posted Feb 18, 2011 12:22 AM by a standish
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updated May 29, 2012 5:51 AM
]
25.04.12 Cynthia Spencer Hospice
An afternoon show and tell event, saw 14 people in attendance with the oldest being 90 years of age. It was wonderful to share stories, memories and swap tales about the artefacts on show. Many objects were shared round, and almost all elicited a question from the audience. It was a busy occasion trying to keep an eye on where in the assembled circle, each display tray had progressed to. So thank you everyone on making the event, one to remember.
17.04.2012 BRI GroupAn early start for an 8am breakfast, followed by a presentation on the value of metal detecting to members of the BRI breakfast group. 42 people were in attendance and quite a few finds were on display. One of the more interesting asides, was the talent of Julie, who had baked a cake with the NARC logo. A brief report on the talk can be found here.
10.04.2012 Northampton Inner Wheel21 ladies gathered to receive a new presentation on the value of metal detecting, recording and how we work together with local authorities. There were many finds on display and as always there was much comment about the wide range of items on show. There were many interesting questions from the audience and much positive comment and feedback about the quality of the work done by NARC.
19.01.2012 Willoughby W.I.
19 members were in attendance this evening. There was a lot of interraction with an added extra of a finds map of the items discovered around the village in 2011. The members had brought in a wide and varied selection of items that had been found in their gardens over the years, [see feedback section]. It was good to hear about the local history group taking the lead in getting a local geographical feature listed. Well done to you all and we look forward to seeing you at the heritage weekend in June.
16.01.2012 Bugbrooke U3A
54 members attended their first such event of 2012 and were pleasantly entertained by Alan & Tim. There were many interesting questions around the responsible approach taken by NARC to recording, researching and displaying the finds through the travelling museum. A lot of positive comments were received about the presentation, the joint approach to working with C.L.A.S.P, as well as answering questions as to what book to use to research coin values and their history. It was a very succesful event and Tim & Alan would like to say a huge thank you to everyone for making us so welcome. Keep up the excellent work.
12.01.2012 Rugby U3A talk
After a guided tour of the infamous gyratory system [3 times around it!], we finally made it to the destination where over 130 members of a thriving U3A group attended the first meeting of 2012.This was the largest audience that we have given a talk to, to date. It was very well received, and the feedback comments were extremely positive indeed. [They can be read here]. There were many interesting questions and some excellent audience participation. A huge thank you to you all for the warm welcome and we wish you every success throughout 2012.
Feedback
On behalf of the Committee and Members of EL, I write to thank you so much for speaking at our November meeting about your metal detecting finds, and in particular we very much appreciated you bringing the travelling museum.
From the comments received on the evening I know that all of the members found your talk both entertaining, but also hugely informative. For my own part, I was incredibly moved to be allowed to hold the Queen Elizabeth I coins. It was such a tangible link with the past, that I felt quite emotional, and in conventional museums such artefacts are always out of reach behind glass.
Thank you for helping to make our November meeting such a very interesting one. On behalf of EL Group may I take this opportunity to wish you and all of your colleagues in Northampton Aretfacts Recovery Club a very happy Christmas and a happy and successful 2012.
NARC XMAS DINNER
Pictures are now in the gallery. Many thanks indeed to everyone who donated the mystery prizes, and a huge thank you to Sue for making it all happen on the night.
A huge thank you also to Joan Allen for their gift. The best mystery prize of the night, a diving session, was one by our minute secretary Denise. If you have any finds to record with our FLO, then below you will find a list of surgeries and venues, where you can hand them in. So, until the next meeting, enjoy the New Year celebrations and make sure you find some time to get out onto the fields, where hopefully all your finds be exciting ones. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Portable Antiquities Scheme - dates of local finds surgeries April - May 2012, to be advised.
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TOWCESTER ARCHAEOLOGY DAY
A gallery of pictures taken at the Towcester Archaeology celebration event on 31.07.2011 and the exhibition at the Waterloo Farm Leisure complex can be found here
The October club meeting will have a theme of Weights and Measures. So please bring along an object to show other members.
