ourpasthistory.com » Metal Detecting

Phil Dunnings tips for researching a site

I got a new site recently, the builder that block paved my drive was a really friendly guy, we got talking and it turned out he lives in the countryside and has loads of contacts. I asked if he could ask around and see if I could detect somewhere, and bingo!

Ideally you should research areas and then go and try to get permission on the juicy ones. Life doesn't always work that way though as in my case.

I thought I would 'research' my new site. I had no idea what to expect. What I did was to create a document on my PC with the name of the farm as the title.

I pasted O/S maps, Magic Map, old maps, very old maps, aerial photos, local history and local archaeological finds records into the document and checked to see if the Romans had had a fort or major settlement nearby.

The O/S map I got from;

http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/getamap/ , the map showed footpaths across the fields, one leading to a church built in 1840 and the other leading to a nearby village.

The Magic Maps I got from;

http://www.magic.gov.uk/website/magic/ , the beauty of this site is you can customise the map to your own spec, it can if you want show all the no go areas such at SSI's, scheduled monuments, heritage sites, forestry commission etc.
It's a great website, you can zoom and zoom down to 1/1 if you like, and narrow a findspot location down to 10 figs (1 metre). There weren't any no go areas on the site, so I know I am not breaking the rules.

The old maps (1854) and aerial photo's I got from:

http://www.old-maps.co.uk/ , these maps are in great detail and can be downloaded in 4 mb bmp format. Amazing!
In one of the fields the aerial photo (my geo-phys) showed there had been a building there at one time. An another field showed evidence of enclosures and in another a disused pit.

The very old maps I got from;

http://web.ukonline.co.uk/badeslade/ Counties,
cross roads & roads from London, as at 1741.

http://www.yourmapsonline.org.uk/
Counties and city street maps.

http://www.livgenmi.com/gardinertitle.htm
England, Europe & World maps and battle maps.

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/map_sites/
Thousands of maps of all types and ages.

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~genmaps/ Hundreds of maps of all ages.

One map showed existence of the village in the year 1650.

The local archaeological finds records I got from;

http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/search/index.cfm

http://www.pastscape.org/homepage/textpage.asp

http://www.digital-documents.co.uk/archi/archi_xtra.htm (membership needed for full details)

They revealed the discovery of a nearby Roman Beehive Quern and probable other iron age settlement.


The Roman history I got from;

http://www.roman-britain.org/

Unfortunately it showed no history of major Roman settlement or forts in the area. But a superb website never the less, ideal for learning about roman occupation!

For all detecting issues including research, this site is invaluable: http://ourpasthistory.com/

I surfed the internet using Google, re the village name and the word 'history' and found websites by local historians that revealed that in nearby villages two Iron Age settlements and some bronze axes were unearthed during the late 19th century, giving proof of the presence of early settlers. These people found food and other requirements in their immediate surroundings in order to survive.

Also the above church was pre dated by a wooden church built in 1050 with a preaching cross in the church yard probably dating back to the 7th century.

It stated that monks were very industrious in the area, producing supplies for a nearby monastery and their own needs and that gradually small businesses developed and by the mid 16th century each area had its own mill, blacksmiths, stonemasons, clog makers, tailors and seamstresses, joiners, carpenters, wheelwrights, besom makers and many small cottage industries, e.g. spinning and weaving.

So this isn't just a piece of land anymore, when I detect there I will have this picture in my mind of the iron age settlers, the Roman's and their quern, the monks and the community of the 16th century all beavering away, I'll be treading the very ground they trod.

I am very optimistic and even more enthusiastic now, it is not just a field anymore, it's a field of dreams, where so many different communities lived out their lives.

I will record my finds with PAS so that more gaps in the history can be filled and a fuller picture revealed for posterity.

I also intend to give a copy of all the above information to the farmer in appreciation of him letting me onto his land.

PS useful Websites not visited were http://www.yell.com and http://www.maps.google.com which if you type in the word 'farmer' will list the name, addresses and tel numbers of the farmers in any given area.

Also the Land Registry Online website http://www.landregistryonline.gov.uk gives details of 20 million properties in England and Wales for a small fee.

I hope this whets peoples appetites for researching sites, I found it really enjoyable.


PhilD.

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