus by default, driving away responsible detectorists. Archaeologists were instrumental in persuading more landowners not to allow detecting on their land and thereby giving a green light to competition-free areas to nighthawks. The continued exploitation of the agri-environment schemes is a case in point where the archaeological intent is to make accessing such land more and more difficult, again giving more areas of competition-free detecting to the nighthawks.

Where are we now? We have the Portable Antiquities Scheme and a better motivated hobby which as well as dealing with nighthawks in its own way, has been able to overcome the negativity and prejudices of some of the archaeological

establishment to show that it can and does contribute to the archaeological casual loss resource of this country. We now have modern enlightened archaeologists who recognise the benefits of metal detecting and even though in some cases such thoughts and actions can still stifle careers, the ethical grip is being lessened. This has worked to the advantage of all parties with finds being reported to Finds Liaison Officers throughout the country. Good will and collaboration have broken out where once there was mistrust and suspicion. The value to the national record has increased the academic knowledge base, in particular to that period of history known as the “Dark Ages.” Over recent years our members have shown a willingness to engage with academia and share in the enjoyment of “OUR SHARED” history. This in itself will not combat the problem of nighthawking which remains; that will require some genuine moves by the archaeological establishment to recognise that all is not black and white and be able to accept a little bit of grey. Regrettably the activities of some archaeological bodies and the continued promotion of nighthawking as a widespread problem suggests that the sponsorship of the Nighthawking Project for some was as a means to serve their own agendas against the hobby of metal detection and not that towards those criminals who simply use a detector as a tool of their trade just as a burglar would use a jemmy. The wider hobby remains to be convinced that we have not been seduced by false promises and disingenuous comment. The many recent press articles on the topic are evidence that the old prejudices still hold sway with some.

Granted the report confirmed that there are sufficient legislative measures already on the statute books to deal with nighthawks, but do the enforcement bodies in the form of the police and courts realise that the true extent of the current problem has not yet been adequately defined? There is too much reliance on anecdotal hearsay and poor-quality evidence. The proposed intent to issue landowners with leaflets on this topic and instruct the inexperienced and wellmeaning on how to spot badger latrines, sorry, nighthawk diggings, as a means to defining the extent of what is currently perceived to be as widespread as some parties wish us to believe, is fraught with dangers. Inexperience and the need to get results will lead to all detectorists being viewed with suspicion and any “shoot first ask questions later” law enforcement approach will alienate many. Put into perspective the mismatch of resources to actual criminal acts does not bode well for the tackling of those nighthawks who remain active. Such resources would be better allocated to tackle criminal activities of greater concern to the general public, and it must be questioned as to how long these scarce resources are to be tied up chasing ghosts and will- o-thewisps on a darkened field. Intelligence may well be the key whereby in each area local detectorists will be able to point out the hot spots for activity and advise on when and where to look. This will not be the Scheduled sites of old as they are considered by many nighthawks to be worked out. Nor will it be the new archaeological excavations because according to the Nighthawk report’s recommendations these will be searched as a part of a new protocol to involve local detectorists to remove vulnerable material. Instead, it will be on the many new sites made available on the Historic 21

Environment Record published online and other databases such as that of the PAS. These will be the new green light areas provided by the new internet age. Above all there is a need for all partners in this venture, be they sponsors, legislators, implementers, enforcers or observers to collaborate on a level playing field to deal with the remaining problem once and for all. The tools are in place and have been for a long time, but those who had the chance to make them work did not use them. Instead, resources were given to getting rid of metal detecting all together not as a consequence of nighthawking, but as a means to satisfy the long held and still extant archaeological prejudice towards the hobby. This has not gone away and these agendas still operate alongside those to tackle the criminals. Recent evidence of the hobby’s commitment to the preservation of this nation’s heritage was demonstrated in the recent discovery of the Staffordshire Hoard of Anglo-Saxon treasure. If that finder, who is from my own area in the Midlands Region was not an honest and lawabiding man and was not encouraged to report his finds in the manner prescribed under the Act, and if he had not fully cooperated with his local Archaeologist and Finds Liaison Officer, then we as a nation might have been culturally and historically the poorer for not giving him the means of declaring his finds using a system that benefits everybody. If he was then driven to the point that his hobby became a criminal offence, banned under the law and if he was forced to pursue his pastime at night, illegally without any consideration save his own, would we not be poorer both culturally and ethically.

genuinely want to see it displayed to its best advantage then unlike the Staffordshire Hoard it won’t be repeated any time soon.

The hobby has not, does not and will not condone or encourage criminal activity and encourages the full use of the law and supports the strongest actions against wrongdoers. The fact that I have to say this in open forum is an indictment on the system that has for years put my organisation on the back foot and imputes the integrity of my members and thousands of other law-abiding detectorists who would no more consider going equipped to steal than they would otherwise break the law.

