I haven't been doing much gaming of any kind recently, bar the odd dabble with Lion Rampant and Warhammer, but I have been out metal detecting rather a lot, and son 2 and have found loads of goodies, 2 of which are of a bellicose nature, so suit this blog.
The first is a Civil War musket ball, which are a quite common metal detecting find, but this was our first and found on a new piece of land we have been allowed to detect on at the village of Monkton Farleigh near Bath. On July 3rd, Waller's army laid an ambush at Monkton Farleigh hoping to surprise and beat back Hopton's Royalist force advancing from Bradford-on-Avon. They sprung the ambush but were driven back to the ford in the valley below where a fierce fight ensued. This musket ball was probably fired or dropped on that day, during the initial ambush round what is now called Shooters Lane.
The second find came to light earlier today, and I was desperate to run about telling as many people as I can about it. We braved thick drizzle (which was quite refreshing initially after a muggy day yesterday) to visit another new permission near Frome in Somerset and unearthed a Victorian penny first, followed by this considerably older item from 15" down
which I believe to be the head of a Frankish throwing axe, or francisca . These date from the fifth to the eighth ceturies and were used by Germanic troops either serving Rome or busy invading Britain and fighting the likes of King Arthur. Needless to say I pinged a picture off to the county Finds Liason Officer and hope to hear back soon.
You can just make out the socket for the shaft in the picture above which we will be leaving untouched until the archaeologist has had a look. So all in all an exciting day. Ifeel a bit guilty neglecting the toy soldier front, but to be honest we are having such a blast detecting, I can't find time to do much else.