The October club meeting will also have a guest speaker talking about Milestones.
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PRESTON CAPES VILLAGE FETE – A Fun Afternoon
Sunday, 17th July 2011
The annual fund-raiser for the church and village hall, proved to be a very interesting afternoon. There was an excellent display of artefacts, which led to some great feedback as follows,
- Very interesting and i had a good time,
- Fascinating finds, would like to see more,
- Fascinating displays, varied and very interesting to hear the stories of discovery,
- Great display, our boys loved all the old artefacts and were really interested,
- I think its very interesting and fun to look at,
- Absolutely amazing exhibits,
- Very good display,
- Very interesting, being able to get up close to see the objects. There were some very well informed people who took the time to explain the artefacts. Thank you.
- Amazing finds! lovely to see what you actually found in our own village.
- Very interesting display and knowledgeable people to talk to.
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Sam Moorhead talk
[Finds Officer for the British Museum, 2011 Archaeologist of the Year]
On Friday June 17th 2011 at 8pm, the club were honoured to have such a distinguished guest speaker, Mr Sam Moorhead, come and deliver a talk to us and invited guests, on Roman coinage. The talk proved enlightening and extremely informative as to the value of recording our finds and the interpretation that can be drawn from the findspots.
The value of recording Roman grots was brought home to us all as particularly as the lower base coinage of the early 5th century is proving to be exciting in defining a possible date as to when the coinage actually went out of circulation.
It was an excellent evening and indeed a pleasure to welcome many guests from the world of archaeology, other detecting clubs and C.L.A.S.P organisations. Thank you all for coming along.
We are indeed very grateful to our Finds Liaison Officer - Julie Cassidy, of the Portable Antiquities Scheme, for her help in arranging this talk.
Feedback
- Please thank everyone who got involved withn organising this event. We found the talk to be enlightening and thought provoking. What an excellent speaker thoroughly enjoyable. I hadn't considered the impact that metal detecting has had on developing our understanding of occupied Britain (well done to all of us). Thank you.
- It was an excellent evening and very enjoyable indeed.
- Well what can you say? It was Brilliant. Sam is witty, enthusiatic, a thought provoking speaker. I am so glad we came to this talk. Now we shall all value the Grots because we know how important these are......Bet we all have some of these is our rubbish box!
- Thanks very much for organising the talk last night. Sam could have gone on for much longer I am sure, but he managed to cover so much in the hour and a half. I think the point that came across to me was the value of finds. The intrinsic financial value appears to be of secondary interest to the much more valuable location information. An excellent ally.
- I know that Sam greatly enjoyed his visit to the club last month, and has passed on his thanks to all members for making him so welcome.
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Once Upon a Time, schools had strong rules of discipline and punishments. Read all about what the children had to put up with in 1683. Click here
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SATURDAY 2nd APRIL.- pictures from the rally now available in the gallery. The report has now been posted. Click here
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KILSBY History Society - Metal detecting exhibition.Read the report and see the picture gallery here
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Photos of members reference books.
Club members reference books 02.2011
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posted Dec 30, 2010 10:54 AM by a standish
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updated Jul 13, 2011 8:12 AM
]
Whitehall Villa 2011 dig
The 2011 Whitehall Villa dig is nowover for the year. A full BLOG of the dig can be found on www.whitehallvilla.co.uk
Well done to all CLASP members involved in this years event.
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posted Dec 4, 2010 12:34 AM by a standish
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updated Apr 22, 2011 10:17 AM
]
A superb evening was had by all. If you want to read the report and see the photos -- click here. Or, go to Tales from the NARC and choose the NARC - Social events link |
posted Oct 13, 2010 6:10 AM by Tony Smithurst
At our August Club meeting, N.A.R.C. had the pleasure of hearing Katherine Robbins talk to us about her studies and how she is interacting with the P.A.S. to analyse the spatial distribution of finds across certain regions. To assist in her studies, Katherine has published an on-line survey for metal detectorists that she hopes will give her an insight as to both how we detect and record our finds. The survey is totally ANONYMOUS and she would welcome as much feedback as we can give her.
