An American in England, looking for some Roman bronze....

[ted750]

Hi, my names Ted, and me and my family are taking a trip to the U.K. from august 17th to 27th 2008. We will be staying in London and most days will be dedicated to the british Museum, Tower of London, Trafalagar square, Buckingham Palace, Harrod's, etc.... But before I agreed to go, I made my Mom promise that I could take a day or two to detect in some barren old field in the English countryside. Now I admit, it's not most peoples idea of the most fun thing to do in England, I'll just be a little piggy, playing in the dirt, I hope I have enough dirt to play in! But to me, as an aspiring archaeologist, the idea of LEGALLY finding something that was held in the hands of some Roman or Anglo-Saxon thousands of years ago is simply mind boggling. I guess my question is if anyone has any sites they would be willing to "loan" me for a day or two. I'm deffinitely not a hard core detectorist, and I'd be happy to share anything I found, so don't worry about me finding that long lost burial mound and not sharing.... But if anyone knows of any clubs that are meeting within these dates, or a site or two within say two hours drive of london that might yield some Roman or Medieval artifacts, I can't express in words how much I would appreciate any info. My goal is not to steal anyones finds, I just want to share in that magical feeling that you guys in the U.K. are so lucky to get everytime you dig up some legionaire's pin. So please, if anyone knows where I can GET OUT DETECTING in the U.K. and might actually have a chance of finding something, please let me know.

Thanks a bundle,
Ted

 

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[Pepper2004]

Ted, sounds like a very exciting vacation ahead of you. We have some UK members here. Maybe they will see your post and give you some info. You could try emailing the tourist centers in the UK and see what kind of help they might be. Good luck and have a safe trip.

Pepper

 

[derfel]

Hi Ted

I'm from London i do not have any land of my own to offer you, but u could try the weekend wanderers club http://weekend-wanderers.itgo.com/index.htm

or if u are in london you could try the river thames foreshore, but you will need a permit from the port of london authority http://www.portoflondon.co.uk/, you will be limited to where and how deep you can dig, if you do not have a permit u could be arrested by our river police and jailed in the Tower of London!

 

[ted750]

Thanks for the help guys.... I saw a website about detecting the river thames but didn't know you needed a permit, I'm half dissapointed I found out now, because it might have been fun to be jailed in the Tower Lol....
I'll deffinitely get in contact with both those organizations, do you know if it costs anything for a permit to detect in the thames? Thanks again for the info,

-Ted

 

[jeff of pa]

jailed in the Tower of London!

OOOH ! sounds like a cool vacation spot derfel

does that include meals ?
& Mints on the Pillows ?

 

[derfel]

sorry i cant tell u the cost of the Licence, as for meals in the Tower, our American cousins get 5 star treatment only the best! unless u have trespassed on the Crown foreshore without a licence, her Britanic Majesty doesnt like that, life in prison on a diet of jellied eels (a east London speciality) or beheading whatevers worse...........this is a link to a club that detects the Thames fantastic pictures of finds if you visit please leave a message on the message board http://www.thamesandfield.co.uk/

 

[Unicorn]

Ted......I suggest you log on to http://historyhuntersinternational.org. You can post your question on that site and I am sure you will get all of the information that you need. Have a good holiday, and I hope you enjoy your holiday in our Country. If your itinery will allow it, go and take a look at some of our green and pleasant Countryside. Not everything happens in London

regards unicorn

 

[Jonnyreb]

Wish I had checked this part of the forum earlier... I never found any bronze in England, but I did find some flint artifacts south of London while I was visiting Irish relatives there. (They cant go back to Ireland because of British Army service)
Now in Germany, I did accidently find a bronze roman coin while looking for flint points there.....but I was more exited about the Neanderthal flake knife I found there.
I'm of course into flint if you havent figured that out yet. I live in arrowhead heaven here!! Hope your trip was nice.

 

[rubberdiver13]

i live in worcestershire, not far from london...best places would be the foreshore nr the estuary....flam head....60 wrecks at this point,or the opposite bank...henry 8 has his shore castle to protect the estuary....

im currently combing the bottom by me for cannon balls fired at the city of worcester in the civil war 1600S, the far bank was a medival castle and was full of roman coins at its base, when dug up and levelled in the 1800s...it lied 50yds from the river....the bed im waiting to detect soon

 

[rubberdiver13]

if visiting you can text me on 07968592309..

 

[Unicorn]

Rubberdiver.....Used to live in Malvern myself some years ago before moving to Birmingham City. It's a beautiful spot and would go back and live their in a shot if I could. Have you ever visited Alcester in Warwickshire, another pretty place. There used to be Roman villages their, and I believe quite alot has been unearthed. Good Luck in your search.

Unicorn

 

[rubberdiver13]

alcester, not yet but it is on my list, of underwater places to check, a place nr the river was a roman crossing point, coins were regularly tossed in, before crossing, as a good luck, to the water god, we shall see, im in the process of aquiring my excalibur 1000 this week, once the rain stops, the river drops, and clears, i will be out, esp around the old teme bridge at powick, where ive found breast plates with shot through them, as well as britains biggest eel, i found him under a tree, thought he was dead, till i poked him, his head was 12" dia easy, id say a 15lber at that, breaking the record if caught by hook and line by 7lb