Thames Mudlarking & Metal Detecting: Tudor Buckles, Trade Beads & Roman Finds
Detecting History: Metal Detecting & History PodcastShow Notes
This week Katie sits down with Sam Willoughby, known on Instagram as the_peaky_larker, a Kent-based mudlarker, metal detectorist and self-described archaeo-detectorist who bridges both worlds with the kind of knowledge and ethics that makes you want to get outside immediately. Sam shares how furlough in 2020 sent him to the banks of the Medway and eventually onto the Thames foreshore itself, where he waited 18 months for his Port of London Authority permit. He talks about upgrading from a Garrett ACE 150 to the Minelab Xterra Pro, why a 6-inch coil is non-negotiable on the foreshore, and how he became the only detectorist on an active Roman site in an elderly couple's back garden that has now yielded around 30 Roman coins. There are finds too. A late Tudor buckle dug from a new permission while still recovering from a cold. A minuscule Hudson's Bay Company trade bead, red and black, manufactured in Britain and traded with indigenous peoples in North America for fur pelts. And one weird discovery that turned out to be a Victorian bedpan with a hospital crest, which Sam very wisely gave to a friend. The conversation also covers the Dove's typeface mystery, the ethics of mudlarking on the foreshore, Thames Explorer Trust exhibitions, and a farmer near Richborough Roman Fort who took matters into his own hands with a bucket of copper nails. Find Sam on Instagram at @peakylarker Watch the full interview version of this episode from 6:30pm on YouTube at youtube.com/@detectinghistorychannel | Find Detecting History on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube at @detectinghistorychannel | Use code DHPodcast at regton.com for 10% off some items. Hit the follow button to get all the new episodes first! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
More from Detecting History: Metal Detecting & History Podcast
In this episode of Detecting History, Murray Price is joined by Sebastian from FieldFinders, a new metal detecting platform designed to help detectorists find legal detecting permissions and research the history of the land they are detecting. Sebastian explains how his own struggle to find metal detecting permissions inspired him to create FieldFinders, a permission marketplace where metal detectorists can discover and book fields for detecting. We take a detailed look at the FieldFinders metal detecting research tools, including LiDAR, 3D LiDAR, historical maps, historical records, recorded finds, Roman sites, Viking and Saxon research, battlefields, legends and stories, geology and soil data, and AI-powered field analysis. Murray and Sebastian explore how combining historical research, LiDAR and recorded archaeological finds can help detectorists understand the history of their permissions and identify potentially interesting features such as lost roads, earthworks, settlements and other features that may be difficult to see from the ground. The episode also looks at how FieldFinders brings metal detecting permissions and research tools together in one platform, with Sebastian explaining his plans to expand the platform across Europe and the USA, as well as plans for detecting rallies and detecting holidays. We then choose this month's Listeners' and Viewers' Find of the Month. The shortlisted finds include a medieval papal bull of Pope John XXII, a silver hammered penny from the transition between Edward I and Edward II, and a World War I silver thumbs-up good luck charm. Sebastian chooses the winner of this month's Viewers' Finds competition, with the winning detectorist receiving a year's access to FieldFinders. Finally, Murray puts an ultrasonic cleaner to the test to see how well it can clean metal detecting finds, including coins and a Royal Flying Corps cap badge. It's a particularly visual test, so watch the episode on YouTube to see the ultrasonic cleaner in action. Amazon affiliate link to the ultrasonic cleaner: https://tr.ee/ZuACgF Whether you're interested in metal detecting permissions, detecting research, LiDAR, historical maps, archaeological finds or new technology for detectorists, this episode is packed with ideas and tools to help you get more from your next detecting permission. FIELD FINDERS Find your next metal detecting permission and explore powerful research tools including LiDAR, historic maps, recorded finds and AI-powered analysis. Website: https://fieldfinders.co.uk/ iPhone & iPad: Search "FieldFinders" on the App Store 20% OFF: Use code DHFF20 for 20% off FieldFinders membership. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fieldfinders_app/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61594726499320 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@metal_detectking REGTON METAL DETECTORS Get 10% off selected items at Regton Metal Detectors using our exclusive code: Code: DHPodcast Website: https://www.regton.com/ MURRAY PRICE & THE BEARDED BLEEPERS YouTube: Bearded Bleepers https://www.youtube.com/@BeardedBleepersMetalDetecting Website: https://beardedbleepers.co.uk/ Instagram: @beardedbleepers Facebook: @beardedbleepers FOLLOW DETECTING HISTORY YouTube: Detecting History Channel https://www.youtube.com/@DetectingHistoryChannel Instagram: @detectinghistorychannel Facebook: Detecting History Channel TikTok: @detectinghistorychannel Email: [email protected] SEND US YOUR STORIES AND FINDS!!! WhatsApp 07457 410 889 Detecting History - Home of History Hunting Hit the follow button to get all the new episodes first! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Welcome back to the Detecting History Podcast! After a long, hot and very dry summer, we're back and this time Katie isn't going it alone. Welcome to Murray Price from the Bearded Bleepers, our brand-new co-host for Series 4! Katie and Murray kick off a brand-new era of Detecting History with a proper catch-up on what they've been up to over the summer, including museum exhibitions, rallies, BBC Sounds, Treasure Hunting magazine, some incredible finds and, unfortunately for Murray, the invention of "Swinger's Hip"! Katie also talks about getting back out detecting after surgery, her first proper detecting trip, finding one of her farmer's missing drill points and getting to grips with her new XP IconX. Then it's time for the news. The Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) has had a major website upgrade, and Katie and Murray take a look at the new system, the guidance available to detectorists and some of the questions surrounding how finds submitted through the new website will be reviewed. We also discuss the National Council for Metal Detecting (NCMD) and its work with the All-Party Parliamentary Archaeology Group and Historic England, including the new inquiry looking at organised metal detecting events, club digs and rallies. And then we get into one of the big issues affecting detectorists: metal detecting permissions. What happens when another group approaches a landowner who already has a detectorist on their land? Is there an unwritten code of conduct that detectorists should follow? And could there be a better way for people to work together? Murray also shares his detecting reading recommendations, including Found in the Ground and The Accidental Detectorist. We then have a fantastic treasure find to discuss: Chris Langston's 17th-century memento mori locket, commemorating the execution of Charles I. And that's not all.
