This section is for reports on all our club digs. We are also hoping to include pictures of as many finds as possible, so please check out the Picture Gallery and if you found something on one of our digs and would like it included then please email a jpeg copy to centralsearchers@ntlworld.com
Just click on the date to read the report.
7th December - Swinfen, Staffs
6th June 2004 - Cranfield, Beds
31st October 2004 - Marston Mortaine, Beds
14th November 2004 - Marston Mortaine, Beds
21st/22nd May 2005 - Liddlington, Beds
6th/7th August 2005 - Lavendon, Beds
Swinfen, Staffs - 7th December 2003
After 12 months of organising, sorting out how the club should work, all the admin, insurances, taxation of takings, setting up the pc with all the relevant software Central searchers finally got off the ground on December 7th the first dig, which was held near Swinfen in Staffs. We were excited at the potential of the site due to all the local history that we had found out about when researching the site, but we never build expectations up regarding finds, as in truth just because a site has history it does not mean that it will be a good producer of finds, there still seems to be a small element of the hobby that think we can either see into the ground or because they have paid an entrance fee they should be guaranteed finds, we would rather a site be low on finds than seed a site to keep people happy, luckily for us it is only a small minority that think like this.
We arrived at the site by about 07.00, to meet Rob the caterer, and to sort parking and signs, and generally be ready to welcome people on arrival, one thing that was un expected was due to the M6 toll road the workman put cones up all past the entrance to the digs, which caused major traffic queues which also caused some of our direction signs to be missed, luckily there was only about 6 vehicles that had problems in finding the site, we had put up 3 different scale O/S road maps of the site location on the web site which most people had printed off, and we hope was of use to you, we plan to put the directions each of the digs on the web site so members may print off the directions each time.
Gill was not expecting people to turn up 2 hours before the kick off and was quite shocked, having been to a few of the weekend wanderers digs I knew this was all part of the days detecting for lots of people, having a chat about the prospects of the land and about their previous finds. We really had no idea of how many were going to turn up, the first dig was a sample for people of how things were going to run, and was not restricted to members only, we had only advertised via the internet so were not expecting anything silly like 2 to 3 hundred people, we were hoping for about 100, as originally we were told by the farmer there was about 85 acres, when we got the maps with the amount of acreage available on, it worked out at 75, so more than 100 would have started to worry us about over crowding, which was one of the things we did not want to be known for.
It was great to see friends old and new attending, people were all gathering around the catering van for a chin wag and a bacon roll but at 09.30 every one was off, I had a phone call after about 20 minutes to tell me a short cross hammered had been found which pleased me as where there is one there is usually more. By dinner time I had seen some lovely finds mainly hammered coins and Roman brooches, there were of course those that were leaving moaning that the fields were baron and asking if I was going to open more land, which I find quiet remarkable that 75 acres can be covered in 3 hours, its just an opinion but maybe these few moaners may look at their detecting techniques and speed they are detecting at, as I think this may reflect the fields being baron, members will also learn on future digs the land that is available is the land that is available, and we will not be pressurised into opening more land due to lack of finds when there is still land untouched on the site.
There were detectorists at the dig that worked really hard to find things, but luck just was not on their side, where as others went home with a handful of nice finds. I was pleased that no one went out of bounds, however there was a small minority not filling their holes which really aggravates me as it is totally irresponsible and just down to ignorance and bone idleness, again luckily it is just a small minority within the hobby that have this type of attitude. People started returning to their vehicles around mid afternoon with some gorgeous brooches, and lovely hammered coins, there were a few Roman coins found and quiet a lot of silver milled, it was also nice when people thanked us for our efforts, and were pleased with how it went.
After the days dig we were told the ground conditions were excellent with the ground being like compost to dig, and the stubble was rotted enough not to cause any trouble, on the whole we were pleased with the way the first dig went, and the majority of people seemed to feel the same, there were several reports on internet sites that reflected a good day was had by most. We would like to thank all that attended for there support, especially the Welsh contingent that travelled some 150 miles to get to the dig, we would also like to thank Rob the caterer of Fresh As You Like, Graham Dempsey and Mike Lee for there help, and of course the farmer, as with out these farmers participation there would be no digs for us as a group or individual detectorists. We look forward to seeing you at the next dig in Northamptonshire.