So, CALLING ALL YOU METAL DETECTORISTS OUT THERE...
You don't have to be from the regions listed as there is room on the survey for you to identify the counties where you detect. If you can spare the time, why not take a look and participate if you can: http://www.isurvey.soton.ac.uk/896From the survey introduction:
This survey is being conducted a part of my PhD at the University of Southampton. I am looking at the spatial distribution of finds recorded by the Portable Antiquities Scheme using Hampshire, Northamptonshire and the Isle of Wight as case studies. My aim is to understand those biases that might affect where artefacts are buried, where they survive, where they are recovered by members of the public and where they are recorded with the PAS.
The vast majority of the data recorded by the PAS are recovered by metal detectorists and therefore an understanding of your methods and interests is essential for an understanding of the PAS dataset.
This questionnaire aims to gather information on your choices of sites, detecting practices, interests and recording habits. The last page provides space for you to comment on any other aspects of your hobby that I haven’t covered here that you feel are important for me to consider. The questionnaire may take up to 30 minutes to complete if all questions are answered fully.
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posted Sep 17, 2010 8:55 PM by a standish
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updated Mar 17, 2012 4:37 AM
]
Club Night - AGM 15 members turned out for a very succesful evening with a very entertaining speaker, Tim Upson Smith. Tim spoke passionately about a communtiy project he was working on in the midst of Warwickshire. Everyone present commented on how interesting the talk was and how things were coming together with the community volunteers. An interesting aside to the project, was the encouragement of artist impressions of the finds, combined with poetry. Very different indeed. Our next meeting will be at the WHITE HART, in FLORE, on the 20th April 2012. Thanks to everyone who came along last night, and well done to Sue on her success in winning the FOTM shield. Finally a reminder that in the February meeting we did agree as a club to exhibit our finds in support of the Willoughby Heritage weekend on Saturday 16th June and the Preston Capes village fete on Sunday 15th July. So please put these dates into your diary. The 2011 FOTM competition results are now posted. Pictures of the March winning entries can be seen on the same page. Happy Hunting everyone and we all look forward to seeing each others finds and gadgets. . ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Great Rugby Ring HuntOn Saturday 20th November at 10am, 6 members of NARC met at Hillmorton playing fields to take part in the 'great Rugby ring hunt'. We had been called in to help in a search for a wedding ring that had been lost by a member of the public earlier in the week. After gaining the necessary permission from the relevant authorities, we begun the search. The weather was a typical November cold, foggy and damp day. We split up into 3 teams and methodically and painstakingly proceeded to search the identified areas. After a couple of hours we all met up over a coffee to discuss progress. The score so far was £3.20 to the detectorists, but no ring. So, we resumed the search moving onto different areas. Regretfully, at the end of 5 hours searching, the ring had beaten us. Well, almost .. we had recovered a total of £6.30, just enough to cover the cost of the petrol! We are now hoping that a member of the public had picked the ring up earlier in the week and handed it into the police. |
posted Aug 3, 2010 1:10 AM by a standish
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updated May 29, 2012 5:51 AM
]
- Latest additions are in RED.
- May 2012 - The 'Scorchio' RALLY PICTURES - general images
- FOTM results table is now updated.
- Latest comments from the recent talk to the Far Cotton History group, 22.05.12
- June,s meeting - RED LION, KISLINGBURY.
- The minutes from the March meeting are now in the members section.
- CLASP - The 2012, Whitehall Summer excavation dates, run from Monday 11th June to Friday 6th July
- NARCy's 2nd trip to Canada. Read all about it here.
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There are reports circulating the area of people hunting with lurchers. Please inform the landowner asap, if you see anything suspicious.
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As the lambing and calving season gets under way, please make sure that all gates are closed and that you report any animal welfare concerns to the landowner. There is also the possibility of thieves and rustlers becoming more active. If you see any suspicious vehicles, please pass on your concerns.