Katie is back with a solo summer catch-up packed with metal detecting news, history and channel updates. In this episode: a huge well done to the 100th episode giveaway winners and a thank you to Swing and Dig, The Etching Booth, Composite Cleaning Pencil and Regton for their brilliant prize support. If you missed the Kenneth Collard (Tales from the Foreshore) interview, Katie explains exactly why you need to go back and listen to it. Big channel news: The Detectorists on the Detectorists episodes have moved to their own dedicated sister podcast. Search for it on your podcast player and subscribe. From the world of detecting: Brian Dixon and Michael Eakers made the BBC News after finding a Roman hoard in Devon, 97 silver coins and six copper alloy coins spanning more than 200 years of Roman history from Mark Antony to Septimius Severus. And tech fans will want to know all about the brand new XP Icon and Icon X, the lightweight, fully wireless, multi-frequency mid-range detectors from XP. Katie also recommends Treasure Trails (treasuretrails.co.uk) for history lovers who want to explore their local area, shares a TV recommendation in Lucy Worsley Investigates Series 3, and goes deep on one of English history's most haunting mysteries: what really happened to the Princes in the Tower? Plus a shoutout to Gary in Kenya and a personal update from Katie on what the summer break has in store. Watch the full interviews and Katie's dig diaries on YouTube at youtube.com/@detectinghistorychannel | Find Detecting History on Instagram and YouTube at @detectinghistorychannel | Use code DHPodcast at Regton.com for 10% off some items. Hit the follow button to get all the new episodes first! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This week's episode is a special one as its the 100th one! Our guest is very special too....! Actor Kenneth Collard, known to this community as the Mayor from the BBC series The Detectorists, and to a wider audience from Cuckoo, House of the Dragon, The Capture and most recently Beyond Paradise. But Kenneth has been a detectorist since the early 1980s, long before any of those credits, starting out with a basic C-scope in the forests of Germany and chasing that coin-shaped thrill ever since. During lockdown, Kenneth picked up his Equinox 800 and turned to the Thames foreshore, barely getting his PLA permit before the system closed. He has been learning to read the foreshore ever since, mentored by experienced mudlarks and working alongside his now great friend Carrie from Carry On Larkin. In this episode Kenneth talks about filming The Detectorists alongside Mackenzie Crook, the tobacco pipe bowl depicting an African man that was displayed in the Museum of London Docklands Secrets of the Thames exhibition alongside a cowry shell Kenneth found at the same moment, and his all-time top find, which has nothing to do with history and everything to do with being in the right place at the right time. He also shares his plans to develop a mudlarking TV show, talks about the Spanish Ardite minted in Barcelona for a child king and a Peruvian silver two reals found on the same stretch of foreshore, and signs off with one of the most genuinely motivating closers this podcast has had. Watch the full interview version of this episode from 6:30pm on YouTube at youtube.com/@detectinghistorychannel | Find Detecting History on Instagram and YouTube at @detectinghistorychannel | Use code DHPodcast at Regton.com for 10% off some items. Hit the follow button to get all the new episodes first! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Darren Searle and Rod from Gloucestershire Detectorists join Katie to tell the story of two finds that most detectorists will never experience in a lifetime of searching. The first: a scattered Roman hoard where both Darren and Rod's very first signals on a brand new field turned out to be Roman coins. What followed was multiple return visits, over 400 coins recovered, a Roman silver ring and a Roman lead seal found by Rod that was nearly discarded as scrap and turned out to be unique in Britain. The second: a hammered scattered hoard on a farm where the landowner had been openly sceptical about the hobby. The find included quarter nobles and half nobles, and eventually 26 hammered coins recovered over several visits. That one went to auction and found a home with an American historian who supports archaeological digs in the UK. Darren also talks through their Minelab Manticore setup, the moment the Manticore picked up a deep gold hammered coin that the Nox 600 couldn't reach, how their relationship with their FLO made the Treasure Act process far smoother than most, and what is still on the bucket list including a gold stater and a gold Roman. Watch the full interview version of this episode from 6:30pm on Friday on YouTube at youtube.com/@detectinghistorychannel | Find Detecting History on Instagram and YouTube at @detectinghistorychannel | Use code DHPodcast at regton.com for 10% off some items. Hit the follow button to get all the new episodes first! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.