At the end of the day these are the finds I actually saw,
ROMAN
2 Dolphin Brooches
8 Fibula Brooches
1 Trumpet Broach
9 Roman Bronzes
MEDI
3 Short crossed hammered (Unknown monarchs)
3 Henry III Hammered
1 Henry III Cut half
2 Edward Hammered
1 Lizzie Hammered
4 Jettons
1 Heraldic Pendant
1 Decorated Spindle Whorl
1 Gilded Book Clasp/Hinge
1 Open ended thimble
1 Roman-Medieval Key
4 Other broken keys
POST MEDI
1 William III Shilling
1 Victorian Pin
Numerous Victorian milled silver
2 Cartwheel pennies
1 set of weights (Tobacco or medicine)
1 Cane top
Cranfield, Beds - 6th June 2004
Well what can I say about this dig,
firstly it was a very hot day and I hope that no one got too burnt.
As usual the caterer Rob was on site at 6.30am and we arrived shortly afterwards
at around 7am.
It was hot work setting up the site as even at 7am in the morning it was very
warm, and just a taste of how hot it was to get. I am glad that we packed the
gazebo in the caravan so as to afford us some shade.
The signs were up by 7.30am and Richard and Graham, one of our marshals, also
made sure that barrier tape was up to cordon off the scheduled area.
At around 8am the first detectorist arrived. By 9.30am we had around 30 people
there, not as many as we had hoped for due to the history of the site, but maybe
the long stubble put some off.
I must admit that these folks were very brave, it was extremely hot out there
but we were grateful that the ground had seen two days of rain on Monday and
Tuesday which made the digging easy going.
It was nice to meet the likes of Chromium and Cavi33, hoped the eyes are better
lads, the log stubble caused severe hay fever for several people. It was also
nice to see Agusta again, and the lads from Wales who made the journey.
As for finds on the day, there were countless numbers of buttons, one of the
welsh lads redjack stayed in just one pasture field and found 93 items 49 of
them were buttons, a bronze finger ring, 2 watch winders dupondi, a pewter
spoon, dagger chape, just to mention a few things. Apparently so many were
saying the buttons were some of the best they had ever seen.
There was also a groat hammereds, several roman bronzes, a medieval pendant, a
medieval ring, an eddy hammered, a horse pendant, vessica seal in lead which had
unfortunately been sliced by the plough, one of our marshals found a
hammered forgery, there were lots of nice buckles found earliest was about
1400's and one area seemed littered with William love tokens, a couple of nice
trade weights and a coin weight. Considering there was only around 30 people
in attendance, there was some real nice stuff popping up.
Oh yeah and Richard popped out and did about ten minutes on the pasture field
next to the parking area and found a commerative victorian necklace, which was a
bit different, and should clean up nice.
The farmer was well pleased with everything and is more than happy for our
return. He is in the next few weeks going to weed kill the stubble, plough and
seed it, and he has said that we are more then welcome to come back onto the
area once this has been done. There were not to many who braved the stubble
because of its length and potent hay fever content. So we intend to return there
when this stubble has been seeded.
This particular farmer has three farms in total so as yesterdays trial run was a
success there will be quite a bit of land available with him.
Thanks to all who turned out it was nice to see you all there, look forward to
seeing you next time.
Marston Moretaine, Beds - 31st October 2004
This dig in theory had lots of possibilities being surrounded by Medieval history and all the local villages getting a mention in the Doomsday book. There were two moated sites bordering the search area and the fields we were searching used to belong to the scheduled monument Moretaine Manor, these fields would have hosted the market and fair site during Medieval times. We arrived with our caravan on the Saturday afternoon to set up, it makes it far less of a rush than setting up on the Sunday morning, unfortunately the weather for the previous week had not been good and the seeded fields were going to be very sticky, so I could see that personally I would not even swing a detector, which meant I could not give any clues to where things may start turning up, however on looking at the land there were two very nice ridges running through the fields, and also on the air photograph the old field boundaries showed up a treat, and the possibility of an old road or track way running through the land had the mind racing, still we would have to wait until Sunday to see what secrets the ground would give up.
