I remember it was a cold and murky September afternoon. My dad, my sister Molly and I decided to have an afternoon metal detecting at one of my dad’s local detecting permissions. We arrived at the chosen field, put on our wellies hats and gloves and got our detectors out of the van.
My dad helped us to set up our machines and then off we went. I remember walking about 30 or so metres across the stubble field when my metal detector gave such a loud signal. I first thought to myself that it was probably a horse shoe or a tin can, or maybe a piece of metal from an ancient piece of farm machinery…something sounded different about the signal, so I decided to dig it up. I carefully pushed the tip of my spade into the ground, 6 or so inches from the signal, then continued in a circle all the way around the target. Being really careful not to touch whatever was buried underneath the spade, I lifted the plug and stared into the hole – but there was nothing. I used my hand to remove another layer, and there was something green inside the hole. My dad had always told me to stop digging when I first see the piece of metal or if I think it’s something interesting or very old and call him so that we can carefully log and excavate it together. I shouted, “Daddy! I think I’ve found something really good, it’s dark green!”. My dad slowly walked towards me and we both knelt over the hole. Firstly, we cleared the mud from the area around the edge, before my dad carefully pulled it out of the ground. “It’s a Bronze Age axe,” he said, “that’s amazing!” He passed it to me- it was in amazing complete condition, it felt cold and heavy, and still very sharp. I was so happy! I’ve never found anything much before, normally just rubbish, so I was so excited. I remember smiling the biggest smile – I was holding something from the Bronze Age, how did it get here? “Who dropped it?” I asked.
Dad emailed some pictures and its location to our local finds liaison officer, Kurt Adams, straight away. He replied over the following days that it was, in fact, an adze, not an axe, and it was something very special and extremely rare: something of local importance. When Dad told me that, I felt really proud that I saved something so precious from potentially being destroyed by farm machinery.
The following week, Dad took the adze to Shire Hall to meet with Kurt to hand it over to be photographed and logged onto the portable antiquities scheme. It was returned a few months later and it was both the land owner’s wish and mine to donate it to the Corinium Museum for everyone to see it, and also how important items like my adze could have been lost if it weren’t for our wonderful hobby of metal detecting.
Thomas Freebury
The Bronze Age Adze has recently gone on display at Corinium Museum along with two other objects kindly donated by Paul and Thomas Freebury.
