A new field

I arrived at the field and was pleased to see the rows still in place.
I went along the rows of stubble, which proved useful for marking where I had detected. Started getting signals quite soon into the field and recovered various different sized pieces of copper alloy and lead.
The shapes of the lead varied from flat cut pieces, to what I would call spillages, where lead has been heated and poured, with some spilling onto the ground or work surface.
A total of 12 hours, over two days, produced a mixed lot of 187 non ferrous items including the following. (Some items such as drinks cans, foil and occasional pieces of iron are not included and were disposed off.

Coins.. Where no date is found a period of reign is given. 7 coins and 1 fragment of a coin

Penny..
Queen Victoria 1860

Half Penny..
King George III (1760-1820) x2
Queen Victoria (1837-1901) x3
One fragment of a coin

Farthing..
Queen Victoria 1878

Not a coin, but of some monetary value at the time...



A market token for one shilling the trader's name is Coupe & Bowie, Covent Garden. The token was made by Randall of London. Larger than a penny in size and blank on one side.
This piece was interesting because it raised the questions, how and why did a Covent garden token end up in the middle of a cultivated field? The answer became apparent with the discovery of a couple of buttons.
One was a livery button with the maker's name Sherlock and Co.. 15 Kings Street, Covent Garden and the other a 'four hole' or 'fastening button', sometimes referred to as 'fly' buttons from the time before zippers on gentleman's trousers. This bore the name of a maker in Whitechapel.
So now we have three items that are all connected by London. The number of odd pieces of lead and other non ferrous metals again were not all in keeping with their location and, in my opinion were too many, in quantity to be casual losses from farm labourers.
I have come to the conclusion that this field had been used between the years of 1847 to 1887 for the disposal and spreading of 'street sweepings' from the covent garden area of London.

Many people earned a living using barges back and forth to London. The barges took produce from the farms to London and other east coast cities, returning with the horse manure from the streets as fertilizer for the land. It was among this 'fertilizer' that many unrelated items ended up on the fields of Essex.

There are two other livery buttons, I have yet to identify, along with alot of other items. I shall be posting some images soon and updating this blog as and when I get more information.

Another piece of interest was this scabbard hook or 'Frog' which is dated to the 18/19th century.