People started arriving around 8am a little earlier than usual, I think these is to have a bit of a natter around Robs burger van, with every one keen to get on the fields, we had been given 150 acres to search, but had been asked to split it into two blocks, so we allocated the land closest to the village as the first block to search. At 9.30 everyone seemed to head straight for the ridge, although some headed for the freshly ploughed out ridge and furrow that had been re drilled for fresh pasture. Within minutes people were bent over digging signals which is always a good sign. I started to wander the site without my detector, as I was able to use the set a side margins to wander on without getting too muddy, and was greeted by Gary Lumsden who had already got two hammered farthings of Edward I, next I saw a couple of crotal bells in fine condition, and were examples of fine Georgian craftsmanship, wandering on I met up with Merlin Harker, a dedicated and very methodical detectorist who is always a pleasure to talk to, he had a pouch full of buttons and bits including lots of lead, which is always a good sign that folk have been working in the area. With this I returned to the snack van for a cuppa and a bacon roll, this is always a good place to see what the ground is throwing up, when people start showing their finds. I was not to be disappointed, it seemed that hammered coinage and crotal bells seemed to be the order of the day, which backed up my research that the area had been used as a fair and market site.
There was somewhere around 35 to 40 detectorists on the site, who found 16 Hammered coins ranging from Edward I to Charles I, 25 Roman coins, including 4 denarius, 2 horse pendants, a set of cock fighting spurs, 13 crotal bells, 3 Roman brooches, 2 Victorian brooches, lots of predecimal coppers dating back to William II, numerous buckles and mounts, and of course all the shotgun caps, .22 cases, led and general farm machinery bits.
All in all this was a successful dig all round, apart from the wet conditions that are beyond our control. I would also like to thank many of you for your recording of finds with GPS and your finds liaison officer, its good to see our history being recorded.
Marston Moretaine, Beds - 14th November 2004
Well we returned to the above site, having another block of land to search, the original land was available as well, I was looking forward to a detect on this land as the conditions were far better than two weeks ago, with the top being dried out a little, yet still enough moisture to be conductive on signals. We arrived Friday evening so as to make a weekend of it, we have family in the area so it was a chance to visit on the Saturday. After visiting I had an hours detecting on the ridge that was productive on the last visit, I dug 25 signals in an hour so it was obvious we had not scratched the surface, in these finds was a broken zoomorphic buckle dating to 14th century, another Roman coin and a pot leg, so it was not just small finds that had been skipped over these were big signals.
Well Sunday morning arrived and my head had defrosted out after a very cold night in the caravan, and people were arriving being greeted by a crisp frost on the fields, numbers were about the same as the last time, we did expect them to be higher with the amount of finds found on the first visit, but then there are a lot of detectorists who believe the field has now been done, which just makes me chuckle. Well to add to the tally this visit produced another 13 hammered coins and about 20 more Roman, which included one of the best examples I have seen of a sestertsi, found by Mike Lee one of our stewards, there were also another 5 crotal bells found, the new fields also produced, and from the finds I would say there was an old Georgian/Victorian building with stables on the land at one time, there were so many building and furniture fittings showing up from this block of land. I personally would visit again, as I believe there is more history to be gleaned from this piece of land, so we will be asking for your thoughts on this one at future digs. May we thank you all for attending and making the dig a success and as always a big thanks to the land owner Mark, as with out the hospitality of these farmers we would have no digs.
We hope to see you on the next dig. R & G.
Liddlington Saturday & Sunday 21st/22nd May 2005
Well for those interested, we set up on Saturday in appaling rain and thought the weekend was to be a wash out, however this proved to be a good dig regarding finds, for some more than others of course, we also were given a drop of decent weather.
We were worried about this dig as the farmer was not able to top the weeds as he said, and there was only 30 acres in total, so the smallest amount of land we have ever offered. However we need not have worried, there was no over crowding and still plenty to go round for the 30 people that turned up.
The weather held off until about an hour before the end, and despite an odd shower it was well warm. It was nice to see people going off and digging targets almost straight away, it was not long before the first hammered appeared, although beyond identification, and then a nice piece of gold appeared in the way of what looked to be Victorian costume jewellery, this made people slow up a little and soon the benefits of this were reaped, in the way of a cracking silver thimble and a George IV shilling, finds were steady to come up most of the morning.
There was lots of talking and looking at finds going on around dinner where everyone seems to make a B line for our caravan, must be Gills bacon and egg rolls that does it. Shortly after lunch rumours of a gold coin started whirling around, I always take these with a pinch of salt until I see it or speak to someone who has, but at about 15.00 I was graced with gold in the palm of my hand in the form of a James II half Guinea, made into a love token, an awsome coin and a rare find.
