W&ET Featured Monthly Article Vol. 34 October 2000

Feature

Vol. 34 - Oct. 2000

Time Travel Treasures
By John J. Rebman

A medieval village, Norfolk, England - September 24, 1282 A.D.

"It's a bit warm for September," thought Michael as he trudged up the path toward the stone church bell tower which loomed over the nearby oak trees. He could feel his woolen tunic clinging to his back due to the perspiration. No matter... sweat never bothered him much, as he was used to hard labor. "Humid, too." Steady rains over the last couple days had seen to that. The midday sun was trying its best to dry out the countryside, but the fields were still quite soft, and the mud on the trackway made the going more challenging than usual. Four filthy paws were prancing in Michael's path. They belonged to his dog Barkley, a spry 3-year-old whippet who rarely let his master out of sight.

Author John Rebman is geared up and ready for the day's hunt on Discovery Tours. The present day village is in the background but the medieval village site is all that plus the surrounding fields.

"Do you think we could make a sheepdog out of you, Barkley?" The candid canine stopped and stared up at his master for several seconds, ears pricked at the sound of his name. "Wool. That's where the money is. We'll buy ourselves a few sheep today, and before too long we'll have a whole flock!" If a dog could shrug its shoulders, the whippet would have done so. He had been used to having other animals around, especially large bovine ones. Michael was a modestly successful cattleman and was looking to diversify his holdings. He had just sold off several animals at market the week before, a testament to which was the brown leather pouch swollen with hammered silver coins hanging from his rawhide belt. The weight of the coins made the purse swing to and fro with each stride he took.

What a view! A medieval church looms in the distance with acres of detectable land available. Members of the tour are working feverishly in anticipation of that next signal.

The pair continued to make their way along the trackway, which curved along the edge of a field framed by an ancient hedgerow adjacent to the church. Scattered throughout the field were, by Michael's best estimate, over 100 Blackface sheep, all happily munching away at their green buffet. Standing off the path in the corner of the field, Michael spied a familiar figure through a break in the hedgerow.

This ornate looking piece of metal is a 17th century book clasp.

"John!... John Shepherd!" he called and waved. The man turned and raised his hand in acknowledgment. As Michael and his companion approached within several feet of the sheep tender, he said, "Good morrow to you, sir!"
"Good morrow," came the reply.
"I'm here for that bit of business we discussed prior. I would like to purchase several of your fine sheep," Michael said.

Friend and tour member, Dennis Crisp, investigates a signal amongst the stubble.

John smiled in amusement. "And just what do you know about sheep then, eh?"
"I know that raw wool is commanding a handsome sum as of late. Saw that during the last fair, I did," Michael returned.
"And what else?" John queried.
"Um...," Michael thought for a moment. "Well, I didn't know everything about cattle five years ago but I would say I have done well for myself. I know a little bit about sheep- not as much as yourself, of course."

A museum quality example of a 15th century "beehive" thimble, it is thickly cast in bronze and all the indentations were made by hand.

"Of course." John agreed. "Well, if it's sheep you're looking for, I could only spare a half dozen or so. Say, perhaps five ewes and a ram?"
"Six, then? That's a start, I suppose," Michael said. "How much for the lot?"

A selection of crotal bells found during the tour.

A price was negotiated to their mutual satisfaction. The cattleman gazed out over the flock for a few moments before reaching for the brown leather pouch. He untied the drawstrings to release it from his belt, pulled the bag open, and reached inside to reveal a handful of silver pieces of different sizes and denominations. He picked out the coins he desired with the other hand, counting to himself until he had the total sum. Michael reached out his hand and released the money into John's outstretched palm. John quickly recounted, looked up, and casually stated, "You're a penny off."

An Edward I silver penny 1271-1307 A.D. complete with "bags under his eyes." Perhaps he is exhausted from all his campaigning.

"Really?" Michael looked surprised as he took a step forward to take a second look at the coins still in John's hand. At that moment, the soul of his leather shoe firmly drove the small silver penny, which had missed John's palm, into the moistened earth.
A stubble field, Norfolk, England - September 3, 1998 A.D.

A selection of hammered silver coins ranging from the 12th-16th centuries.

They say you should never judge a book by its cover, but this site is indeed as good as it looks. Sometimes the first glimpse of a place just gives you that "feeling." You know it will produce. I've been to England, metal detecting with Discovery Tours, several times before, but the excitement doesn't seem to wear off. It just intensifies. Here I was on a hilltop field, with a spectacular view of a village below that has seen heavy activity dating back to Roman times. Behind me was a Medieval stone church whose height jutted over the treetops. There are four such churches in the area, which illustrates the size of the community during that time. However, the present-day village is just a fraction of its former population, as the plague decimated a third of England's population during the years 1347-1350. Thousands of villages were abandoned, and some like this one, show the effects even today.
My first signal of the morning netted a beautiful and fairly large crotal or sleigh bell with the iron "pea" still inside, dating to the 1600-1700s. It is always a thrill to hear these bells ring for the first time in a couple of hundred years once the dirt is picked from the interior. Other finds included copper coins of varying age, buttons, musketballs, a 16th century silver groat of Queen Mary, and a very nice 14th century buckle plate. Our detecting day was just about over, and I was in the midst of performing a slow, methodical grid search in the far corner of a field whose opposite corner had previously yielded some fabulous finds to the participants of Jimmy Sierra's tour. Among these were several Medieval hammered silver coins and a Medieval lady's gold-gilt silver finger ring affixed with a red stone, found by my friend Jim Tamosaitis.

