Following a week in the Italian resort of Lake Garda Rob and I were in Madrid for his stag do!!!
We saw everything in Madrid from the oldest profession in the world to eating in the oldest restaurant in the world!

Anyway... back to reality and back to our latest permission JHF1.
We decided to split the the survey into two distinct areas; the first being a Deserted Medieval Village (DMV) and the second area exploring the Romano-British side of things.

With the focus on a newly seeded 80 acre field that has a DMV at one end and a possible Roman shrine at the other we settled down to the task at hand.
The first good signal was an early Medieval buckle depicting the "beast biting the bar". The second signal was a complete surprise being a denarius of Vespasian! Ironically there wasn't much in the way of metallic evidence but quite a few C14th jug handles came to light.

We then switched to the Romano-British era and started looking for the alleged Roman shrine that was supposed to be in the area. It is our belief that there are probably several small "shrines" in the vicinity.
After an hour of surveying the "Roman" end of the field and with no results at all we decided to check out an anomaly in the landscape.
Within seconds several fragments of Roman pottery were recovered including grey ware and Samian Ware. 
It was almost inevitable that coinage was surely to follow and sure enough, it did! 15 more Roman coins were recovered but no other Roman artefacts were found.

The warm weather got the better of us so we decided to call in and see the landowners as we hadn't seen them for a few weeks.
As always, we had a warm welcome and discussed all that had gone on since we last met. From family weddings, holidays in Italy and Robs stag do in Madrid were some of the topics discussed. 
We are so proud that the whole family enjoy what we do and the results produced.
We also discussed landowners nearby and we were given wholehearted support that we could use their references in trying to obtain permission on a very large Estate there.

On the way home we called in to another permission that we haven't been to for quite a while to drop off a new crucial asset we have developed.
One of the key area's here is a 4 acre field that an incredible amount of Medieval evidence that has been recovered in superb condition.

The next stop was the pub for a well deserved pint then tea at the very popular chip shop in the village.

HD images of the day's finds can be seen here.

After a lovely week in the Italian resort of Garda on beautiful Lake Garda, it was all go after landing last night at Manchester T2.
The Déus units were all put on charge and the gear packed for an early start the next day for a return visit to JHF1. The trip to this permission on the last visit produced 23 Roman coins, 10 hammered coins and lots of Medieval pottery.

Today's survey was focussed on the Medieval era so it was back to the field that saw the recovery of the 10 pre-milled coins last week.
Within seconds the first of the hammered coins appeared. Another one quickly followed with a total of 5 recovered in 45 minutes.
Lots more Medieval pottery also followed with many examples of jug handles, which is usually a good sign.

In all, 7 hammered and a surprise denarius of Antoninus Pius (138 AD) was recovered making a total of 17 Medieval coins retrieved in two visits.
With the lack of Medieval artefacts such as buckles etc the assumption was that this field may have held some form of market, fair or fete at some time.
The coins currently range from John, Henry III, Edward I, Henry VII, Elizabeth I and the coins cover quite a wide area of 5 acres.

Having completed this field we had a quick look at some pasture next to a C11th church where the sheep had shortened the grass considerably. As per usual, the pasture had no evidence of Medieval activity. 

We then had a look at part of a huge field that had just been seeded next to a DMV but no pottery or signals were evident.
This field was fieldwalked whilst in rough plough and only two fragments of Medieval pottery were recovered.

We decided to take a detour on the way home to check on a Roman field that was in rough plough on the last visit. Sure enough it was seeded but the soil was too fluffy as no signals were encountered even though well over 100 Roman coins and other artefacts have been recovered here.

We elected for an early tea and ended up at a kebab shop.
This was one weird kebab shop as the kebabs were "deconstructed"!
That's a posh term adopted by Michelin Starred restaurants.
You'd have no chance of eating one if you're worse for wear.
Anyway, we persevered and headed home leaving some parts of the meal uneaten.

Tomorrow looks good for adder hunting so it'll be a mix of finds cleansing, blog writing, a photoshoot....... and seeking adders!

We're having another break this weekend with a long weekend in Madrid taking in Rob's stag do.
Hopefully we'll back in action on Sunday 22nd May at a site yet to be determined.

​Please check here for the latest high definition images of the days' recoveries.