Artefact Hunting Vandals Strike Historic Church Site in Britain

Matthew Lockwood, 'Vandals strike historic church site' BBC 21 September 2026. 

Campaigners fighting to save a Grade II listed 15th Century church tower say they are to step up security after the graveyard was vandalised. Hertfordshire Police said holes were dug in the ground of Thundridge Old Church of St Mary and All Saints, near Ware, on 16 August. Officers have released CCTV footage showing a group of men in the area with what appeared to be metal detectors behind them[...] The site is a scheduled monument, and it is illegal to use metal detectors or disturb the ground.

This is a truly disgraceful act of disrespect and a blatant violation of the law. Desecrating a scheduled monument and historical graveyard for selfish plunder not only damages irreplaceable history but also deeply insults the community working tirelessly to preserve it. It is incredibly disheartening to see such disregard for heritage and sacred ground, and those responsible must be held fully accountable. It is time to consider what should be done about the lack of any curbs on artefact hunting and collecting and the unregulated use of metal detectors as current half-measures are doing nothing to curb such selfish behaviour.

STOP - Stop Taking Our Past.

Rather Optimistic Tekkies Disappointed by no-sale

Two Suffolk artefact hunters will not be able to pay the landowner off just yet (Alice Cunningham,'Medieval gold ring fails to sell at auction', BBC 23/9/2026). The auction was by Noonans Mayfair during a sale featuring a mixed bag: "silver, jewellery, watches, and objects of vertu". The 14th-century gold seal ring was originally uncovered in April 2024 within a ploughed field near Stoke Ash, Suffolk, by two friends, Aaron Pizzey (30) and James Race (39). Although the duo expressed disappointment when the piece failed to reach its £8,500 reserve price, they plan to try selling it at auction again down the road.

Initial estimates valued the ring between £10,000 and £12,000, though the finders had higher hopes of it fetching £25,000 to £30,000 (eh?).

Aaron Pizzey (left) and James Race 

The ring features a carnelian intaglio depicting a griffin, alongside an inscription that presumably identifies its owner. The engraved text reads "GRIFFVnMATILIELEMATILIOVR", which evidently translates to something like "griffin Matilda the maternal countess". It is claimed that this phrasing points toward Matilda of Lancaster, the Countess of Ulster, as the probable owner. Notably, she joined the Augustinian Campsey Priory near Wickham Market as a canoness around 1347–1348, located roughly 20 miles from the discovery site. How true that is is anybody's guess.

The men also managed to find a hoard of 60 gold Roman coins in February in Eye and were similarly going through the treasure process again before hoping to auction them. The Suffolk archaeological heritage is being ripped out of the archaeological record rich and fast now.