Discovery Tours

In 2018 Bill S donated an Anglo Saxon strirrup mount to the Castle Museum. This year we arranged for Bill to see what had become of his donation! It is now part of the ‘Viking: Rediscover the Legend’ exhibition that was on at the Castle and is now touring the rest of the UK.

The Morphing of an Artefact

Initially the above find was identified as a strapend but after sending it to our small finds expert for further assessment it was re-identified as a 17th C component  of a heavyweight scale! Once the finder, Ed S, was reunited with the find he gave it a good clean and in Ed’s words ‘The incised framing lines "dissolved" in the soak and the center of the piece swung out like the blade of a pocketknife.’

After some research of his own, Ed discovered it was a

 ‘tumbrel’ . See the Portable Antiquities page and Ed’s picture below

https://finds.org.uk/counties/findsrecordingguides/tumbrels/

Well done Ed on your research - a great discovery!

 Some sad news to report - Don Lieurance, a Discovery Tours veteran, has passed away after a long illness. Don, brought the real meaning of metal detecting to the group. The finds are secondary to the friendships and camaraderie!

Keep smiling Don, we will not forget you!

Left: Don with his wife Marilyn

Right: Don with David & Jimmy receiving the ‘Donna Trefry award.