Detectingwales.com Rally 61 - "It all went a bit Frank Spencer!"

[ysbytymike]

ok todays rally was a bit disapointing finds wise and iv read a few negative replies , everyone forgets the good rallies , penmark gilstonx3 etc etc when 20+ hammies loads of roman were found , you pays your money you takes your chance , dont knock it guys , we all have bad days and good days , just remember who does all the hard work sorting out the venues for us to detect on , they dont have a magic wand and work with the information at hand so dont knock them thank them for their efforts  

Mike, It these comments were made toward my post, I quite clearly state that the organisers were not to blame but farmers in general these days becoming more aware of the popularity of the hobby and perhaps giving the impression that the land their offering is something special just to get the business. I also make it clear that sites that have this type of history will have attracted searching since the technology was developed. I know how difficult it is to find land and all the sometimes thankless hours involved. The point I'm trying to get across, is all these well known and documented sites (unless you have a very 'anti' detecting farmer) will have been detected to death.

The team on DW who manage to get rallies going are doing a brill job, there is no doubting that and were all grateful for their effort. Its nice to have a day out and meet people but, there were people driving away before lunch having had enough. If you want to meet on a social basis that's fine, but these are detecting rallies and some people are traveling long distances and paying good money to be there.  There are no favors here. Its a business transaction.
The examples mentioned by Mike are actually good example of what I'm getting at. Normal farms in a good area, so the fields have not attracted the popularity that high
profile sites will have. Consequently, the land has a greater chance of still retaining its integrity as far as containing history goes.
I do have a farm that I know has never been detected and there are signals everywhere. Mostly junk / broken bits and pieces of brass and non ferrous metal but still great
fun to dig as its what its all about 'Not knowing' and researching afterward.

[Little_bro]

The organisers did a brilliant job and if it wasn't for their hard efforts then they wouldn't be any rallies. The only down side to the rallie was people not keeping to the instructions of the organisers and going into other neighbouring farmers fields.

There was one new lad on the dig from Devon who found a either a queen Mary shilling or Lizzy and a  roman  coin  which look like a Antoninus Pius  coin.

[glynkid]

I have nothing but admiration for the organisers of rallies Its a very difficult job to organise for so many people and even I and Ian and Pter only attended our first one at Hereford we were impressed by the way it went  full marks to the organisers
People will go off into fields which they are not supposed to be on Ive seen it done on other rallies
On one farm I went to a couple of years ago   a few of my mates were on a field across from a field where unknown to us untill we started a rally was being held on a nearby farm and of course   people soon came onto our field thinking it was also a rally field  luckilly one of the marsalls came over we explained to him that it was our site and he managed to tell the rally people to return to their site

Once  again thanks to the organisers and a job well done

[carling]

i just got to say i didnt atttend the rally but why are some people moaning beacuse of lack of finds,, you people decided to go on the rally, knowbody forced you to go ,, you did have the postcode for the rally didnt you ,, did you not take the time to do a little bit of research before definateley deciding to go,, when dw 1st posted on here there was a rally at wookey near a norman castle  within 10 mins i found out it was on a floodplain and finds would be scarce, hence i didnt bother going,, loads of guys on here with masses of detecting experiance and bang on about how good they are ,, well sorry if you cant determine between a good and bad site then get to the back of the class,,,,,,,i think you should just be gratefull you had somewhere new to go and had chance to mingle with fellow tectorists,,after all most of us say it isnt about  the finds but just the chance to get out .

[relichunting]

Yes carling you pay your money and take your chances.

I did research the area  and not could find no mention of a Norman castle or a flood plain 

35 years in the hobby so i am going to the back of the class

So how you found this out within 10 minutes without even knowing the exact location is amazing.

Shame you didn't think to tell people it was a flood plain before the rally 

Shout

March 24, 2013, 05:15:36 PM - carling - floodplain in the freezing cold..glad i stayed at home lol

[Tafflaff (Rob)]

Guys Rooksbridge was on a floodplain and over the course of 3 visits over 100 hammered coins were found. We'd helped find a DMV so the whole flood plain theory with me does not wash.

The floodplains around Feeley Castle are 5 metres in elevation, the lowest point of our fields were 8 metres in elevation and the pasture hills obviously far higher. There is obviously a reason for us not finding much but I'm dammed if I can work it out.

In support of the farmers insistence that nobody has been on the fields. One of our members was approached by a local, asking if detecting on the fields was legal as she'd never in 40 years seen anyone detecting there. Also again why I think the farmer is a straight guy - he has 130 acres out towards Glastonbury which he says we are welcome to go on but in his own words he said "I would not bother as its all flood plain"  He could have easily let us hold a rally there and pocket the fee but he didnt.

[DEADLOCK]

As long as im swingin the coil im happy

[keepmateethinajar]

it was celtic spikey who first went in to field off limits...I told him not to......

[WeCan-Octavian]

Guys Rooksbridge was on a floodplain and over the course of 3 visits over 100 hammered coins were found. We'd helped find a DMV so the whole flood plain theory with me does not wash.

The floodplains around Feeley Castle are 5 metres in elevation, the lowest point of our fields were 8 metres in elevation and the pasture hills obviously far higher. There is obviously a reason for us not finding much but I'm dammed if I can work it out.

In support of the farmers insistence that nobody has been on the fields. One of our members was approached by a local, asking if detecting on the fields was legal as she'd never in 40 years seen anyone detecting there. Also again why I think the farmer is a straight guy - he has 130 acres out towards Glastonbury which he says we are welcome to go on but in his own words he said "I would not bother as its all flood plain"  He could have easily let us hold a rally there and pocket the fee but he didnt.

Id be happy to go on that flood plain !!!!!!!

[relichunting]

130 acres at Glastonbury i would be happy to go on that fllod plain as well 

[carling]

hey relic hunter youve just proven a point .. put in norman castle in wookey in wikipedia , there is only 1 mentioned duh?,,,next look at farm whos land is near norman castle{it is on google earth} get postcode,, then get enviromental agency site for area,, does that take 10 mins? ok maybe a little less..
why on earth would i tell everybody before rally that i thinks the sites going to be quiet { i did tell a couple} but in my experiance people will go to a rally whatever someone tells them,,, as said you pay your money and take your choice,,,,have included flood plain map for those that couldent find it ,,,

[relichunting]

put in norman castle in wookey in wikipedia

Still can not find no mention of it ?

Anyway i do not think the lack of finds were down to it been a flood plain

It was just unfortunate the fields were littered with farm rubbish and foil,so i doubt they had being detected on before.

[Chef Geoff]

If we only detected certainties then we wouldn't be detecting anywhere as much as we can. Yesterday I picked up numerous pieces of flint fragments that have been on site for over 3000 years, so the idea of flood plains being automatically void goes out of the window.
I personally think the site had the "feel" of a previously detected site, but we have to take the farmers word on these things and I have had many experiences where the story changes from never detected to "well there was an old guy who used to come here about 20 years ago".

[relichunting]

I just got permission for a few hundred acres today,not researched the land at all,sometimes you just got to get what you can around here.

The farmer told me he has one chap that comes detecting that he has seen 3 times

He also told me he never finds anything,it wont put me off 

[Zeus (Joel)]

Wouldn't put me off either