In Conclusion.

There are those, that take the view that they would rather objects remain rotting in the ground rather than be found by honest detectorists. This dog- in-a-manger attitude is so out of date in a country that has come to expect more return for its heritage expenditure. History, its makeup, its relevance today and its evidence tomorrow is not the sole domain of those with Archaeology degrees.

It’s our history, created by and rediscovered by ordinary people like my tax-paying members who cherish this nation’s past and look to safeguarding its future.

In 2021 John Wells had his honourary President title, and his membership of the NCMD removed. In addition his Chairmanship of the Midland region was also refuted. Two other officers of the NCMD also had their memberships removed at that same time and all three were given no right to appeal.

John remains the Chairman of the Midland region now for ARMD and continues his tireless work for the hobby as the Data Controller and is an Excutive Officer for AMDS.

The five men were handed five-year criminal behaviour orders which prevents them from metal detecting at any English Heritage site in England and also in Wales. Curtis Barlow, Gary Flanagan, Daniel James Lloyd, John Andrew Lorne and Francis James Ward were ordered to forfeit all artefacts and their metal detectors which have an estimated value of up to £1,000 and above. The men's illegal activities were unearthed when a number of holes were found in the grounds of Beeston Castle and Roche Abbey in Yorkshire, both historic sites in the care of English Heritage, sparking an investigation in December 2019.

Look at your Television screens where you see hundreds of people waiting in queues for up to three hours to see what ostensibly belongs to them. If the archaeology industry does not grasp that real people are fascinated by their past and

It is hoped that you enjoy this our first issue of the AMDS TIMES Journal.

If you can write something about our great hobby and your own enjoyment of it, maybe a field test, or something about the work of your club or other group, then please submit these with any images to membership@amds.org.uk for it to be considered for inclusion in future issues.

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Charity Donation by Nick Keeler (Chairman SHRADS – Western Region ARMD) The Chairman of SHRADS, Nick Keeler, sadly lost his wife to cancer in 2004 and during the latter stages of her illness she was cared for by St. Peters Hospice in Bristol.

The work of this hospice sStarted in Bristol in 1978, and by 1990 were treating 600 patients each year and in 1992 a fundraising office was set up. By 2012 the patients had risen to treating 2675 each year. In 2019 a new Hospice building was completed, with 15 individual inpatient rooms. Actress Caroline Quentin announced the success of the appeal and by 2019 it was reported there were 50 fundraising shops around Bristol.

most of this was being discarded. He then asked members to collect any lead that they recovered and donate it to him so that it could be cashed in for its scrap value at a local scrap metal dealer.

Every meeting and club dig he provides a big orange bucket for any lead which varies from small fragments from Roman sites to modern piping etc, it is then cleaned and sorted. So far he has collected over 1065 kilos (that is over 167 stone) which together with 111kg of Brass (17st 6lbs) and 40kg of Copper (6st 4lbs) plus lead items sold on eBay, book sales and generous member donations (from Treasure finds) has been turned into £ 3,750 for St Peters Hospice.

If all ARMD affiliated clubs were to do something similar then we believe that a lot of money could be raised for good causes of your choosing. All that is required is a willing volunteer to collect items from members and then deal with your local scrap merchant.

Since the time he lost his wife Nick has been raising money for St. Peters Hospice so that they can continue the excellent work that they do in the community for the terminally ill.

Several years ago he noticed that although SHRADS members were finding a lot of lead whilst out on club digs

Many thanks to those SHRADS members who have contributed to this good cause as well as those who have bid and donated via eBay over the past year and Nick looks forward to collecting more lead for the next donation."

The AMDS March 2022 Members’ Competition Finds bag, XL Detector Bag and a Finds Box

The winner is – 388 Jason Regan, Heritage Club, Swansea

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The Bishops Ring, the BBC and a great memory by Syd Hallam I have always organised regular digs for the Yorkshire Region members at farms in Lincolnshire. The proceeds were given to various charities we supported.

There were many different charities supported including Scunthorpe Hospital Radio. On one of these digs a then young detectorist, Chris Kilner and a member of the South Yorkshire MDC found a gold ring, that’s now in the British Museum and is known as the Bishops Ring.

The BBC Television made a series of eight programs in 2003 called Hidden Treasure.

This series was updated in 2011. Episode number eight was made at Charlecote Park shown above, a grand 16 th century country house built in 1558 by Sir Thomas Lucy on the banks of the river Avon, and approximately 9 km south of Warwick.

Queen Elizabeth 1st stayed in the room that is now the drawing room.

I don’t remember exactly how many of us were involved in the filming but maybe 30 or 40 and we spent the Saturday and Sunday filming. I have 4 video tapes of each 3 hours, that’s 12 hours filming to make a half hour program.

