Andy Crammond and the Bronze Age gold find making national headlines

Key facts

The rally and its background

The land in question sits north of Carlisle, in the Blackford area of Cumbria. It is one of several sites National Grid has been considering for a new electricity substation, a proposal that has generated significant local opposition through a campaign group called North Carlisle Against the Substation and Pylons.

As part of efforts to draw attention to the site’s potential historical significance, the campaign group invited Lothian Relics Metal Detecting to carry out a rally on land owned by local farmer Richard Forbes. The idea was straightforward: if there was archaeological material in the ground, a structured detecting rally was a reasonable way to find out.

The discovery

Andy Crammond travelled from Scotland with fellow detectorist Alan Daniels to take part in the rally on 23 May. The early part of the day produced the kind of finds typical of most detecting outings: a few old coins, the usual assortment of scrap. Nothing that suggested what was coming.

When the pair uncovered the first of the gold torcs, the day changed entirely. Alan Daniels described it as ‘the holy grail of metal detecting finds.’ There were not one but three of them, all in the same field, all intact.

The torcs: a closer look

A torc is a rigid or semi-rigid metal ring, typically worn on the upper arm as a high-status object. In the Bronze Age, gold torcs were markers of wealth and social standing. They are not common finds.

What makes this discovery unusual is not just the material but the condition. When torcs do turn up in the archaeological record, they are typically fragmentary. A complete example is a significant find in its own right. Three complete examples from the same location is something else entirely.

What archaeologists are saying

Dr Jim Morris of the University of Lancashire has examined the finds and offered a clear assessment of their significance. In his view, the torcs were not lost by accident. They were placed in the ground with intent, either as part of a burial or cremation, or concealed as a hoard for safekeeping at a later date.

Both interpretations carry weight. Deliberate deposition of high-value objects is well documented in Bronze Age Britain, and the state of preservation of all three torcs is consistent with objects that were carefully placed rather than discarded or lost.

A window into prehistoric Cumbria

The find matters beyond its immediate monetary or artistic value. It contributes to a growing body of evidence about how Cumbria functioned in prehistory, and specifically about its connections to Ireland.

Archaeologists have long known about Viking-era links between Cumbria and Ireland. What is now becoming clearer is that those connections are far older. Dr Morris points to a substantial movement of material arriving from across the Irish Sea, travelling up into the Eden Valley. He believes the route from the Firth into the Eden River was a major corridor in prehistory, used for trade, movement and cultural exchange long before the Viking period.

The Carlisle torcs are not an isolated data point. Pre-Bronze Age material uncovered during the construction of Carlisle’s Northern Development Route, and a solid gold torc previously found in Whitehaven, all point in the same direction. Cumbria was not a remote corner of Bronze Age Britain. It was a crossing point.

The substation question

The site where the torcs were found is one of several locations under consideration for a new National Grid electricity substation, a proposal that has generated sustained local opposition.

David Coulthard, chair of Westlinton Parish Council, said the find made it obvious the location was not suitable for a substation. The campaign group North Carlisle Against the Substation and Pylons has called for the site to be formally designated as archaeologically significant in light of the discovery.

Andy Crammond and ALS

Andy is ALS’s field service engineer for Scotland. His day-to-day work covers the installation, servicing and maintenance of compressed air and nitrogen generation systems at industrial sites across Scotland. It requires precision, patience and the kind of methodical approach that comes from long experience in the field.

Outside work, Andy is an active member of Lothian Relics Metal Detecting. The qualities that make a good field engineer (patience, attention to detail, and the discipline to work carefully through a problem) do not appear to switch off when the working week ends.

The three torcs he helped uncover on 23 May are now part of the British archaeological record. They will go through the formal Treasure process, which means they will be professionally assessed and, in all likelihood, end up in a public collection.