The interesting discovery of Medieval Chinese coins found in Hampshire reminds me of my late friend Bill.. a police sergeant with Derbyshire Constabulary who took up metal detectorism when he retired in the 1980s…
He got access to the heavily wooded grounds of the old Pickford’s family Hall, the famous “carriers of goods” who brought most of their waggons through King Sterndale where they would change the horses as they drove between London and the North.. the home they’d got there was so large it was jokingly referred to as “The Cottage” by the village folk.. the Hall still stands but in a much reduced state..( only eight bedrooms now).. the lower reaches of the estate drive where the old original stone gate posts stand ivy entwined on a hairpin bend of the A6, were just waste land when Bill got permission to treasure hunt.. but he knew his stuff, even though he was only an amateur historian .. turns out the Hall grounds were laid on the possible site of a very ancient, maybe Romano British settlement…
He went there most days, finding many curious and baffling artefacts.. including his Medieval Chinese coins.. which caused quite a stir at the time and got that remarkable find reported on the pages of the national press.. all his ‘finds’ ended up at Buxton museum.. but he did have one very unexplainable incident on that site that he.. a complete down to earth sceptic.. couldn’t explain. He had been metal detecting there for some months so knew every inch of the ground.. felt totally at ease there and was hardly ever interrupted in his new found passion.. one particularly still morning he was scanning the soil in a sheltered dip.. when his detector “shrilled” a strong hit.. he began to dig excitedly.. suddenly he felt totally creeped out, had the sense he wasn’t alone, he paused and looked about just as a huge wind gusted around him, wrestled him to the ground and kept him pinned there for ten minutes or so.. flattened, unable to move.. nothing usually phased him… being of the classic old fashioned Copper ilk.. but that incident shook him up quite a bit and as soon as the wind slackened and he was able to prise himself up off the grass he scampered for his car and cleared off.. having felt massively threatened… Next morning he returned to the spot, ran the detector plate over the area the ‘find’ had rung out from.. but there was no signal of anything buried at all this time… no one had disturbed the soil any further where he had started to dig.. indeed the spot was very well hidden anyway he was sure no one had robbed it.. he spent quite a while digging the same site and others afterwards but never had a similar happening.. and couldn’t suggest an explanation for the strength or resulting action of that wind that day….
That hamlet strewn part of the Buxton suburbs had a long history .. who knew what was guarding it’s secrets…
In memoriam of retd. Sgt. Bill Parker .. A good man truly missed..
Hubert Hobux 