Treasure beneath your feet

When I was a boy and we'd moved back to Plymouth from Singapore in the 1960's, my dad found two items in our new home while digging in the garden. One was a coin and the other was a military badge. The coin was encrusted with years of dirt but, after a lot of cleaning, I could see two heads on it which turned out to belong to William and Mary who reigned together in the late 1600's. The coin was a halfpenny and had amazingly lain in the ground for 300 years. The cap badge that was also found belonged to the Manchester Regiment but I've never been able to accurately date it. I always supposed that it was dropped by a soldier stationed at the nearby Knowle Battery. Nothing else was found and in the late 1970's, two crazes took off. One was skate boarding and the other was metal detecting. I would have probably been a lot cooler getting a skateboard but instead I went to Dixons and bought a metal detector (this was after unsuccessfully trying to build my own!). I think they were £19.99 which seemed a fortune at the time. I'm sure that other coins must have remained buried in the garden but I never found any of them. Searches of the area only revealed coins from the early 1900's while people told me that they had discovered coins hundreds of years old and even found Roman coins nearby. After finding endless junk, the hobby eventually became very boring and the metal detector lay in a cupboard for many months. I remember two things that I found with the metal detector that I would have rather not come across. One was an incendiary bomb and the other was an animal trap that I very nearly put my arm in (it was covered in leaves). One year later and I had a box of pre-decimal coins, bullet shells, a few military buttons and other things that I didn't have a clue what they were. Eventually, I gave it all to my nephew.

I don't know what happened to the metal detector but it disappeared sometime in the early 1980's.

A few years ago, I bought another metal detector off Ebay. Amazingly, it's lay in the cellar ever since! There are reports nearly every week of amazing finds, some of them quite local, and there's always that temptation to dig it out and to go exploring. I doubt I ever will though!

Haunted Plymouth

I was kindly given a copy of 'Haunted Plymouth' by its author, Kevin Hynes. The book makes fascinating reading and tells tales of mysterious ghosts and apparitions in and around Plymouth. From hauntings in Saltash Passage and Wyndham Square to strange activity at the Gin Distillery and the Reel Cinema. During the Second World War, there were many reports of people seeing dead relatives and neighbours and even today their spirits appear to be present in many locations within the city. We all seem to have had odd experiences that can't be explained including hearing strange noises and bumps in the night to seeing fleeting shadows and lights. Some of the ghosts in the book are more apparent than others with legs being seen disappearing up stairs and ghostly visitors in full period clothing. Our grandparents always seemed to have a story about someone who had seen a ghost or knew of someone who lived in an old creepy house full of strange noises or occurrences. I've experienced it myself but were those strange noises behind the walls a previous long-dead owner or just a few scurrying mice? Is it real or just in our imaginations? Check out Kevin's excellent book and decide for yourself! Haunted Plymouth by Kevin Hynes is published by The History Press and is available at all bookstores. If you want to meet Kevin, he will be signing copies at Waterstones on Saturday 4th September 2010 between 11am and 1pm at the New George Street branch and between 2pm and 4pm at the Drake Circus branch. Kevin also takes people on regular ghost walks starting on the Barbican. There's more information at http://www.hauntedplymouth.com/

Romans at Rame

Following on from a previous posting on Roman occupation in the area, I was interested to read in the paper on 24th July about a gold Roman artefact that was found in a field at Rame. Maker means 'old ruin' and this has always been taken to mean that a Roman villa or other building once stood in the area at an unknown location. If this is the case, then there will be many other Roman artefacts still unfound remaining in the area. The article referred to metal detectorist, Craig Budding, who was digging in a field on the Rame Peninsula. The item found was a gold pestle which may have hung around the owner's neck as a sign of fertility. It is thought to date somewhere between the first and fourth century. Anna Tyacke, the Royal Cornwall Museum Finds Liaison Officer, suggested, 'The pestle could have been used with a mortar to grind cosmetics which would have been smeared on the body as an aid to fertility.' It's a very interesting item and there must be many more such items like this to be found. If you're taking a walk around the Rame Peninsula, especially if you're crossing any ploughed fields, then keep your eyes open. You never know what you might find!

Plymouth Through Time

My latest book, from Amberley Publishing, is out this week. Called 'Plymouth Through Time', it features then and now photos of Plymouth from the turn of the 1900s. All the new photos in the book are in colour and some of the places covered include Milehouse, Turnchapel, the Hoe, St Budeaux, Saltash Passage, the City Centre, the Barbican and much more. It's available in all the usual places such as Waterstones, WH Smiths and online but will also be available in Morrisons and other supermarkets. It's one of a series and later titles will include, 'The Rame Peninsula Through Time', Saltash Through Time' and 'A Year on the Tamar'.

