BEHIND THE DIG : DIGGING THE VILLAGE FETE FIELD
Appearances in National Newspapers and a World Changed by World War.
It’s not everyday that a Digging Wednesday begins with a full photoshoot for a national newspaper. But after being asked to be part of a series of interviews for a metal detecting spotlight in The Guardians Observer magazine we had to be at our permission bright and early with all of the gear for that full digging vibe.
So needless to say the normal digging Wednesday was certainly sidetracked for a couple of hours as we had to work on finding our inner models and not the lost coins and artefacts we are used to unearthing. With all photography completed we found ourselves pottering across a rather forgotten pasture field on our permission and certainly not expecting the coin shooting and quirky artefact finding power session we were about to unearth in the golden evening sun.
This small pasture field refuge that we came to for our post photo shoot digging wind down is probably the smallest pasture field that we have on our permission and not one that we often make it to, we can rather ashamedly admit that it’s a bit neglected for the larger and more roman areas we are lucky to have. But it's that off season in the digging calendar and all of our ‘better’ fields are under seed or under forestation as the sheep farmers grow them long for grazing so here we are scratching around desperately in fields we would never normally visit and don’t tend to have high hopes for.
So welcome to the Village Field, a tiny pasture field off the main lane that is largely used for all of the Village Fete, Gatherings and Celebrations. It was actually recently used for King Charles III’s Coronation so has been beautifully mown flat ready for us to come coin hunting, because surely with all of these gatherings someone has to have lost some change right?
So needless to say the normal digging Wednesday was certainly sidetracked for a couple of hours as we had to work on finding our inner models and not the lost coins and artefacts we are used to unearthing.
Well find No. 1, a very high 20’s reading on the VDI, brought about a bit of excitement as a gold coloured pocket watch casing emerged from the grassy soil. Unfortunately not actual gold but a type of find that we very rarely uncover and an artefact that was most likely a very personal loss to the original owner.
Pocket Watches were first invented in 1510 by German Watchmaker Peter Henlein but the name for them was actually coined by King Charles II who started the trend of placing the small watch inside the pocket of his waistcoat. The trend soon boomed and the pocket watch rapidly became a status piece amongst the gentlemen of the upper classes, an item so treasured that they were often passed down through the male lines of the family as heirlooms. Even for the more middle and lower classes of society the humble pocket watch became an incredibly important item as whilst they lacked the glitz and the glam of the pocket watch of the elite many workers relied on a pocket watch for accurate timekeeping. For railroad workers in particular, timekeeping was so important that companies demanded they possessed a particular grade of pocket watch on them at all times.
A personal artefact that is highly woven within the male societal history from the 16th - 20th Century for not just the upper but also the working classes as well, only becoming out of fashion as the wristwatch is developed during World War 2. An excellent artefact for the first hole of the day.
The trend soon boomed and the pocket watch rapidly became a status piece amongst the gentlemen of the upper classes, an item so treasured that they were often passed down through the male lines of the family as heirlooms.
Before uncovering any more hidden gems the digging session was interrupted for the second time that day, but not by a photoshoot this time, instead by a lady passing through on horseback curious about what we were discovering. After a short chat and a showing off of the shiny pocket watch casing she trotted off on her way wishing us luck for the rest of our dig. Well she turned out to bring us quite the luck as the very next artefact was none other than a Child’s Lead Toy, a headless soldier proudly mounted on horseback.
Children’s toys were being industrially produced from the 17th Century and mostly rather horrifyingly made out of lead alloys. The harmful and toxic qualities found within lead wasn’t properly banned until as late as 1966 in Children’s Toys when they shifted to being made out of plastic. (Much better for humans, not so good for the environment).
Our headless soldier on horseback being cast out of hollow lead was most likely produced by William Britains the main firm in Britain who created the hollow manufacturing technique in 1893 and is evidence of the late Victorian and Edwardian Toy Soldier craze. Right up until World War One the most popular toys were Toy Soldiers, little boys and girls would all play with various members of the infantry and cavalry waging imaginary battles and wars upon their tiny lead worlds. But after the horrific and changing times of the World War public census changed on their feelings towards children playing with violence and Toy Production shifted from the previously very popular militaristic lines to produce lines focused more on peaceful civilian life such as farming.
Rather strangely as is the way the funny old world of digging works our next find of note was another example of a lead toy soldier also mounted on horseback but this time it was a much earlier manufacturing technique. This soldier proudly blowing his elaborate trumpet is an example of the german manufacturing technique where the toys were produced solid and semi flat and he features some incredible detail such as his large military style square saddle cloth. Perhaps a rather unfortunate young Victorian boy lost his prized cavalry division to a battle here in this small pasture field his troops scattered into the grass never to be found again.
Right up until World War One the most popular toys were Toy Soldiers, little boys and girls would all play with various members of the infantry and cavalry waging imaginary battles and wars upon their tiny lead worlds.
With two lead soldiers and a pocket watch casing taking up the vast majority of our artefact finds tin we ended the day searching for the treasures to fill the rather empty looking coins pod. A couple of holes later and we were left facing one of the most exciting sights for a detectorist with a large thick silver edge poking out of a side wall …
One careful excavation later and our already successful digging day was made with a huge 1942 George VI Half Crown. An excellent example of a British Coin that can be claimed to be one of the most ‘successful’ coin designs in history as its main design remained only minutely changed for over 450 years. The first ever Half Crown was minted during the reign of Henry VIII in solid gold, now that’s a digging dream, but the first silver half crowns appeared during the reign of Edward VI and they were also some of the first coins in Britain to be minted with their date.
Our Half Crown is not quite the solid silver of back in the good old days but there is some rather fascinating history as to why it only has 50% of its original sterling. Much like our lead toys, half crowns too experienced a change in their manufacturing after the effects of World War One but this change wasn’t brought about by a change in public emotions and feelings, it was instead brought about by a war debt. World War One was incredibly expensive and draining upon the British economy so in order to keep funding the war Great Britain borrowed a large amount from the USA which meant that after 1920 the silver content found with British Coinage was slashed in half to help repay this debt.
A dig absolutely steeped in the social and economic history from the World Wars. With a pocket watch made obsolete by technological developments and lead toys and currency that both experienced large changes to their manufacturing as a direct cause of World War One this quick power session in the Village Fete Field has really thrown us back in time to the changes that society experienced over the plight of both World Wars. It really isn't all about the super historic finds like the Roman and Medieval that teach you important history about your area, instead some much more poignant and emotional history can be trapped in the relics and artefacts of the more recent occupants.
