Our Spanish Treasure

Roy and I have been detecting together for a few years on a regular basis. We mainly go to the beaches and estuaries in south and west Wales, as we like the freedom, the scenery and the smell of the salt air.

- Roger Lloyd Howells

 

The possibility of a find from all eras and from almost anywhere in the world is also a strong incentive. The seas and estuaries were our highways and foreign traders were frequent visitors over hundreds, if not thousands, of years – many losing items on the seashore for us to find today. We love the thrill of hunting on a beach, especially after a storm, where several feet of sand may have been stripped away.

On some beaches, (mainly the ones that have exposed peat beds) even Bronze Age arrow-heads, knives and spear-heads have been discovered. We do a lot of research to find out about old trading spots, ports, landing stages, settlements that are no longer on the coast and how the coast and estuaries may have been hundreds of years ago. One spot that we know, was once a Roman port, but is now almost a mile from the present day shore and finds lay buried under 20 feet of thick estuary mud. Maybe it will get stripped out one day, but probably not in our lifetimes, unless there is a tsunami!

Our Spanish Treasure

So how did we find our own Spanish treasure? Well, Roy had been very ill and out of action for six months due to chemotherapy. I had lost heart somewhat in going out detecting and my depression was back with a vengeance. Furthermore, my PTSD was also quite bad, with lack of sleep and terrible flashbacks and nightmares. Roy would visit from time to time, to have a chat and to look at the meagre finds I had recovered over the period from autumn 2015 to spring 2016. I think our meetings did us both good; there was a common bond and an understanding of both our problems and issues.