18-year-old metal detectorist from Newark discovers Anglo-Saxon gold treasure in Farndon field near to civil war site

An unassuming field has yielded a historic find.

One stormy day late last year an amateur metal detectorist stumbled upon a golden discovery.

While scanning a field in Farndon, Dylan Hancock, 18, found a 7th century, Anglo-Saxon gold brooch .

The 18-year-old only began metal detecting less than two years ago, but in that time has discovered many things from common trash to historical trinkets, but this discovery far outweighed the coins and musket balls he was used to.

"I went crazy because I've always had an interest in history and it's probably my best ever find." He said.

"It was thundering and raining, I didn't know what it was at first but it was literally just peeping out of the dirt at me, I didn't even really need to dig to find it.

"I was only out there for about 20 minutes and it ended up being my first find of the day."

The field of discovery, sited between Hawton and Farndon, is located next to an old civil war camp where many items ranging from buttons to bullets have been found.

The exact location of the find is being kept a secret as Dylan explained there is a section of the detectorist community known as '"Nighthawkers" who take advantage of historic sites by stepping on to land without permission and under cover of darkness scavenge for the most valuable items.

To confirm exactly what he had found, Dylan took his gold brooch to the Newark Civil War Museum where experts could examine it.

"The way the process works is that there is an open day, you can hand in literally anything you've found even if it's a lump of lead.

"It will be inspected and then sent to a coroner who will decide whether the item has any special historical interest, research it and fill out a report.

"Because what I found has been classed as treasure, it has been sent off to an evaluator and I'm actually able to make money off of it."

Faced with the choice of whether to hold on to the gold brooch, Dylan said: "I wouldn't feel comfortable keeping my hands on something that historical.

"I'd prefer that it was sold to a museum, where it can be properly showcased for everyone to enjoy."

Dylan encourages everyone to give metal detecting a go, especially the young as the hobby is often seen as an older man's hobby.

He said: "I've always had an interest in history but didn't have much of a chance to explore it at school, so I'd always read up about it myself.

"Then a metal detector came up one day, I thought I'd like to do this and I've been doing it from that point on.

"I'd say absolutely get involved because most young people now spend so much time inside and on their phones, not many really get a chance to spent time outdoors.

"I can spend hours and hours out in the field. It's an activity I can do with my dad and do together, getting out into the fresh air and experiencing nature, it's perfect."

In his short career as a detectorist, Dylan has found musket balls, buttons and a number Roman and Viking coins from from sites along the River Trent.

He also finds a lot of cans and bottle caps and sometimes even live bullets and shotgun shells from hunters that are then handed in to the police.