MODERN E CENTRICS

The metal detectorist

No curator has ever coveted more or discriminated less. Any article ever wrought or woven or worn by humankind, gravity has attempted to claim it. And whenever carelessness and soft ground have intersected, it has succeeded. Thus, an invisible museum lies beneath our feet, spanning the entirety of human history, each exhibit held for all eternity.

Or such was the case until 1931, when Gerhard Fischer patented the handheld metal detector and cleared the path for treasure seekers such as Dawn Chipchase to go climbing through the briar and bramble to return unearthed artefacts to terra firma.

“I’ve got quite a vivid imagination, and I always have a little story about how they got there,” she says.

In the fields surrounding her native Rochdale, in Greater Manchester, that often means imagining the everyday lives lived during the Industrial Revolution. “When I look at a penny from the 1800s

– I must have dug up about 1,000 of them – I think about what a penny was worth to a family of poor people. It was like a loaf of bread, which might have been all their food for the day. Everything I find, I think ‘That had meaning for somebody.’ That’s what the treasure is for me.”

Sometimes the stories she imagines lie a little closer to home. “I was always after a half-crown because they reminded me of my granddad; he used to give me one for my birthday when I was little. I’d had a few, but I wanted a George III one because it’s my favourite. When I finally found one, I was nearly crying – you’d have thought I’d won the lottery.

“The thing I like most about metal detecting, and it’s become really apparent during lockdown, is the feeling of tranquillity it gives me. It’s like meditating in some ways. I can be out in the field for hours and not know where the time has gone. I get home and feel tired but refreshed and happy.”

Dawn first caught the unearthing bug aged 13, while playing hide and seek on a building site. In the newly turned ground, she suddenly spied something that had been hiding for rather longer than a count of 10: a coin from 1789. Exciting as the moment was, the bug lay dormant for decades. Because who’d ever heard of a female metal detector?

“I think metal detecting is one of those hobbies that everyone is interested in, but – especially being a woman – there was never anyone to ask,” says Dawn. “Every time you looked it was these anoraky guys, always on their own, searching for Roman helmets.”

It was just six years ago, while watching Diggers on National Geographic, that Dawn became convinced that the hobby was for her after all.

“I started late and it’s given me a whole new life. I have something to look forward to every weekend, then during the week I’m always researching something

I’ve found or looking at old maps – if you can find a pub

and a church, you can guarantee that somewhere between them will be an old path.”

Dawn says that in 2015, when she started out, women accounted for just 10% of detectorists. Today, that figure’s risen to 17%. “I don’t know whether that’s me being on YouTube,” she says.

It certainly can’t hurt. What began as an attempt to help gently mocking workmates understand the joys of detecting has grown into Digger Dawn, a YouTube channel on which 19,000 subscribers watch her sharing finds with giddy glee. Jocelyn Elizabeth – aka the Relic Recoverist – plays a similar role in the US.

“Between us, we made it possible for women to go out, in a way. They see you doing it and think, ‘Oh, I can go.’ It makes me feel quite proud. When I go to things like Detectival [the Glastonbury of metal detecting gatherings], I’m usually one of the celebrities. I have loads of little girls of about 10 standing there waiting to have a picture taken with me.”

Should you feel moved to follow in her muddy footsteps, Dawn has three main tips.

Acquiring a metal detector, she says, is “not like buying a car. If you buy something that costs £1,000, it’s going to have so many settings and programmes that you’ll be completely overwhelmed.” Instead, she recommends something like a Garrett Ace 250, which we found advertised from around £180. “You can learn the signals [different objects produce different tones] and then upgrade afterwards.”

Secondly, remember to get permission from landowners to search their soil.

“You can phone people, but we prefer to knock on doors – it’s not the same if they can’t see you.”

Most importantly, “Make sure you have somewhere you can detect. I’ve seen people spend ages researching the equipment, then find they’ve nowhere to go. Then they get despondent and end up selling their kit before even starting out. You need to know that you can’t do parks, and only very few councils allow it on their land.”

We bid farewell to Dawn on the eve of her visiting a “dream field.” One she’d always admired while walking the dog but didn’t know who to ask for permission to investigate. She does now.

“It’s next to what was originally a Saxon church, so I know it’s going to have old things in it. I’m very excited – I’ll take my best coils and everything. There’s a good chance I could find some old Henry VIII stuff. I’d love to get a coin with his fat head on it!”

Find Dawn’s YouTube channel at youtube.com/user/ astrodawn1, or follow her on Instagram: @digger_ dawn.