Why would you keep quiet about the location of a massive metal detecting rally?

Who knows? But the organisers of September Detectival, traditionally a huge event attended by a thousand detectorists from all over Europe, are doing so:

“For Detectival 2021 we have arranged a brand new site, this NEW site sits in south Gloucestershire very close to the Wiltshire boarder.(Sic). The new site is in a very historically rich area with everything from standing stones and burial mounds to Roman villas and settlements and Medieval deer parks and much more.
With a beautiful late medieval building sitting in the middle of the site and with a Roman settlement one side of our site and Roman Villa on the other side of the site as well as a number of other features within the search area from crop marks to trackways we will be sure to see some interesting finds..
We can not give you the exact location of the event until closer to the time, we will give little hints and tips as to the area and its history as we get closer to the September Detectival.”

Why so coy? You’d think they’d be proud to have secured such a potentially “productive” area. We do know Let’s Go Digging maintains secrecy up to the night before to avoid “troublemakers”, i.e. concerned archaeologists having time to intervene, so maybe the same applies here. In case that’s true, and for the benefit of any concerned archaeologists, we think the clues point to Badmington House as the beautiful late medieval building with a Medieval deer park, Roman settlement, Roman villa, standing stones and burial mounds all nearby.

We might be wrong, so to allay all fears as to the suitability of the venue, it would be best if the organisers published a detailed location map as soon as possible. Drip-feeding clues might be regarded as amusing but it’s not THEIR archaeology to be put in danger, is it? It’s everyone’s.

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More Heritage Journal views on artefact collecting
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