concrete

[david995]

was out on a new site this am  (until the rain got the better of me) ,

 i was getting strong varied signals from what turned out to be a form of concrete,  deep and lots of it ..

 its next to a francyscan monestary,  the concrete could be modern ish though doubtful as there are no buildings there on the tithe maps or more modern os plans   
if modern the signal would be perhaps the re-enforcing but  i dont think so as i dug some smaller bits up and does not have any ,

 the signals vary piece by piece wondering what if anything is under this stuff ,its not a slab its big smooth pieces spread about  did they cover graves or anything in times past with concrete and why does it give a signal   

 so will dig one up on a better day

looking on google concrete can go back several thousand years

will have another go tomorrow

[Napoleon]

Under the  concrete maybe loads of burried goodies

[Dale]

David any reinforcing would be steal for strength, you also get fibre concrete but that's also steal it wouldn't give a good signal, try and have a look at the aggregates used that should help with dating, it may of been a modern floor slab with a copper/lead water pipe running through (all broken up = lots of signals)? it may have been dumped to fill a low spot in the field you know what the farmers are like Iv done it a few times working for them.  

[Dale]

I said about the Aggregates but thinking of it more now, years ago they used furnace slag in the concrete, we call it doboy concrete it rubbish horrible stuff you track on it with a 360 and it turns to dust no good for recycling, im ripping out foundations now made of it, iv never tried but im guessing it would give a signal?   

[david995]

Hi dale,   yes i know what steel re enforcing is its not that and its not got pipes running through it

 its the concrete its self thats giving  the signals there are black bits in the concrete  

 its an interesting site found an edward 1st and a henry viii  coin there yesterday long gap in age

  there is so much lead also in the surrounding ground i get a lead signal every sweep  which i will have to dig at some point as we know lead if big pieces  has the same signals as  gold and if small the same as hammered coins

[Dale]

Hi dale,   yes i know what steel re enforcing is its not that and its not got pipes running through it

 its the concrete its self thats giving  the signals there are black bits in the concrete  

 its an interesting site found an edward 1st and a henry viii  coin there yesterday long gap in age

  there is so much lead also in the surrounding ground i get a lead signal every sweep  which i will have to dig at some point as we know lead if big pieces  has the same signals as  gold and if small the same as hammered coins

It sounds like that furnace slag concrete with the black bits.

[david995]

yes could be dale , though cant see any evidence of buildings on any maps  ,

as i say there is lead old everywhere so must of been some workings going on as well as the monestery ther is a 12 c  castle and a DMV all within a few hundred  yards  so could be anything here realy

[Dale]

yes could be dale , though cant see any evidence of buildings on any maps  ,

as i say there is lead old everywhere so must of been some workings going on as well as the monestery ther is a 12 c  castle and a DMV all within a few hundred  yards  so could be anything here realy

It sounds interesting, and seems to have a good age to it

[galoshers]

lime mortar is a giveaway with pebbles to pad it out .
modern concrete is easy to ID

[digitup]

Iv found some thing similar about two foot deep all concrete dug down the sides of the concrete its about 8 inch thick the concrete dont look modern and in a massive field .i notice your from n.wales dave have u found my patch lol

[david995]

Hi no i doubt it,  this is on a very private estate never been detected before ( well i guess it may of been night hawked )  did you ever dig a piece up to see if anything under ?  i ve had the odd lump come loose so have that ,  the strange thing is the different lumps give different signals when a bit dryier i'm going to dig a couple up

[Chef Geoff]

Are you getting the signals with your Explorer?
A couple of things you've got to rule out when finding concrete floors in remote places which are all to do with the practicalities of farming in the 19th and early 20th centuries when farms were getting much larger than they had ever been before but mechanised farming was still relatively a thing of the future.
On large farms it was impractical to bring cattle back to the farm to be milked twice a day so ever since medieval times "cow houses" were built at different points around farms, many of the random stone barns you see in the middle of fields today, these gave way to the "Bail" which were just concrete plinths in fields which were visited twice daily by a mobile milking machine the other thing is a clamp to hold silage as once again it wasn't practical to travel to every field, or cow house, every day through the winter with feed so satellite clamps were set up.
While concrete is as you say ancient in origin after the Romans left Britain it doesn't reappear until the late 18th century.

[david995]

Hi geof   yes with the explorer some lumps give different signals

As i said in earlier in the thread there has not been a building there in living memory and the 1841 os plans don't show any and the earlier  tithe maps dont either
 im a property developer by trade so know a bit about concrete and its not modern , and does n't have barring in it 

 it its proberbly nothing but interesting all the same

will dig under some when dry   there was a 6th century coffin  found about 50'  from this area but that was lead and the franciscan monestery/priory has a grave yard again within 50'