Not far from me is an iron age fort, out of bounds of course. Its well picked out and flattened but i steer clear in case anyone decides im not wanted. Downslope from the fort is public woodland (wahey!). Going through the woods are several deep track marks, a boundary wall, now collapsed, encloses most of the woods. Ive been through the woods, well off the beaten path, every so often theres a campfire, recently made i expect. Theres also several sets of stones, nowhere near the beaten track and well overgrown. The stones arent in piles, just random scatters, no particular shape, almost like knocking a dry stone wall over and raking the remains.There are numerous trees i noticed that have undergone coppicing, so i figure detecting under those is the oldest part of the woods. Theres also clearing where there was a farm in the 50's but after walking over 3 miles with my detector in hand on Saturday, I couldnt locate it. Given the above, would people tend to detect near the stones in the middle of nowhere, or just off the footpath?
A Modern Day Hoarde!
Or at least the contents of someones pocket:
5 x 1p
4 x 2p
4 x 5p
4 x 20p
3 x 50p
All within 2 metres of each other. As usual, middle of woods, middle of nowhere, well off the beaten track. About 20m from a campfire spot. Strangely nothing else near the camp apart
from a shotgun shell. On the way back to the car, i also got 2 objects that are probably scrap, 1 moshed up foil thing and a small but interesting "something that looks like
a mini gold bar", but made from steel and only 1" long.
Woods Again (you see a trend?)
Found a bullet, ha-penny, six penny, thrupennybit, rusted penknife, brooch (dunno age but valueless I think), two compasses (the kind you use to draw circles), 2p, length of pipe, 2 x lumps of iron, a mini horseshoe the size of your thumbnail, a couple of ball bearings the size of marbles, an ornate fork I think may be silver, the rim of a metal plate and one find I left there - a complete barbecue set, still full of charcoal with grill and on legs in the middle of nowhere. I used to think nothing could suprise me anymore after finding a washing
machine in a clearing in woods in Chesterfield, nowhere near a path or road or anything, im talking 2 miles to nearest house, just standing there upright and complete. Now every week Im suprised by where I find stuff, ie the fork I mentioned above, I was on my knees under heavy tree growth and thick foilage, totally unsuitable for people, Even I shouldnt have been there (got a few cuts to show for it).
Found out theres a roman road running through my village, and a supposed roman camp at the top of the woods. If you could see it now however someone decided to build a school over it and surround it with pensioner houses. Ive scanned the area around the houses but theres so much crud its really not possible. I need to find a nice site in some woods in the middle of nowhere, somewhere not many people go. You know, I drove 52 miles on Saturday with my detector in the back, I just wanted somewhere different to go. You know what I found. Bugger all. The places are all either too overgrown, nowhere to park, old opencast coal sites, or you have to leave the car in some dodgy car park full of burnt out cars which im not about to do. Gripe, gripe, moan, maon, Still, thats how I found my last place, just driving around and looking.
Treating myself this month, just got a new detector battery, also getting a 15" WOT coil and for an extra fiver a detector bag to carry my stuff in. Top bloke.