We were all put up at the Hilton hotel in the lap of luxury and all of our meals, everything paid for by the BBC. The filming took place in the gardens and in the lower ground floor, we had use of most of the ground floor rooms and put on a show of finds with lots of show cases from ours and other regions.

During the week end the general public was allowed to enter and look at the finds cases and we provided answers to their many questions. It was very popular with a massive queue.

With the use of television, we informed people how important the work we did on behalf of the hobby to increase the knowledge of our country’s history.

Our friend, Archaeologist Kevin Leahy from Scunthorpe Museum, Lincolnshire travelled all the way to the British Museum in London to pick up and bring back the Bishop’s Gold ring, and once again Chris was to hold his find in the Gardens of Charlecote Park During the filming You can still view this on YouTube at BBC Hidden treasure No 8 of 8 in the series.

This is a link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEjnzxoUwoo 24

You may well imagine the surprise that Barry Williams (our Chairman) and I had following a donation of £1500 that we made to Scunthorpe Hospital Radio charity.

Our donation had been used to help construct an outside broadcasting studio at the football ground so that matches could be broadcast to the patients listening to the radio. Both Barry and I became local celebrities overnight.

This picture above is from my scrapbook and although my ony copy it is a reminder of better days when we worked tirelessly for the good of the hobby.

The Yorkshire Region of ARMD now has a new Facebook group that welcomes new members and it can be found here https://www.facebook.com/groups/627691334900821

This journal AMDS TIMES is brought to you at no cost to the readership, and the AMDS would like to thank all contributors to this edition.

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Club News CARDIFF SCAN CLUB (Western Region ARMD)

by Brian Vaughan (Regional Secretary) We are, as one of our members recently described us in the Searcher Magazine, a traditional detecting club with as much emphasis on the social side of our hobby as on the actual detecting We were formed in September 1977 and can still boost one of the founders as a member.

We hold digs for our members on average once a month and try to make them interesting. As the covid rules have been different here in Wales we have watched, sometimes in envy, our colleagues across the border having large and regular rallies. However, we have managed to hold a few rallies late last year and four already this year.

A profusion of Brooches, both Iron age and Roman period (many unusual ones) along with an assortment of roman coins from the first to forth century has been unearthed along with the first item of Treasure found at a club dig in a long time Above a 13th/14th C Silver Annular Brooch Below a 1st and 2nd C Roman Brooches

Below, one member’s finds made at one of our rallies

The club has managed to gain permission on an estate near the Roman town of. Caerwent in Monmouthshire.

Here we have held a few rallies over the last few months and some stunning finds have emerged.

Heavily Romanised Bird Lip Brooch We were also very happy to welcome some stalwarts from the Western and Midlands regions of ARMD/AMDS in person, namely John and Laura Wells (Midlands) and David Rees and Lorraine Stanley (Western) as well as members of clubs from Swansea, Rhonnda, Wiltshire and even some from as far as Birmingham.

While the many lockdowns and other restrictions has curtailed our detecting it did afford the club the opportunity to have some of our members take part in the excellent Heritage Watch scheme run by David Rees with English Heritage and local Police Forces. Hopefully more of this will follow.

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Detectorists in Wales are very lucky to have Mark Lodwick as our long serving FLO. He attends every club meeting and is very supportive of our Hobby. He invited our Vice Chairman to take part in the Review of the P.A.S. in Wales and subsequent meetings to discuss a number of recommendations stemming from it.

Members of our committee have also been in regular communication with the Welsh Governments Department of Culture Media and Sport as well as various Welsh Assembly members, mostly concerning the various restrictions during the pandemic but also the proposed Treasure review. Hopefully the channels of communication between us will continue.

L to R John Wells, Brian Vaughan, David Rees, Lorraine Stanley

IMPORTANT NOTICE Contrary to the information circulating amongst the media, the Association for Metal Detecting Sport (AMDS) was established in order that detectorists could obtain Public Liability Insurance that was denied to them elsewhere.

Some of the scurrilous rumours surrounding the establishment of the AMDS purport to claim that the AMDS seeks the licensing of the hobby and even its curtailment. These rumours are totally untrue and have no basis in anything the AMDS was set up to achieve. Senior members working within the AMDS have for years constantly fought against any restrictions on the hobby.

The AoD and the IoD, set up by Keith Westcott in trying to achieve these aims are absolutely nothing whatsoever with the AMDS. The AMDS has not, is not, and will not have any truck with the above organisations, and furthermore will have no dealings with any person or organisations that set out to limit our enjoyment of a great hobby.

It is the intention of the AMDS and ARMD to represent the hobby at the highest levels, as they have done so in the past.

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