Stalbridge, Hoard or Grave? Questions About a Pay-to-dig Commercial Rally in England [Updated]

 

Artefact hunter John Belgrave, 60, a retired pensions consultant from Purley, Surrey, made a newsworthy find at a pay-to-dig rally  in the village of Stalbridge, near Sherborne, Dorset, in 2020. He uncovered a Bronze Age sword, an axe head and bronze bangle reportedly lying in a deposit together (Steven Morris, Detectorist unearths Bronze Age hoard after getting lost on treasure hunt Guardian Thu 30 May 2024).  He said he discovered he'd been separated from the group and headed to higher ground to try to spot them "when he made what he has called the find of a lifetime".

His device activated as he walked along and when he dug down he uncovered a rapier sword dating back to the Middle Bronze Age.

Just in passing, metal detectors do not have a mind of their own. They do not "activate" themselves. Either Mr Belgrave had it turned on, or he had it turned off. But let us remember that he says he did not know where he was, whether he was still in the area where the landowner had given permission to search, or not. The rest of the rally participants were nowhere in sight. Anyway, when the machine beeped, he dug down "eight inches". This raises the question of whether the find was made as widely-scattered pieces in ploughsoil, or in a relatively discrete zone eight inches down in pasture?

The 61cm (2ft) rapier had been deliberately broken into three pieces and placed in the ground alongside the remains of a wealthy landowner. Unusually, the hilt, though cast in bronze, was shaped to mimic a wooden handle. Only two similar rapiers have been found in Britain before and they were incomplete. As well as the rapier, a palstave axe head and a decorative arm bangle were found, presumably buried as an offering. Dorset Museum and Art Gallery raised £17,000 to buy the objects, with the proceeds shared between Belgrave and the landowner. Belgrave [...]  paid £20 to go on the rally on private farmland but became separated from the group. Belgrave said: “There was a group of between 40-50 detectorists there ...

So this unnamed landowner got 800-1000 quid to let these people on his land and walk off with whatever they found that was not reportable as Treasure, and then another 8000 quid on top of that. And what archaeological information was lost? The PAS record of this find [SUR-68C46E] was made in February 2020, and if we look, according to the database, it is the ONLY FIND reported from Stalbridge in 2020. There are no other finds from this commercial search on record. Who was the organiser? Where is this "responsible metal detecting"? 40-50 detectorists, the only one who it seems reported something is the guy who had to, by law, because the hoard fell under the Treasure legislation. The PAS database reveals that all the rest just walked off with the loot. One in fifty. 

The story of how Belgrave became separated from the group and made the discovery is puzzling: 

Belgrave said: “There was a group of between 40-50 detectorists there and they had searched the land before [but had not found the hoard previously? PMB] [...] “I tagged along and didn’t know anyone there. Somehow I got left behind and lost and so I walked to high ground in a field and that is when I got a strong signal for this find of a lifetime.

There are a number of problems with this trite story of "how I found this hoard on a rally", like the satellite photos showing the whole area around Stalbridge as pretty boringly flat, with no commanding hills - so where was this "high ground"? There were no witnesses to the tekkie's "hoard dance" then? And any photos of the items in situ? And those "remains of a wealthy landowner"? [Update: I checked this with the local FLO, who has not replied, but one from a neighbouring county - who actually dealt with the find confirms that the journalist probably misunderstood or invented that bit of the story; neither have replied to my question whether there will be a paper publication of this hoard and its implications beyond a potentially ephemeral digital record in the PAS database].