Seven or eight hundred years ago, someone lost this rather handsome silver coin. Today I found it. The reason I found it has something to do with why I have had less time of late to visit my favourite blogs. I am into drains. Not literally, that would be hideous. But by necessity.We are doing up this magnificent wreck. It was the equerry (hope that's spelt correctly, anyway, stable block) for the long-gone chateau that used to stand just a few meters away. You need superlatives to describe this building.
- It is very old, 12th century- Very big, 35 meters by 11 meters by 10 meters high, and that's just the vaulted bit, there's another 190 square meters on the side
- And very lovely
But as I have discovered with restoration, you pay by the square meter (wonder why it took me so long to understand that?). Thus there is an interesting inverse relationship between the health of the building and the health of our bank balance.
Before and after (well, in progress)
I have had to learn quite a lot along the way. And two of the things I have had to learn are plumbing and drainage. This is thanks to my English so-called plumber who is an arse. Yes, Derek, you. I know more about drainage after an afternoon with Google than you ever will.
When we use English tradespeople it is not because of language or nationality issues. It's just so hard to get hold of French artisans, who are generally very good.
Anyway, back to drains. We are having a septic system installed. I'm not attempting this bit myself; it's too big and too regulated. We had this monster 24 ton digger on site to dig three very big holes - one for the septic tank, one for the soak away, and one for a rain water storage tank I'm installing.I went along the soil pile beside one of the trenches with my metal detector, getting lots of junk signals when 'ping'. It only took a minute's scrabbling to find the coin. I love these old finds. I'm not a detectorist as such. I'm only interested in unearthing some of the history of the property, and it's the intrinsic value that appeals.
Anyway, hope to be done in another year's time - you can laugh at my optimism; I know I will.
15 comments:
I find it exciting to handle old coins like that, thinking that all those centuries ago there was some chap or chapess walking around with this in their pocket. Who were they?
And I can see you've got your work cut out. Good luck!
Ooh, what treasures, both the chateau and the old coin. Can't say I care much for drainage or sceptic tanks though. And you're a brave man taking it all on! :-)
dumdad - exactly; and what are the chances of it being found so many years later? Spooky.
AV - don't care much for drains myself, truth to tell. I could never be an actual plumber.
What a fantastic find. I remember finding stone age flints in the market gardens behind my gran's house but that . . .keep detecting, there's bound to be more cool stuff. As for the écurie simply stunning, what are you going to use it as? Surely too posh for ponies?
Ooohhh...every cool find. Doesn't it make ya wonder, who owned it, what the did in their life...what they planned to use the coin for?
Wow, what a fab project. Good luck with it! And keep looking - we want to be vicarious treasure hunters...
baino - but then again, flints, much much older, and just as evocative.
drowsey - that's the fun of it, I do indeed think about the previous owner ... like were they really pissed to have lost it?
miranda - defo more to come, this place is dripping in history.
papa, is that the same type as the other coin (the angouleme one?)
No clh, it is much bigger and possibly better preserved.
Wow - that's quite a project. But how satisfying to see an ancient buillding come back to life after your ministrations.
I am also hopelessly romantic about old objects. Just the thought of who owned that coin and how it ended up hidden where it did sends shivers down my spine!
You're right mud, you have to wonder about them the moment you touch an old object.
I hope Dereck reads that! Beautiful coin, are you going to use it in the finished building? MH
mh - to pay for it, ha ha. I have a number of finds, many with no value, but lots of fun for me, like a fragment of a bronze bell with a fleur de lys, some old cow shoes (yes, they used to have them believe it or not), hand-made nails and so on. I'd like to gather these together and make a display. And the coin will be there!
The chateau looks great, but tell us more about the coin!
Welcome dotty. The coin ... alas have yet to find it on Google, despite the existence of some quite nice databases.
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