I joined Mooseknuckle, Jaydogg, Johnny or as I like to call him JohnnyLoveToken mid morning for a few hours detecting at a site full of Roman pedigree.
Unfortunately for us the site full of Roman pedigree was also full of cows and calfs! Conservative estimates had it at 300. Now I am not worried by the odd cow, but those numbers were a bit on top for me. Especially as my only venture into the edge of the field resulted in snorting and foot stamping followed by the beef steaks ganging up!
So, we decided to forget about the "Roman Field" and have a wander around the rest of the pastures on this sprawling farm. The first few finds to both of us were numerous bits of WWII shrapnal (some with the altitude dials} - Johnny explained that the farm had been bombed by Ze Germans in the War aiming for a nearby transport network - he mentioned it once, but I think we got away with it.
The next finds to both of us were Georgian in the form of a Soho Penny and a halfpenny. We were still finding numerous bits of shrapnal and those wonderful bits of silver foil, when I got a bit of an iffy signal and about 10 inches down on its side was a cracking two piece copper alloy shoe buckle. Theres one the same in Ross Whiteheads book and it dates to 1660-1720, which coincidentally is what we guessed at. As you can imagine as I have a bit of a thing for buckles I was well happy - as usal though its all a bit bitter sweet as the chape is broken on the back.
That was about the only find of note for the day, apart from Johnny's "fun fair ring" which would have been a cracker had it been full silver rather than copper and plated. He also had a nice livery button and a Cartwheel penny that needs tidying up. We both had the usual buttons, musket balls, and coppers.
I am sure there is more to turn up at this farm and once the cows are made into burgers, the Romans will present themselves.
Thanks to Johnny for the great company and the invite - until next time mate.
Neil
