Detecting Wales Rally 76 - Heat and Hard Going

[proconsul]

The long-awaited Garway rally finally arrived and we could see straight away that the day was set to be a scorcher. The ground had been baked pretty hard by the fine weather of previous weeks and whilst this meant a firm surface for parking on in the field it did make digging finds a bit hard going and made it hard for our detectors to penetrate to the deeper targets.

Despite this, members managed a fine selection of finds ranging from Republican Roman to Victorian and beyond.

The land available to detect on was one very large fifty-acre field so we didn’t have to worry about getting through (or over) five-bar gates. The land was in weathered stubble which wasn’t too hard to push a detector through.

Some good finds had been made in the surrounding area so we were hopeful for this land to be equally productive. The locality had been owned by the Templars during medieval times and there were still traces of them to be found particularly in the local church and its environs.

After the usual brief gathering to let members know where they could detect and to remind them to fill in their holes, the hoarde of detectorists was let loose on the land. The first find to make its appearance would be considered by many to be the best find of the day - a beautiful hammered silver shilling of Charles I found by Maggot. This has a really fine portrait and had many of us drooling over it.

Nonker was next to come to our attention with a really interesting medieval buckle with a crowned head at one end. This has been tentatively identified by Rob as being made in the 13th- 14th century. The medieval theme was continued by Nobby who had a nice medieval spoon.

Db4 was up next with a thimble, a heart shaped horse mount and an inscribed weight. Then Earth24 showed us her collection of finds which included our second hammered of the day – a really nice Henry VIII – plus two hammered tokens from the seventeenth century.

Rooky Pair had a sixpence and Roman coin and Antiqueboy added to the Roman total with a Roman brooch. Another part of a Roman brooch was found by Cable together with a silver bird brooch of later date.

Towards the end of the day Cable came up with another contender for find of the day – a Roman Republican Denarius of Mark Anthony, minted for the sixth legion during the Roman civil war and in excellent condition.

Altogether it was a lovely day to be out in the fields and although the hot weather made detecting more difficult, the company was good and some nice finds were made. Thanks to Rob for finding the land.

Geoff

[proconsul]

More pics...

[proconsul]

More pics...

[Neil]

Great report Geoff, and some decent finds - sounds like a good day was had by all.

Gutted I couldn't make it.

Now get some aftersun on!

Cheers
Neil

[Val Beechey]

Well reported Geoff.  Some really good finds and I have to say how nice to see the Ladies did so well.

Fantastic Mark Anthony coin. They don't often come up in that good condition.  Well done every one for detecting in that heat.

Val

[missmaggs]

Had a great day out today. Although didn't find anything special. I did have a good laugh with some of the members.    Well done to those who found the items shown.

[nonker10]

nice one mate well enjoyed my time with everyone thanks.

[Chef Geoff]

A nice write up Geoff for a lovely day out which I think all enjoyed, finds were a bit thin but given the dry conditions it's not surprising but what did come up was in stunning condition, my favourite of finds are 17thC tradesmen's farthings so it was nice to see the two the Earth24 pulled up, after explaining what they were used for and how they were more than likely local  I now have to eat my words as it's not local at all in fact further south than me her 1668 token was actually issued in Yeovil as;

http://www.yeovilhistory.info/tokens.htm

[Doug]

Thank you once again to the organisers of this rally and the members of DW for making both Mrs Turner and myself most welcome.

[legio11augustus]

had great fun , few worn brass coins, bits of shoebuckle,etc for me . Nice finds ladies and gents . The silvers are  beautys

[jojo]

Hi everyone, my hubby found the silver tube which is the 18th picture down, theres an inscription at the bottom which reads "no frend to fayth". Any ideas?

[Dale]

Hi everyone, my hubby found the silver tube which is the 18th picture down, theres an inscription at the bottom which reads "no frend to fayth". Any ideas?

I just counted that pic down lol it looks very interesting, iv seen a medieval thimble with the same sort of design on found in Ashton Court, im thinking its a open top thimble...... some more pics would be nice,   

[Dale]

jojo something like this, its looking like 17th century, top find

[jcb (THE THIMBLE) jones]

cracking report geoff , had  a good day with good company , cheers wayno for the help with my detector , thanks to all the team at dw for a great day

[jojo]

Thanks Dale, it looks quite similar.