In Search of Romans

I was very interested to read about the hoard of Roman coins found in Somerset which was in the news earlier this week. A similar hoard was found in Plymouth in 1894. A crock of Roman coins was discovered at Compton Giffard containing a thousand coins all dating from before AD 280. The British Museum suggested that it could have been part of a Roman pay chest for a legion stationed in the area. Romans are also believed to have once inhabited Stonehouse. The area carried the name Stonehouse even in Saxon times and it is believed that it was named after a ruin in the area that only the Romans could have built. Unfortunately, this ruin is now long gone. In 1882, a Roman crematorium was discovered at Newport Street just below Stonehouse Bridge. It contained small tombs, about four feet by two feet, containing human bones and ashes. Unfortunately, it has all long since been destroyed. Evidence also suggests the existence of Romans inhabiting the area in the street name at St Budeaux, 'Roman Way'. Roman Way was originally called 'Old Wall's Lane' which suggests an ancient occupation. A Roman signal station was believed to have once stood on the hill there and soapwort, which was used by the Romans for medicine, has been found growing nearby. Soapwort is usually only found in this country on the site of an old settlement. Other evidence also points to the existence of Romans in the area. A galley was said to have been found at Newnham and Roman coins and pottery have been found at Mount Batten. In 1888, a large hoard of Roman coins were found at Stamford in Plymstock. Also a bronze figure of Mercury was found at Hooe. There have been no reports of further hoards being found in Plymouth but I've no doubt that they probably exist. The Ridgeway at Plympton has long been believed to be part of a Roman road. It is recorded in 1281 as Ryggeseweystrete and the strete part of its name suggests a Roman link. Records also exist of the discovery of early camps near Crownhill although these may have been British. I have heard of Roman coins being discovered in the Plym and at Whitleigh, Torr and Millbay but these are few and far between. I'd be very interested to hear of any other finds in and around the city.

Adverts from the War Years

I recently wrote about Goulds in Ebrington Street and there's a photo of it in my new book, from Amberley Publishing, 'Plymouth Through Time'.

I discovered a copy of the Western Evening Herald from 21st March 1941 and in it is an interesting advert for Goulds which can be seen above. On sale are rubber boots for ARP Wardens priced at 12/11, Gas mask holders for 5½d, Regulation sandbags for the same price, Army Blankets for 10/6 and also Rifle Slings, Kitbags and Ammunition Pouches for 5½d. All things that would have come in very handy at the time when Plymouth was just about to go through its worst period. Goulds was at Treville Street

which once joined Old Town Street but was later devastated by the Blitz.

Another interesting advert in the paper was for Costers. Rather than thinking about the War, they were concentrating on the new Spring fashions which included a snazzy checked sports jacket for men and an even more snazzy checked suit and cap for boys. I've never seen any children in photos from the 1940s dressed like this. The cost for the whole outfit was 17/11, a lot of money then especially if you bought it and then your son felt too ridiculous to wear it! In comparison, the man on the right looks more like men dressed in the 1940s. Perhaps the checked suits were aimed at the posher market. Costers were located at Frankfort Street, another victim of the Blitz.

Ploughed Fields

I've written before about town dung and how it was brought up the River Tamar and spread on the nearby fields. Recently, while walking at Churchtown Farm at Saltash, I noticed that one of the fields had been ploughed so I decided to have a quick walk over it to see what I could find. The photo shows some of the items that I came across. The first thing I found was an Edward VII farthing which dates from the early 1900's. I also found a piece of clay pipe. This probably dates from the same period although I've found bits of clay pipe from the 1600s at Empacombe on the Mount Edgcumbe Estate.

I also found an old glass bottle top and a glass marble. The glass marble comes from an old Codd Bottle and children in Victorian times would break the neck of the bottles to get at the marble. Playing marbles was once a very popular pastime, even when I was a boy. The muddy banks beside the river at Churchtown Farm are littered with similar broken bottles. I'm not sure what the other item in the photo is although it's made of copper. All these items were found on the surface and it makes you wonder, if you had a metal detector, what else there is to find. I also found loads of old pottery and an old Bovril bottle which I left on the post for someone else to have. When I went back the next day, it had gone.

The shores of Antony Passage are littered with old bottles and even the remains of Victorian shoes. It was once a popular pastime amongst bottlers to search for finds on the banks there but the locals nowadays aren't as welcoming as they once were!

This is probably just junk to most people but to me it's interesting to find a piece of the past.