Two Bronze Age Hoards

Back in August 2017, after a 15 year absence, my somewhat Lazarus-like return to the Wrexham Metal Detecting Club was greeted with “Oh Noooooo” followed by a chorus of “Where the hell have you been?”

- Paul Murphy

Hoard One 

Of course I recognised some old faces, although, let’s be honest, some of us don’t age as well as others, myself included! Let’s say it took me a few perplexed glances to eventually put names to the faces as it were. Many handshakes were accompanied by a welcome back brotherly bear hug from ‘Degzy the Deus’.

I noticed the crop of newbies – easily identifiable with their wide eyed and open mouthed expressions marvelling and scrutinising the contents of the impressive finds of the month table. How the memories came flooding back of my own inaugural visit to the club, back then also secretly wishing to either replicate or even surpass what was proudly on display.

I had finally managed to secure a ‘worth a try’ permission, quite by chance, after the umpteen other well-researched and promising sites fell by the wayside as refusal upon refusal began to dishearten me somewhat. Eventually I was pointed in the direction of an out of the way landowner who “Just might let you go on the land.” Which is how I met Mr and Mrs McDonald (not their real names) who greeted me with enthusiasm as I handed them my details and then listened intently as I explained the whys, whats and wherefores of our wonderful hobby. They happened to mention that some detectorists had searched their land some time before but had never shown them any finds.