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Chinese lanterns continue to be a source of concern, if club members see any on the farmland, please pick them up and dispose of them into a bin. Please don;t leave them lying around for the animals to eat. One landowner lost 8 cattle in 12 months to lacerated stomachs caused by these objects.
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There are increasing reports of scrap metal theft occurring across our region. Earlier this week a blue merceded van and its occupants were caught by the landowner inside a remote barn close to a village 6 miles south east of us.
2 weeks ago in a recent incident in a village 8 miles to the North of us, thieves in a white Mondeo, raided a local farm. Fortunately they were disturbed, but not before they had taken a few chickens from the coop as well.
A white van was also spotted parked up about a mile away at the same time. Presumably awaiting the call from those doing the theft, to come along to the designated spot and load up the scrap.
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NFU are asking memebrs of the rural community to keep an eye out for livestock rustlers, and suspicious livestock vehicle movements at night. There have been a few incidents in our locality and the likelihood is that it will continue to increase as the recession continues to bite.
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There have been several incidences reported locally where the remote fields have been accessed in the middle of the night by criminals who have set fire to stolen copper wire, in order to strip the metal out of the jacket. Needless to say, if you see any such activity going on, or come across the remains of such activity, please let the landowner, or local police know.
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The NFU are reporting an increase in the theft of fuel from farm vehicles and storage facilities.
Landowners in the area report that in the past week, they have been experiencing 'travellers' driving up the farm tracks and inquiring about 'scrap metal', during the day time.
They ask residents in rural areas to be vigilant about suspicious vehicles seen at similar locations. If you see anything suspicious, please contact 03000 111 222
NARC advice to members is to ensure that you note the times and number plates of suspicious vehicles in the area that you detect. Also make sure that your ID card is clearly placed in the window of your vehicle, for all to see.
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CLASP |
The 2012 Summer dig at Whitehall runs from Monday 11th June to Friday, 6th July.
The BBQ will be on the Thursday evening (5th July). This is likely to be the last major summer excavation on this site, as the work is just about complete.
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The 2011 Whitehall Villa dig report and further information on the project can be found at www.whitehallvilla.co.uk.
A very good pictorial blog on how the CLASP group recovered and raised the 2 major roof beams, found on the Whitehall site, earlier this year. Well worth viewing.
Watch the video on you tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbkAFgWSshQ
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| A Diary of the Treasure process. |
Read all about the latest correspondence here. Last updated 02.10.10
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General talks |
Read the latest feedback on a talk delivered on 12.01.12 to the members of the Rugby U3A group.
The Towcester and District Local Heritage Groups Archaeology day exhibition, report and pictures from the 31st July event.
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2010 Harpole
Archaeological dig report |
This 'dig' report can be read online, by clicking on the 2010 Harpole link.
There is no proposed dig scheduled for Harpole in 2011. |
Rallies - Beginners Advice.
Rally report
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An essential read if you are thinking of going on a Metal Detecting Rally. The advice can be found in the Reference section of the site.
This section details members experiences of Rallies and their finds.
The Great Rugby Ring Hunt - read how we got on.
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Boudicca |
This is a very interesting piece of research carried out by Geoff at Chefphones, it is now available as an attachment in our Reference section. It's well worth a read.
It's worth reminding members that if you require headphones, then speak to Geoff who will give you 10% discount.
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| Gallery |
Visit the gallery to see the latest slideshow of the April 2011 club rally.
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Tales from the NARC
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This humorous section has 4 parts to it.
I don't believe it read the latest stories about our time spent detecting
Once upon a time contains a lovely story entitled 1963 and the Great Train Robbery.
NARCy's travels - Our club flag is now out and about. Catch up with him here on his travel blog. He has got the taste for travel and is now back from his latest trip to CANADA [again].
NARC - Social events, where you will find reports and photos of our social activities
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External Rallies & Events
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Have a read of all our external digs here...
