There's A Mouse In Me Garage What Am I Gonna Do?

Well, obviously, to paraphrase  the words of my favourite band "I'm gonna fix that mouse". 

I went to pick up the metal detector from the garage yesterday when I noticed that the control box had a large chunk of rubber missing from the recharging point cover.

It didn't take the mind of Sherlock Holmes to work out what was responsible as Mr Mouse had left several small deposits by way of a calling card. We've had mice in the garage before when we lived in Southport and I can remember blogging about our middle class rodents when we baited the traps with Green and Blacks organic chocolate that comes at £2 per bar. That was amazingly successful so it had to be a chocolate lure again when Marion dug out the old humane traps. But the only chocolate we had in the house this time was Amelia Rope's hand made stuff from In Da Cottage here in Framlingham which comes in at an even more eye watering £5 per bar. Fortunately we only needed one square to bait five traps.

And, sure enough, the posh chocolate and these traps caught the culprit who is now hopefully enjoying his relocation to a stubble field near Saxmundham - there's a Waitrose there so he should be okay. I'll be leaving the traps out again for a few more nights but I'm trying peanut butter instead as that chocolate is too nice to waste on a mouse.

Fortunately the detector still works so I had a few more hours in the fields.

I went twice over the last few days and this is what I tipped out of the bag when I got back the second time.

I tried two different fields.

This came from field one (the scrap lead at the bottom came from both fields)

And this came from field two.

As I was in each field for about the same amount of time, clearly field two produced more finds. Here are some of the more interesting bits from each.

A very worn William III half crown from field one.

A nice engine turned 18th century button from field one.

A very old lead cloth bag seal from field two

This is a rare Medieval folded rivet - probably used as a pot mend - from field two. 

A Medieval cut half penny from the reign of Henry III from field two 

An unidentified but probably Tudor hammered silver coin from field two

A Post Medieval spectacle buckle from field two

A Medieval strap slider from field two

Unidentified lead artefact from field two 

A Gold Rose Ryal 33 shilling brass coin weight from the reign of James I 1612-1619 from field one (pity it wasn't the coin) 

Unidentified but this, from field one could possibly be my first Roman coin find since moving to Framlingham

A scabbard chape from field two - medieval or post medieval 

Probable furniture fitting from field two

Vessel fragments from both fields.

Post Medieval lead window came from field two

I realise that to many reading this these will be worthless scraps of metal but I find them all extremely interesting. I'm taking these and all the other recent finds to the county archaeologist in Bury St Edmunds tomorrow for recording.

It will be many years before one of these turns up as a metal detecting find but I was delighted to be given this silver outbreak of the great war commemorative £20 coin by our neighbour Wilfrid yesterday. Thank you Wilfrid - a very kind gesture.