As people started returning and bidding their farewells I saw a total of 7 hammered including a couple of Charles I, and a broken Mary, 4 crotal bells, one fishscale, a couple of Roman bronzes including a Ses, and a nice Roman key handle, a nice watch winder found by Cliff, a spinning fob seal, and what looked to be a very worn matrix seal, one of the last finds I saw was what looked like a silver Victorian butter knife, again a well different find.
So in all a rather pleasant day finds wise and as always nice to see friends old and new, I'm affraid Cliff did not hit the score sheet with too much as he spent most his time talking...well done Cliff a man after my own heart lol. Many thanks to all that attended Gill and I look forward to seeing you next time if you can make it.
Lavendon Saturday and Sunday 6th/7th August 2005
Well what a stoater of a dig, this site
has produced well now on 3 occasions, and all visits have not been on favourable
conditions. We arrived on Friday morning early, as the track way to the pasture
field for parking was nearly impassable, so I needed to collect some of the
limestone off the fields to fill all the deep ruts, I ended up digging a 20 foot
stretch in front of the gateway out, and the turfs I dug out I filled the 14
inch ruts with, Rev and Widget also offered their help to do this which was
gratefully accepted. This was all done by dinner and the worry of access that
had caused a couple of sleepless nights disappeared.
We set up the caravan next to Rev and Widget, then went out and put all the
direction signs out, after that we spent the afternoon chilling and chatting, we
had to sort out what had to be done for marshalling the site, as we had asked
Lee and Lyndon if they wanted a stint to get into practice for the RallyUK dig,
and they needed to be taught neck holds etc for those leaving rubbish on the
fields and leaving holes lol.
There was a slight apprehension on the Saturday morning, as we had built the
site up a little more than usual regarding finds coming out, but we need not
have worried, within half an hour there were rumours of Roman and hammered, many
people were flying about far too fast, with the first days detecting being 5
fields of a total of 90 acres. I went out with my trusty explorer, and within
minutes of being on the field I had 2 Roman bronzes, followed by a Roman sewing
needle and then 3 more Roman. I then started talking to folk and that was
me for the day lol, I saw some nice hammies,and lots of Roman, I was also
confronted by a group of 4 who were disappointed at the baron land (oh dear they
need their legs tying together).
I was back at the caravan after dinner doing my usual IDing finds and chatting
to members and guests when a gold ring was popped in my hand and what a beauty
it was, a serpent with an emerald in the back of the head. Then Saxon was popped
in my hand in the way of a wrist clasp, this was joined by a Celtic silver unit,
I saw countless Romans, some of them very grotty but some with good relief on
them, next 3 Roman brooches, and the list went on, at the end of Saturday there
had been around 100 Roman including a denarius, and a seliqua, 9 hammered, a
beehive thimble, a double swing medieval, pendant hanger, the wrist clasp, the
gold ring and numerous buckles jettons and Georgian fodder.
In the evening we had about 10 people camp over, we had a good old natter about
the day and things in general, along with mmmmmm FOOD and a little drink.
On Saturday there had been 42 people on 90 acres, we had 3 new fields for the
Sunday, so there was a total of 170 acres on the Sunday, but I gave the advice
for people to stick in the productive areas, some listened and some didn't, but
those that didn't soon returned to the better areas. Well the 35 people on
Sunday soon started to knock the Roman count up to around about 150 bronzes,
another 2 silvers came out, again in the form of a Denny and a siliqua, the
hammy count got to 14, then part of an equal ended Saxon brooch appeared.
One of the nicest finds I saw was Revs early Roman brooch he got on the Sunday,
this was the nicest because Rev worked in an area about 10 meters square all
morning stomped over by every one and he pulled it from a footprint, always nice
to see people winkle finds from a well done area.
It was a great weekend socially and for finds, there were a couple who actually
turned up on the Sunday and told me they had been rung by a friend to say stay
away, as there was nothing their apart from a couple of Roman grots, hope this
guy turns his tector on next time, it may help him, there was obviously as
always some who went home with just old dross, but hey thats detecting as most
of you know.
Many thanks once again to all who attended for travelling and for your support.