A question for you all

[Techony]

Definitely sounds good to me. At NARC, we've got plenty experience digging through spoil heaps looking for hob-nails.

You'll need to think about helping everyone to take their machines off discriminate though. I'm sure there'll be plenty who don't  know how to do it.

...Count me in

[waltonbasinman]

Thankyou Chef for highlighting points I would like to bring up. My first thought is now this has been suggested in open forum the feeling that someone else might jump in first which is why I have already moved to ask the local archaeology  unit for their thoughts and will be contacting the FLO tomorrow ( WEDS ). The landowner is OK. But then things like if it turns out to be a battle site would we need police or specialists on site or standby if bodies are found and would we have to pay for their time. Chef would it be possible to obtain a list of all parties who you think should be involved as you have experience of this. I would gladly organise this but will also gladly listen to some of you more experienced people on different aspects of putting a project together. If we are going to do this lets do it right and give Detecting  and more especially Detecting Wales a good name. I will update you all periodically on progress but hope to achieve this sooner rather than later. Thanks for the interest and encouragement all and I feel it is a really good way of giving Detecting a good name and as Alan ( Handyman ) has shown with his Naseby map what a valuable tool a detector can be with right minded people.

[Tafflaff (Rob)]

Yip well done Paul on that move. So far every good idea thats been banded around on here has appeared on another site....lol  " You know the saying ..Standing on the shoulders of giants!"...

[Chef Geoff]

No problem Paul, I'm here if needed. Because you can't actually name the battle or say from which period then I don't think we need any specialists of any type because it is at present only "local legend".
The attendance of an FLO isn't really needed as it is more of a job for the county Archaeologist, but if one wanted to attend then that may speed up authentication of a battle site, should you be lucky enough to find something.
The chances of finding bodies is I would say Pretty slim, If you think that from the Battle of Towton (28,000 killed) the first bodies weren't recovered until 1996. So the police could be called if and when, you just tape it off and get on with something else.
It may also take two visits to survey properly, the technique I described previously is when working on a Battle site, but first you need to find the battle site. So I would suggest first a day long visit by a dozen or so to try and find it then when you have made three finds of arrowheads or the like, stop and plan the full survey.
After locating the battlefield then the next step is to find its orientation, finding a line of arrows reduces this to just Two directions and then it's just a matter of locating the other sides battle line.
This in itself can date from which period the battle is from, e.g. the Saxon bow would fire up to 150 yards whereas the medieval longbow could fire up to 300 yards.

[waltonbasinman]

Found out a bit more today and the site is definitely a medieval battle site. Two different contemporary sources give a death toll of over 3000 people and both sources name the River as well. A site visit today to get a general overview revealed unrecorded earth works of unknown date that are not recorded which was a plus. Also studied some old maps and the SMR and each end of the River valley is guarded by a Motte and Bailey Castle besides the main castle site in the village. Three castles in the same valley just a small distance apart and when you see the area you will understand the valley is the only route through the area without being in wet smelly boggy ground and I think it also limits  the area where a battle could take place. 10,000 people are known to have been involved and that many people would be limited in manoeuvrability. Also realised today that there are at least 15 barrows along the sides of the valley that are recorded and I think we would find Bronze Age metalwork in the area as well. Near the one Castle site are two very large obviously man made mounds. Actually much bigger than the castle. Local tradition tells that they are the burials of Romans caught on manoeuvres by Caractacus. There is no other evidence other than local hearsay but the Romans are known to have been mining on the hill above. I do wonder if this is perhaps the burial site for the dead at the battle and through the mists of time these have become confused with each other. Anyway I will keep you posted.

[Terra (Mike)]

Very interesting Paul , this just whets the appetite even more , lets hope this project can get organised properly, as i said if i can help in obtaining items required , just let me know and i'll get on with it ,,,, i'll organise some road pins ,and cordone tape as they might come in handy anyway.
                                                                                                                Mike

[Radnor Bandit (Ian)]

I enjoy doing surveys ..Please count me in

[Stred (Steve)]

Paul, count me in on this mate.