There is one site that I have permission to dig that gives up the goods time and time again. I’ve visited it so many times now, I’ve lost count, but each time I go it throws up another surprise. Whilst this blog isn’t about a recent dig, (this is one from 2 years ago), it does show the kind of volume of WW2 relics that you can recover, if you know where to look!

It would seem that, at this site, the British army disposed of a huge volume of kit at the end of the war. Finding the site, contacting the landowner for permission, then identifying where to dig was half the battle. The other half was the digging itself! This isn’t a small site, with the dump pit being the size of a football pitch. As so often with sites like this, you can be digging 2 feet away from the guy next to you and find nothing but rusty tin cans…..yet the guy next to you can be pulling out relics right, left and centre. It’s all down to pot luck really, and a healthy dose of perseverance.

When digging an old dump site, it is important to keep going as you never know what the next shovel full of rusty unidentifiable rubbish will reveal. This site is just the same, and on this dig we hit a ‘seam’ of Kerr sling buckles, (Thompson SMG), that just kept going. In among this seam were lots of other relics, and it was a matter of sifting through everything to find the interesting stuff. I admit that most people would be ecstatic with a couple of Kerr sling buckles, but when you’ve been digging them all day, they get a bit ‘samey’!!!

So, the dig gave up the following…..

 

One heck of a dig and it took weeks to clean everything! Just goes to show if you do your homework, the rewards can be great!