It is a fact that among the legion of detectorists, there are some very intelligent and talented people, and in varying disciplines. I have been privileged and delighted to tell some of their stories in this blog and elsewhere. Using his special skill and talent Pat produces exquisite forms that are wonders to behold. Indeed, in a recent FB comment, Jackie Kirk said, “When the world collapses and there are no more apps or computers or storage systems: when the cloud is just a cloud, Pat’s carvings will become our history.”

Stonemason

One Man and his Dog

But now, things have changed – and it’s all thanks to Tizer, Pat’s highly adaptable Patterdale terrier. All permissions are local, so when the dog fancies an outing, Pat takes along his faithful friend … along with the Minelab CTX. They are the dream team! Used traditionally for hunting a wide array of quarry, the terrier is now perfecting his detecting skills, although searching in thunder and lightening can be exciting – but not recommended! Tizer doesn’t like loud bangs! “He’s as daft as a brush”, says Pat, “runs all morning then sleeps all afternoon … then again perhaps he isn’t so daft after all!”

Yorkshireman Pat loves local history and told me in his colourful evocative language, “Hammered coins are okay, but I’m more interested in what was going on with love tokens, those juicy slices of romantic history, and also spindle whorls.

Love Tokens

Pat says: I’m fascinated for every one has such a story to tell … and I wonder why I collect so many! In my wanderings across the pastures I’ve found a few of these sad rejections of passion. Every time I wonder what transpired when the token was accidentally lost … or deliberately thrown away. Was he a philanderer? Was the girl seeing another? We will never know for definite!”

The Whorl Pool

Friends jokingly say that Pat has a ‘Whorl Pool’. Why does the ubiquitous spindle whorl get him ‘buzzing’? I’ll let him explain, “Spindle whorls have been made from many materials throughout history. It is the ones cast in lead that I find enthralling and I remember that incredulity when I found my first one. They are fascinating!

“I’d only been detecting for a few weeks and resigned myself to finding only Georgian items on the land I was on … then I found my first. This wasn’t a coin that changed hands on a regular basis but a personal item owned most likely by a woman. Perhaps she used – and lost it while out in the field. Was she upset at losing it? Did she place a value on it? Was it one of many she possessed? All these thoughts ran through my mind as I looked at my first whorl. I’m sure all the whorl was thinking was ‘put me back on the spindle and let’s get back to work!’ After the first find they have come out at a fairly steady and at the last count I have unearthed 58. Perhaps they would prefer to live in my house rather than in the field. Every single one from the highly decorated to the basic washer type makes me happy. When I see that off-white disc peering from the freshly dug loam I know that even if I find nothing else that day I will be going home with a smile on my face!

The fact is that somebody used his or her hands a lot, making it and using it and I can identify with that! I think of a whorl as a woman’s tool – her means of making a living. What was going on that so many were discarded and I find so many? Were they thrown away because there was a better model? Thoughts like these are what go through my head.”

I first came across Pat when I was searching for material to include in a newsletter I was creating. What he said was simple, but very profound, and worth repeating for a wider audience.

Continue reading “A Law Unto Himself” →

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He’d been stuck indoors for over 10 years with aching legs and associated health issues and just had to get out of the house. Things were about to change.

Preston based Michael Brady is about 45 years old and, like a lot of us, rather overweight and battling depression. But, in Michael’s case he was born with rheumatoid arthritis and didn’t start to walk until six years old.

Michael was motivated and inspired when a friend showed him a detecting  magazine and, as a result, he went and bought a detector. In no time at all he says, “I was hooked”. The good news is that the hobby encouraged him to get out and walk more. As a result, he’s gradually losing weight and friends now call him ‘Metal Micky’.

On one of his early forays using his Garrett Ace and searching on wet sand, he made a rather special find, a pendant with the following words: BLACKPOOL CARNIVAL JUNE 1923. None were believed to still exist. Michael had struck heritage gold. So, a rare piece of Blackpool history was discovered on the beach after almost 95 years.

Blackpool is soon to get its first museum – telling the story of Britain’s first mass seaside resort and its place in the history of popular culture. The museum is due to open in 2021 and will be named SHOWTOWN.

Michael offered to donate his find to Blackpool’s Heritage Collection as they didn’t have one.

A spokesman for The Blackpool Museum Project said:

“Blackpool began what it thought would be a new tradition, holding an annual Carnival in June. The 1923 Carnival was such a greatsuccess that another even bigger and longer carnival was arranged to take place the following year. Unfortunately the 1924 carnival was set to be the last of its kind Blackpool held … although the crowds were equally as immense as the previous year, drunkenness and violence were rife.”

So, the find was rather significant. In 1923 Blackpool organised its first Carnival and in 2017, the year Michael found the pendant, the Carnival was re-launched.

Continue reading “Metal Micky” →

I’d never qualify as an archaeologist. Some seem to be masters in imaginative writing when it comes to the interpretation of archaeological data and that’s a quality I lack. Often their storytelling allows us non-specialists to understand the past, and that’s a good thing is it not? But I do think that a lot of archaeology is based on imagination. Different ‘experts’ can dig the same sites or look at the items we present for appraisal, and reach completely different conclusions.

Sometimes it’s hard to know what people in the past were thinking and believing, especially without having access to substantial written historical records. There is always the bias of their own culture. We don’t have a voice from the past to help us. The archaeologist’s interpretation is all we have to go on at the present time.

Consider the obvious material clues as found in a Saxon grave I witnessed being excavated. The grave goods were of good quality and interpreted as belonging to a person of high status – and that’s a reasonable conclusion, but they could equally have belonged to a thief. What is the current jargon? Thinking outside the box!

Where is all this leading you may ask? I came across a story of a late Stone Age man unearthed during excavations in the Czech Republic. According to archaeologists, the way he was buried suggested that he was of a different sexual persuasion. The first known gay caveman! But not everyone is convinced!

Continue reading “The oldest gay in the Stone Age village” →