Tim Hoverd came to Cusop Village Hall on Thursday evening to talk about the Herefordshire Hoard (or 'how can two metal detectorists be so spectacularly stupid?'). It's a talk he says he's given "too many times", but it's part of his job to publicise things like this, to show what happens when people don't follow the law in metal detecting.
Put briefly, two metal detectorists from South Wales walked some fields near Leominster without the land owner's permission (they asked the tenant farmer, who did not have the authority to allow it), and they found a hoard of silver coins from the Viking era. They did not declare the find, as they were supposed to do, but eventually produced a few pieces to satisfy the Finds Liason Officer - an arm ring, a ring, a crystal orb bound with gold, and a badly damaged coin.
They intended to sell the rest of the coins - it was later estimated that there were around 300 of them. But the police quickly became involved. The detectorists had taken photos of their finds, which is how the archaeologists could estimate how many coins were in the hoard. Some were found when their homes were searched. Others had been already sold, but once the story became public, it became almost impossible to sell any more of the coins on the open market, because they are very distinctive.
If archaeologists had been able to study the hoard, as a whole, they would have been able to tell a lot more about the dating, and the conditions at the time the hoard was buried, and who was most likely to have buried it. From the few pieces that were recovered - about eighty coins were found - they can tell that the hoard was likely buried at the time that the Great Viking Army was sweeping across Saxon England. The coins were mostly from Wessex and Mercia - and the designs on the coins showed an alliance between King Alfred the Great and his Mercian counterpart Ceolwulf II. Some are struck with only one king's head, but there are others with both, known as "The Two Emperors" coins.
If the detectorists had declared the hoard, they would have got a huge payout. As it was, they got six and ten years in prison, and one of the coin dealers they tried to sell the coins through was also prosecuted. They were involved with the criminal underworld in South Wales, and owed someone nasty a lot of money - and Tim Hoverd suspects that the bulk of the coins went to some crime boss, and may never be seen again.
Earlier in the evening, before the talk, Tim sat down with the committee of the Cusop Castle dig to flesh out a few details. The dig will take place from Friday 5th June to Sunday 14th June, and they are looking for volunteers. It won't all be heavy digging - there are plenty of jobs around site for people of all sorts of varying ability, and full training is given. I'm going to be there as much as I can - bearing in mind that I was last a professional archaeologist over thirty years ago, and a full day's digging now would probably kill me!
If anyone is interested in volunteering, they should contact Cusop History Group - there's a link on their front page. Under sixteen year olds must be accompanied by an adult who is taking a full part in the dig, and Tim has a strict No Dogs policy.
Also at the talk, to sell copies of his new book, was Joseph Emmett. It's called New Roots, Ancient Lands: Walking Through Herefordshire's History, and it looks very interesting - I bought a copy, but it might be some time before I get round to reading it. In it, he visits local sites like Arthur's Stone and Mouse Castle, Snodhill Castle and the Gloucester to Hereford Canal, as well as other sites right across the county.
The next Cusop History Group talk will be "The Murder of Katherine Armstrong and the Trial of Herbert Rowse Armstrong" with Tony Pryce, introduced by Peter Ford. It will be at Cusop Village Hall on Thursday 16th April at 7pm. Entry is £2, with donations for refreshments.
