In June 1997 I was invited by the farmer to detect on his land. This particular day was hot, very hot, being midsummer. He greeted me as if I was a life long friend but that was not unusual because he was a gentle type of person, always willing to hold out a hand in friendship which is very refreshing these days. Before starting off he told be some hairy tales of what could be seen in midwinter bordering on the occult.
The saying goes that at certain times of the year an apparition can be seen running across the fields in pursuit of something that cannot be caught. It always happens after a storm. Now I am not one to believe or disbelieve so I had to take his word for it. It satisfied him to have a listener to his tale so that stood me in good stead for the future, not that I needed it as he was as I said a gentle soul, one type I would have liked for a second father.
A cup of tea now disposed of I bade him farewell and went on my way to the nearest meadow. Now I get feelings about some areas and this meadow was no exception, it looked like it had been occupied in the distant past of history. There were the usual inundations here and there as if the meadow had been used for occupation. As the land sloped down to a small copse of about an acre or so a small area attracted my attention, it was an odd shape on its surface and indicated to me that there must have been a dwelling there at some time or another.
To the rear of the rise was a ditch of about 4 ft in depth and 5 ft across which separated this meadow from the next.
I searched for a while with not much to show when the farmer made an appearance on his way to collect some cattle. He told me that this was the meadow with the regular apparition; I wish he had not told me that as I was not keen on continuing with what he had told me still fresh in my mind. I honestly think he was trying to "tell me a tale" so to speak but I still had foreboding so I left that area and went down to the rear of the copse.
The ground was hard having all the moisture taken out by the trees and the hot days drying the top soil out.
After a while I found it was time to go, the sun at its highest and so hot. I always keep my detector switched on even when walking back to the car and dig any signals that I may hear on the way. Now this is the where the odd part of this missive ends. I got a signal which appeared to be a deep object and I nearly dismissed it as too dry to dig. I took a pace or too and stopped I thought to myself "go back, you l never know what it may be".
On returning I could not find a signal at all, missed it completely until I remembered a small stone projecting from the ground. I remember thinking to myself that maybe something may be hidden under there and tried it for sound. Nothing at all. But this is the area I had the previous signal. Another go produced the sound I had been waiting for.
My spade would not touch the clay soil that had gone rock hard so I got down on my knees and poked my knife into the clay to loosen it.
It suddenly struck me that if it is a deep object I would be here all day so I used my spade to assist the knife in penetrating the soil. I had removed no more than a handful of clay when I saw what appeared to be a twisted piece of brass. On closer inspection I saw it was also plaited into a ring shape. Three strands of thin wire where the six ends had been entwined and cold welded together. It looked like ring of sorts, but so shiny.
I took this for the farmer to see and he thought it may have been off a bailing machine. I was not convinced of that. I popped it into my finds bag and continued home, tired and weary.
My wife commented that she thought it was gold. GOLD! I said, "Well, maybe your right." The pattern looked familiar. Now where had I seen this before? My curiosity got the better of me when a thought passed through my mind that it might be something of importance. So I took it to the museum for their opinion.
The curator disappeared for a while and came back and asked, "Where did you find this?" I said it was found in a meadow on the particular farm I am writing about. "Well," he said, looking at me through thick horn rimmed glasses which had glass that looked like a bottle bottom "you have found a Viking gold ring dating to 850 ad."
I was flabbergasted; it appeared twice as beautiful as when I recovered it. The curator said that it could have come from a trade route from central England after the Danes settled here. How it came to be there is anybody's guess but the thought had passed through my mind that the apparition may have been looking for it. Well! You never know, do you?
I declared it for treasure trove but the coroner said it appeared to be a single loss and he said it was not necessary to go through as such. This was before the recent 1996 Act
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