A 14th century annular brooch with pin intact- a very personal item, a 15th century bronze religious medal (a second of this variety was pulled from the same field by a fellow tour member), and a 14th century heraldic pendant (sometimes found with original colorful enameling).

I had just unearthed a 17th century book clasp (the first I ever found) a few minutes earlier, as well as a Charles I farthing (mid 1600s), and was now running parallel patterns with a hedgerow 10-20' from me. There appeared to be a small road just behind the hedge, as I occasionally heard cars passing. Debating the wisdom of hunting this area, I recalled seeing other detectorists from our group in this vicinity earlier. Had they found everything?
On the forth pass, it came- a solid signal with a respectable reading on my Spectrum XLT. How could anyone have missed this? Perhaps the others had not detected this far up the field. The target could be "road trash" though. Aluminum always seems to be more abundant closer to a field's edge.

Buckle trilogy! A 14th century buckle and plate as well as two specimens dating from the 1600s were discovered.

One turn of the soil was all it took. As I brushed the face of the thin silver disc, I saw one of the most beautifully struck and well-centered hammered coins I have ever found. In my opinion, this is the very essence of the thrill of metal detecting- that split second from the time you first glimpse the object recovered to the time your brain comprehends what it actually is. In this case it was a penny of King Edward I (of Braveheart fame), minted in London between 1271 and 1307 A.D. It has an image so clear that, as Jimmy Sierra later described it, "You can see the bags under his eyes."
King Edward I was also known to his kinsmen as Edward "Longshanks," as he stood over 6', a head taller than most of his subjects. He was crowned in Westminster Abbey on August 19, 1274, married twice, and fathered no fewer than 19 children. He has the reputation of a fearless warrior as the "Hammerer of the Scots" and subjugator of the Welsh, and participated in the Eighth Crusade. He was considered an adept administrator who cleansed his courts of corruption and refined his kingdom's laws. A major recoinage took place during his reign, so the finding of one of his silver pennies is fairly common in the realm of Medieval hammered coins, but still no less exciting.
I continued onward, unwavering from the grid pattern, and feeling that certain smugness one gets when all the hard work has just paid off. "I'm on the razor's edge," I thought. "I've got the eye of the tiger. I'm rejuvenated! I must keep swinging as finds are afoot!" Several pieces of scrap brass later, peripheral vision told me the other detectorists were loading their equipment as well as themselves onto our tour bus at the other end of the field which signified an end to the day's hunt. However, I persisted in my present pattern, muttering to myself the traditional mantra, "Just one more signal."

Fields O'plenty! This selection of coinage dates from the Middle Ages to present.

With bittersweetness, the last positive tone erupted from my headphones and I knelt to recover a dirt-caked bronze object. "Great," I thought. "Some kind of washer." I poked through the center of the find, and initial disappointment turned to ecstasy as the soil fell away to reveal a wonderful 14th century annual brooch with the pin still intact! After years of longing for such finds, I had finally recovered one. With settings for six stones (three paste ones still surviving), this piece of jewelry would have been worn to keep a shirt or tunic collar closed. (The concept of the button had not yet been worked out by Medieval man.) What I find so thrilling about this type of artifact is that it is very personal in nature. Someone wore this item some 700 years ago! Where do you suppose your ring, bracelet, tie clip, or necklace will be seven centuries from now?
And here's another question. What do you believe to be the overall appeal of our hobby, no matter what country you practice it in? Is it the camaraderie? Possibly. Being in the great outdoors? For some, yes. The thrill of discovering the undiscovered? That's a big part of it, I would agree. But for myself, and perhaps for you, whenever I unearth an artifact or old coin, I am transported back in time for a brief moment. I am there, touching history both literally and spiritually, whether it be fighting alongside a Civil War soldier, conversing with our Colonial ancestors, building castles with a stonemason, or even on the march with the Roman legions. Okay, so it's a bit melodramatic, but I suppose it's the closest I will ever come to time travel.

Just found! A little extra effort enhancing the width of my swing pays off with this Scottish silver "short cross" penny of William I (late 1100s).

Jeff, a usually jolly Englishman and one of Discovery Tours hosts, was standing in the middle of the field, halfway between me and the tour bus, waving his arms frantically and yelling something incoherent. He did not look happy. Everyone else was evidently on the bus, ready to depart, and I was late. Sprinting in with detector in one hand, digger in the other, and finds pouch jiggling up and down, I made my humble apologies to organizer David Barwell. With much pride I displayed my brooch nestled in an outstretched palm. The hardness of his grimace softened somewhat and I saw the reflection of my redemption in his eyes. A few minutes later I received a "Top Banana" prize on the bus for the favored artifact of the day. And as the coach lumbered from the pasture onto the roadway back to our hotel, I wondered, "What unforgettable finds await tomorrow's discovery?"

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