I’ve always been a bit of magpie for collecting things. There’s always some stray shells, shiny rocks or pieces of old pottery in my pockets, I just can’t help myself! One day James jokingly declared “can you stop bringing the outdoors indoors!” After that my treasures were sorted into pots and jars to stop them touching every shelf, table and flat surface in the house. I love houseplants as well – in fact our windows look like a jungle, so some days it does feel a little like we are trying to live outdoors while inside the house!
One of my favourite past times when I get the chance is metal detecting. Maybe it doesn’t seem the coolest past time for a woman in her 30s, but I can’t deny that I love it! History has always been a massive interest and metal detecting takes me a step closer to the past. It also offers me a chance to relax in nature by myself, to take things slowly and purposefully, as well as be mindful of myself and my surroundings.
I thought I share with you some of my favourite local finds. Most of them are not valuable in the financial sense. It’s more about how they connect me to the land. I detect around a lot of old abandoned steadings – places that have been in ruin since the 1600 – 1800s. Metal detecting has taught me to look at the world in a different way.
I study old maps to find the locations and decided on the area I am going to detect, then ponder on where people would have most likely walked or sat. Gateways, ancient trees, high points in the area, building remains and pasture are often good starting points, and it’s amazing what people manage to drop.
When you pull up an item out of the hole it feels like you are walking in someone’s footsteps. Where were they going? Why did they loose the item I have now stumbled across? Was it accidently misplaced or did they intentionally throw it away? The more you find in one location, the more a picture starts to build up – who may have lived there and what their lives were like.
Of course it’s really important to remember this is all done with the landowner’s kind permission!
Locks | horse bridal or dog tag inscribed “J Levett Berwick” | Various buttons | Saddler’s badges
Token | Seed and flour bag Seals | 1800s silver spoon | Part of a pocket watch
Musket Balls and bullets | Hunting flask badge | Lead hanging weight
French brass and copper pill box with glass lid | Various c1700/1800 shoe buckles | Part of a grandfather clock
Series 1 Matchbox Truck | Various shotgun cartridges | Bracket
Door knob | “Boy scout” pen knife
Brass tag | Cattle ear tag | Harmonica reed | Doorbell part
Lid | Various fixings | Pewter spoon handles | Decorative roundel
I have found a fair few coins as well. Often they are “toasted” meaning they become so worn in the ground they are very difficult to read but with a bit of perseverance and good lighting you can often make out features. If you get really lucky a coin may be silver or gold, in which case the quality is usually phenomenal, considering they have been sat in the ground for hundreds of years.
Horse shoes are strangely wonderful thing to find. While they may not be the most exciting finds to some people, to me it just builds that picture of normal people getting about their lives.
Farming was critical to rural life. The horse throwing its shoe must have really inconvenienced someone’s day, and the first person to find it is me 100 years later!
Musket balls are also a joy to find. These little lumps of lead are the echoes of conflict and necessity. There is much complex military history in Scotland and musket balls tell a tale of that time. It always leaves me pondering “who took a shot…and why!”
The part is that even when I think I’ve done a field to death, I return a month later and walk a new path and the ground always has something new to offer up. Magic!
