DetectingWales.com Rally Number Five - Bassaleg

[proconsul]

Once again our backhander to the Met Office paid off and they laid on some brilliant weather for our rally at Bassaleg near Newport. About 55 people turned up at the farm that combined a large tranquil lake complete with islands and rolling pasture fields to provide a lovely setting for the rally. The area had a strong historical pedigree with occupation going back to Roman times and beyond and a large hoard of Roman silver coins having been found in the adjoining farm.

 Plenty of fields were available although the grass in some of them was too long to allow detecting. As soon as the pep talk had been completed most members headed for the most likely looking field, a large slope that bordered the lane that we had been told had started life as a Roman road. As it happened this proved the right decision as this field turned out to be the most productive field on the site.

Dodging the field’s sheepish occupants, members fanned out over the pasture and the finds started to appear. Shunngav’s first signal turned up a very nice James I sixpence. The head side is a little worn but the shield on the obverse is really sharp. A cracking find to start the day.

The top of the hill near the road produced a couple of nice Roman coins for Bluebell a large first or second century sestertius that was quite worn and corroded and a smaller fourth century coin in better condition and which should be identifiable.

Colleggwent, struggling up the hill with a bad back, stopped to rest and, waggling his detector around the area, found a superb gold and diamond ring (modern). Destined, he tells me, for his daughter.

Still on the same field, one of the Llanelli crowd, 16:DD hit silver with a nice Edward IV (probably) penny. Heavily clipped but with a lovely portrait. There were rumours, later in the day, that one of the hammered finders had lost his coin. By a process of elimination I think this must have been 16:DD. A shame if this is true.

One of our other members turned up another (probably) Edward IV penny but had to leave the rally early. Unfortunately I can’t remember his username. Apologies to him.

Although missing out on the silver, Soft Top came up with some interesting items including a William III penny and an unidentified item, possibly some kind of mount, which displayed and moulded head complete with hat. At first glance this looks like a top hat but closer inspection reveals stripy detailing on it that suggests possibly Tudor headgear. The artifact is made of bronze but has traces of gilding.

Millsy dug up another unidentified object. Looking at first like just a blob of lead, it has some kind of unusual moulding. Another one for the Doc to identify…

One improvement on the Rooksbridge rally was that whereas at Rooksbridge members had a view of the dung heaps to look at whilst eating their sandwiches, at Bassaleg they had a view of the lake, complete with swans and geese.

Several intrepid members, having checked with Millsy, ventured out to detect on the islands in the middle of the lake but decided to curtail their activities when they spotted the custodian of the fishing lodge giving them disapproving glances.

As usual at our rallies some members spent more time talking than detecting and this tendency was exacerbated by the sunny weather and the beautiful views so at times little groups of members could be seen laying around on the hillside sunning themselves and chatting. But there are worse ways to spend a Saturday afternoon…

Thanks to Millsy for finding the land for us and liaising with the farmer and thanks to Neil for his help with some of the organisation.

Geoff

[proconsul]

More pics:

[DIGGA]

couldent agree more  a fantastic day  with  a lovely view  and some nice finds  too

[viking]

nice hammys and a nice ring

[Tafflaff (Rob)]

well done folks, great venue, great finds, as always , the best company. gutted i could not be there.... well done geoff  as always for keeping it together, millsy for the land, and Neil for his solid support.

[bymatt666 (byron)]

some pics of the day......byron

[The Doc]

Nice report Geoff. That hammered penny is an interesting coin - shame if it's the one that got lost. It doesn't quite fit with anything I can find - it's either Henry VI or Edward IV, but there isn't one that matches all the details. There appears to be a W on the reverse, so it could be an Edward IV Irish penny of Waterford mint. It also could be a contemporary forgery, although the silver looked pretty good.

[Bob]

Congrats on another great rally guys, I'm only sorry I couldn't make it at he last moment. We ended up baby-sitting all day Sat so it was impossible for me to leave wifey withe the two ankle-biters, oh well, perhaps next time.

Cheers,
Bob

[coleggwent(phil)]

what a day nice to meet some nice guys at long last i meet ian (gadget) been trying to meet him for some time and his butty (kane) did injoy it untill about 12ish when it was to soar to bend to dig so when back to car for a bite to eat and bumped in to my old mates kev(casa-dos) and adie(digit) we had a good chat allways a pleasure to talk to these pair hope to get the back right for the next one thanks rich 16dd for the advice on back mate it did help a bit one last thing did miss my mucker the fox didnot seem right without him there  

[DATA311(Alan)]

It was a cracking day even tho I did not find anything of interest and congrats to those who made the arrangements for the rally, lets hope that you can arrange that kind of weather on all the future rallies........

[hedgehog]

Great report Geoff, like the finds , hope the interesting one wasn't lost Peter as usual can't see what you see. Love it that the gold rings come up at the rallies.

[waltonbasinman]

Well done team on another great rally. Gutted I missed it but next time for sure. As usual Geoff pre booked the weather for you all and though the finds were a little thin, you all got a days detecting in a great location. As I have seen on other threads some of you made some new friends and put names to faces. Well done Millsy for the land and heres to Bassaleg 2.

[sodbuster]

Great report Geoff , I almost feel as if I was there with you all . Thanks for the pictures also , its great to what was found .

[outlaw]

sounds like you all had a great rally, wished work hadnt stopped me coming.

[silverhand]

sounds  like a good day was had by all nice one to the troop that organized it  fingers crossed for the next one be on a sunday so i can come and put a few names to faces nice hammys as well