i'm a lucky guy, ive had permission from a great family farm in Wiltshire England for the past 20 years and during that time i have dug many exciting snippets of history from its clay soils. The area in question oozes history from the Celtic to the Victorian, although to be rewarded with these treasures you have to spend long hours looking and searching. The day i found the Wiltshire Dragon was in late Autumn 2020 after the Covid lockdown had been lifted. i detected what was available which at the time was a maize stubble field running close to a Roman road. Over the past 20 years of detecting my permission i had visited the field every year for a session or two, it had never produced what i felt should have been expected due to the proximity of the old road course. i had found the odd bronze roman grot in the past and the detritus of later generations in the form of Tudor and Georgian buckles and a sprinkle of medieval hammered coins but never that one star find. The farmer calls these fields his S**T fields as they form a series of four fields full of clay, flooded and muddy in the winter, baked and cracked in the summer. And so it was on this day, boiling hot (For Britain), cracked soils and rock hard, starting at the top and working my way methodically down the hedge towards the Roman Road, reminiscing on previous found coin spots, buttons and buckles that the field will graciously chuck at me. i turned sharply at the bottom of the field and worked close to the hedge following the old road, pausing to thoroughly search a spot that had turned out an Edward l Hammered Farthing the previous year before disappointingly moving on. What i have failed to mention previously is the vast amount of copper baling wire i find in these fields, the signal they give off is nearly identical to Roman Dragonesque Brooches so i found out within another 2 meters of swinging my CTX3030. The machine woke up again and gave an ear blasting shout "DIG ME, IM COPPER WIRE" but this time as the spade bit into the clays and i lifted and turned it out, it wasn't copper wire on the surface but a dark green object of which i could see the bottom part. Instantly i knew what it was, ive never found one before but knew. i dropped to me knees and slowly reached forward praying it wasn't broken and it was gonna be in good condition...PLEASE BE WHOLE...PLEASE BE WHOLE....the brown clay crumbled away from the green metal and the pin swung free, i turned it over staring in disbelief at the enameling still in tact, the brooch still complete without a scratch or mark on it after nearly 2000 years...A string of expletives and a shout of YESSSSS!!!! before i turned and sat on the ground staring at this marvel of Ancient craftsmanship. i literally couldn't carry on detecting i had to keep checking it was safe and it was alright in my finds pouch. i left the field and drove straight to my Farmers house to shown what i had found, he was as dumbstruck at the brooch as i was we both just couldn't believe that it had survived in the field for so many years. Moving forward the brooch had a few some touches of bronze disease showing, as i had found it and the brooch was to remain with me i contacted a former retired Conservator for the British Museum who has now treated and conserved the Brooch to ensure its future life out of the clay soil. The Brooch was entered into the Robin and Karolyn Hatt Competition last month and has now won the Best Artefact section, it should be appearing early 2022 in the Treasure Hunting Magazine.
