Detectingwales Rally 32 - In the Shadow Of The Tor!

[Neil]

In the shadow of the Tor in deepest, sunniest Glastonbury was the location for the 32nd Detecting Wales rally! Who am I trying to kid though, there was no shadow to be found anywhere on what was by far the hottest rally we have held to date.

The location was 55 acres of freshly cut grass on a sprawling 450 acre farm that is importantly "Undetected". As usual the farm is a DW farm and any uninvited returners will be executed at dawn - we all know the rules regarding this - as does the farmer.

The good news was that after we met with the farmer he was more than happy to have future rallies on other fields as long as we looked after the land. As a rule the vast majority of clods were put back perfectly. Well done everyone.

Following a quick get together and a bit of a warning to take on fluids, wear sun cream and avoid the Beef Steaks, we had an excellent overview of the history of the area from Chef. As a local to the area Chef's historical overview was spot on, and I am sure like all the members we thank him for that.

Onto the fields and I had barely had time to pick up my detector when Padfoot was calling me to the fence with a cracking condition 1773 penny in his hand. It was a great early omen as it looked like the soil would be kind to the finds.

Padfoots glory was quickly upstaged by Bobkoi in stunning fashion as a few feet away he pulled up a hammered shilling of Charles 1st! It was to be the first of many hammered coins to be prised from their earthly grasp this day. Well done Bob - a lovely coin.

The next find of note came from our youngest DW member at just 16 and was his first hammered coin ever. Step forward Scrappy who found a cracking Edward penny that looks like it was lost the day it was minted. Over the Moon for you mate - may it be the first of a lifetime of hammered coinage. Just keep your dads paws off it.

Near to scrappy I found a 1937 two Shilling - only 50/50 silver - but I'll take that.

Rumours abounded of an Iron Age bronze gouge appearing and it rightly did in the hands of Hipster. Its a tad different to the other three that have turned up on DW Rallies as I think the socketed part has broken off. A great find and amazing that so far on DW rallies FOUR have turned up to date. They are rarer than palstaves, so its a great find to have made.

News reached me that long standing DW member Nobby had broken his hammered virginity as well and he had indeed done so with a Lizzy sixpence - well done that man.

Another person to join in the "sixpence finding" was Jonathan Talbot who always does well on our rallies, and was now the owner of a Lizzy Sixpence.

One of the nicest hammered coins to turn up was a short cross penny of John 1200-1204 moneyer Sivene on Lon {Steven of London} - got a bit of a bend in it, but should straighten easily - just take your time with it.

I bumped into John Parkin and his good lady Jilly in the furthest field, where Jilly was comfortably teaching John a detecting lesson or two by so far having found a pewter stock from a toy gun, a Lizzy hammered penny and then bizzarely a Vicky Jubilee head sixpence that had been engraved on the back. Thats three engraved coins in three weeks that have turned up on the DW forum - they are like buses!

It was my turn to make a find now and anyone who knows me is aware that I have a love for buckles over any other finds I make and this one was to be a rather special one.

The signal was nice and sharp in both directions - digging down I could see blue flecks all over the soil. In the middle of it was the strangest buckle I have ever found. I hot footed it back to Laura - the Finds Liason Officer who had joined us for the day. I literally had it only covered in the soil and in a clear bag and she said "I now exactly what that is". She then promptly opened Whiteheads book on Buckles to the exact spot and showed me a carbon copy of my buckle. It transpired to be 1400's and its most likely use was to secure armour! I have never found anything to do with a suit of armour! Laura commented that she had only seen three to date and duly recorded and photographed it. I was over the moon to say the least - more details on Page 77 of the book.

Back in the field and Johnius Maximus (who with many others had travelled down from Birmingham} has a buckle of his own with unusually a makers mark on the reverse. Its a Sub Rectangular shoe buckle of 1690 - 1720 - which was exactly what Avalon had guessed it was. Great in the field dating Steve.

Finds were coming in all over the place, so to keep this brief I'll sum up for the day with a hammered count of 12, Romans 3, a ringing crotal bell for Doc, numerous pot legs, nice livery buttons and the numerous copper coinage, musket balls, bucles and bits and bobs we always find.

I managed to tae over 130 photos on the day and the FLO recorded 29 finds of historical interest.

My thanks go to Laura The FLO, Chef for speaking to the farmer, TaffLaff for finding the farm and helping to run the day, The Stewards for their sterling job, and of course you lot for making the day memorable.

Until our next Rally - which is only 6 days away take care and keep swinging!

Cheers
Neil

[Neil]

More

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Get comfy

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Again

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Loads more to come

[Neil]

Still going

[Neil]

More of the same

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Again

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Lots more

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Still going . . .

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More!

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Again

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Almost at the end

[Neil]

feel free to add your own photos to this post.

I know I missed a lovely Groat and numerous milled silver coins I heard of, but never found the owners.

Sorry this report is a tad late as I normally do them within hours of the rally ending. We had guests though for Sunday lunch and after a few wines I promptly fell asleep!

[rjm]

I had a pile of coins, buckles, weights, etc but no hammered today.

Great scenery and day out and really enjoyed it.

Thanks to all.