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| Reference |
Lots of very useful information in this area, providing links to almost every aspect of metal detecting. e.g.
Roman coinage - Visit the reference section and read the latest post.
TOMBAC buttons - a very useful site to help you date them.
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posted Jul 17, 2010 3:41 AM by a standish
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updated Nov 7, 2010 2:39 PM
]
posted Jul 10, 2010 3:53 AM by a standish
[
updated Jun 15, 2011 12:42 AM
]
Summer 2011
This years 2011 dig is now up and running and already NARc detectorists have been on site each day. 2 roman coins have been recovered [by Dave D.] along with various pieces of iron. Talking of which, Nigels first task onsite was to help identify the boundaries of the possible forge area, that was discovered last year. He was quickly into his stride and soon marked out the Northern end of the area. It looks to be quite a big area and has some interesting possibilities.
Summer 2010
This years 2010 dig, proved to be a very exciting one with many interesting features and artefacts being revealed. N.A.R.C members managed an onsite presence on every day but one, of the dig. The spoilheaps were searched thoroughly. The first day also resulted in an area to the right of BH2, being found to be highly contaminated with metal shards. Thanks to a donation of powerful magnets, N.A.R.C. were able to pass these onto Stephen Young and Tony Harrison, who then set about tasking a colleague [John] to scrape the area and retrieve the metal filings. All in all, this activity was repeated at least 3 times and a clear working area was defined and confirmed by the Detectorists and John the scraper. Early analysis of the shards suggest irregular shapes, which could be hammerscale.
The first coin of the dig fell to Alan, who found a 1797 George 3rd Cartwheel penny literally a couple of millimetres below the surface, in the field close to Villa 1. As the dig progressed a chat with the site finder Dave D, revealed that the Cartwheel penny was likely to be the remnants of a previous Open Day event. Analysis of the find spot, revelaed that last years caravans were placed over the area, thus the area had remained undetected for several years.
Soon after that find, a roman nummus came off the spoilheap. Tony, with his new
machine and novel scraping tool, proved to be a dab hand at spoilheap
searching. Recovering most of the spoilheap coins, including a radiate from the old spoilheap of Bath House 1.
As the weeks went by our members regular onsite presence became accepted, as we recovered a large amount of hobnails from the protovilla spoilheaps. Until this year, i gather very few hobnails had been recovered. This will add another dimension for others involved in the project analysis.
Peter H and David G proved to be enthusiastic club members, joining in the spoilheap searching when time allowed. Dave D and Tim B were regular visitors and as per usual the experience of Dave, resulted in a beautiful find next to the long beams of wood. It has yet to be cleaned up, but its an interesting artefact possibly associated with wood splitting.
The final totals have yet to be confirmed, but its in the region of 12 coins, 2 brooches, 2 rings, 1 fibula fragment and well over 20 hobnails, to name but a few. A full report will be revealed in due course.
Our thanks must go to all at C.L.A.S.P. and Whitehall farm, for encouraging us to support their work. We very much look forward to working with you on other projects. Thank you to everyone at N.A.R.C. who participated in this event. I hope to see you all at our next club meeting.
Alan
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posted Jul 6, 2010 1:18 AM by a standish
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updated Jul 6, 2010 1:23 AM
]
I am very pleased to
announce that N.A.R.C's application to join the C.L.A.S.P. project was
formerly accepted at a meeting held on July 5th 2010. On behalf of the
members of N.A.R.C, I must thank all involved and as a club we look
forward to working closely with all the constituent members on their
projects as directed by C.L.A.S.P.For further information on
the work of C.L.A.S.P. go to http://www.olioweb.me.uk/clasp/ |
posted Jun 29, 2010 3:56 AM by Tony Smithurst
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updated Jul 3, 2010 2:43 PM
]
N.A.R.C. are very pleased to have been able to assist in the C.L.A.S.P. Whitehall Farm Roman Villa dig this year (2010). For full details of how the dig is going, please take a look at their link:
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