A Roman Hoard in West Cornwall

I had been looking forward to this particular Kernow Search and Recovery Club Sunday dig for some time, and at last it was the morning to get ready and set off. I packed up all the requirements for the day: sandwiches, a flask of coffee and my trusted Minelab Safari detector. I then set off fully charged with anticipation of what the day’s search might reveal. The weather was rather overcast, cold and somewhat windy, but when do such trivial inconveniences put off a determined detectorist?

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I parked up and spotted some colleagues, so popped over for a quick chat. We discussed things of importance, varying from the filling in of holes to previous finds made. I’m quite fortunate in that my employment actually involves talking to landowners and farmers and so it just a matter of finding the right time to ask for permission to search.

The site we were all looking at on this day was a positive result of just such an asking, so we set about having a good look at the site. Soon we had all dispersed far and wide over the fields. It was pretty easy detecting, as the fields had just been ploughed and rolled within the last few days of our visit. I was detecting in a straight line, and I suppose it must have been around 10 minutes or so when I had my first signal.

I re-checked it from various angles and reassuringly it retained its clarity, so I began to dig. The rock chip strewn and soft dark soil was comparatively easy to get through despite the lack of any recent rain. I heaved out another scoop and checked the excavated pile of soil. The signal was out and revealed itself to be a small but corroded Roman coin. At that stage this find had made my day already, as Cornwall isn’t exactly noted for finds from this period. I had only taken a few steps more when I received another signal, which also turned out to be a Roman coin. My detecting colleague Kyle Neal was searching nearby and had also found a further Roman coin.