'I've found a sword – and there's a hand on the end of it'

'I've found a sword – and there's a hand on the end of it'

Katy Prickett

Sat, December 27, 2025 at 6:01 AM UTC

5 min read

Dave Derby standing outside in a field, wearing a faded camouflage base ball hat, with large black wireless headphones over the top. He is also wearing a grey fleece. Behind him is grace and trees. — Dave Derby took up metal detecting in the 1960s, after discovering a Georgian coin [Peter Derby]

Some metal detectorists dream of making the find that changes history and 90-year-old Dave Derby has done just that – twice.

His first major discovery was of a grand Roman villa estate near Northampton, and that was followed by an Anglo-Saxon cemetery.

Archaeologist Stephen Young says Mr Derby "embodies the best of what it means to be a metal detectorist and an archaeological enthusiast".

Yet, for Mr Derby, from Kislingbury, near Northamptonshire, the greatest joy is finding ancient artefacts.

"You pick it up and think, 'What was the person like who owned it?'" he says.

A black and white image of Dave Derby, dating to about the 1970s. He is looking to the left of the frame and is wearing wired headphones over his ears and a half-zipped jacket over a roll-neck jumper. Behind him is the grass edge of a ditch. — In the 1970s, he would sometimes be asked by the police to help with tracing items and even found a gun - but not the one they were looking for [Peter Derby]

His interest in metal detecting goes back to 1964, when he was helping his father in his garden.

"All of a sudden he bent down and picked something up - and it was a coin," recalls Mr Derby.

Experts from Northampton Museum explained it dated to the reign of George III (1760 to 1820).

"And I was hooked on what they were showing me, so I decided I was going to get a metal detector."

An aerial shot of an excavation of a Roman villa, emerging from brown soil. On the right are stone foundations of a building with two archaeologists standing within. Below are at least 22 archaeologists, standing and on their knees with buckets and other containers. — Mr Derby's discovery at Nether Heyford, near Northampton, turned into a community archaeology project [CLASP]

Over the decades, he made many finds, but the one that first attracted international attention was the 1996 discovery at Whitehall Farm of a Roman villa estate.

The extensive complex, dating to the early 3rd to late 4th Centuries, included two bath-houses, complete with tessellated mosaic floors, and two 2nd-Century round houses.

"I was detecting in a particular field and looking around, there was pottery lying around - then I started to find Roman coins," says Mr Derby.

"And the farmer had come along to see how I was doing and I said, 'You have a Roman site here.'"

An artist's impression of a Roman villa complex in the late 4th Century. It shows a two-storey villa with a terracotta roof and a window on the gable end. On the ground floor is a roofed veranda with pillars and an entrance. To its right is a round house and to its right is another build — Years of excavations revealed it was at the centre of an agricultural estate extending over about 10 acres (four hecatares) [CLASP]

They turned for advice to Mr Young, who had worked with Mr Derby since the mid-1980s.

"The site is a rare example of a late villa occupation remaining in use until the mid-5th Century, 50 years after the accepted termination of imperial Roman Britain," explains the former University of Northampton lecturer.

The discovery at Nether Heyford, near Northampton, developed into Clasp, a community archaeology project, which lasted until 2012, attracting students, volunteers and archaeologists from around the world.

An excavation of a skeleton of a man lying on its side with its head to the left and its legs bent. Below it is the remains of a sword. A blue and white pole has been put on beneath the remains. — His discovery of a sword and skeleton helped archaeologists unearth a previously unknown cemetery [CLASP]

Mr Derby's next massive discovery came when the same landowner offered him another field to survey.

"I went to this nice flat field and about 10 yards (9m) away from the hedge at the top, I got this fantastic signal," he says.

"And out came a lady's Saxon brooch, so I kept scratching around and I found a piece of metal which I thought could be part of a sword.

"I rang my son and said, 'You need to come – I've found a sword and there's a hand on the end of it!'"

By the time his son, Peter, turned up, the police had arrived to check the human remains were not the result of a recent murder.

The discovery in 2003 became known as the Anglo-Saxon warrior.

Further excavations in the area unearthed five more graves and then few years later, about 23 sets of remains were discovered.

Dave Derby with his metal detector at Whitehall Farm during the excavation in 2003. He is bending over to look at the ground and holding his detector in his right hand. There are trenches behind him and open ground. — Mr Derby was among the volunteers helping archaeologists excavate the villa and cemetery sites [CLASP]

Among them were the remains of what appear to be "feoderati", soldiers of continental origin invited to Britain by the Romans under treaty to provide military support, says Mr Young.

The burials revealed family groupings, with some of women's remains found to be of local origin.

Analysis suggested some possibly dated back to as far as 430AD - about the time the Roman empire was collapsing.

This made it "a seminal site of national importance for the post-Roman and early migration period of the 5th Century AD", says Mr Young.

Other finds included an early 6th-Century Mercian warrior burials and a 7th-Century mound burial of a man with a sword, whose rediscovery "was down to Dave Derby", he adds.

"I'm lucky to have worked with him and been able to integrate his talent and undoubted skills in enhancing our ability to understand the archaeological narrative," says Mr Young.

Five views of an Anglo-Saxon oval gold and gemstone pendant. The dark, flat-topped gem, possibly a garnet is set within a hammered gold frame, with a hanging loop at its top end. The four top views show the pendant's left side, the front showing the gemstone, the back which is plain gold and the right side. The final view, beneath the others, is of a side view of the pendant from its base. — Among his favourite finds is a 7th Century pendant found at Woodend in 2019, which no museum wanted to acquire - the landowner's wife now wears it [The Portable Antiquities Scheme]

Mr Derby continues to love metal detecting, now accompanied by Peter, who says: "I feel like we're modern time travellers; we dig holes in the ground and uncover something that's not seen the light, sometimes for thousands of years."

All the gold and silver finds more than 300 years oldare reported to Northamptonshire's finds liaison officer, in line with the law.

One of Mr Derby's favourites is a 7th-Century gold and gemstone pendant, which was returned to the landowner and is now worn by his wife.

"I'd rather find artefacts - they belong to somebody and you think 'What were they doing there?'" he says.

"It's one of the most fantastic hobbies I've ever had."

Dave Derby and Peter Derby in a ploughed field in September 2025. Peter is on the left of the frame, dressed in jacket and jeans, and Dave on the left, dressed in a fleece and trousers. Both are wearing headphones over their ears and have metal detectors in their right hands and spades in their left. — Mr Derby is now accompanied by his son Peter, who has finally - after years of urging - discovered the metal detecting bug [Peter Derby]

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'I've found a sword – and there's a hand on the end of it'

'I've found a sword – and there's a hand on the end of it'

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