A amateur detectorist is delighted with his latest find which until now has laid undisturbed for almost 800 years.

Matthew Hepworth unearthed a Henry III Shortcross penny, estimated to have been minted between 1222-1236 in Canterbury by a Moneyer named Simon, in the Carnforth area.

"It's only my second every discovery of this type, and strangely, it doesn't come under treasure as it was a single coin," he said.

The Treasure Act 1996 legally defines what is classed as treasure, and in this case the relevant clause says that to be classed as Treasure: "when found, is one of at least two coins in the same find which are at least 300 years old at that time and have that percentage (10%) of precious metal."

Matthew, from Bare, Morecambe, said: "The irony is I've had a lot of finds out of that particular field over the years.

"It was near the gateway so I've walked over it many times. It's so strange how you can miss these targets.
"First and foremost, you need the landowners' permission to detect on their land. I always keep him informed so I've built up a collection for him so it's joint ownership between myself and the landowner."

Matthew said he does most of his detecting around the Carnforth area with his friend David Kierzek - and has had a good run of luck lately.

"I've been detecting for 30 years now. I'm member of the Lune Valley Detecting Club and we've had a good year last year for finds," he said.

"I usually go out detecting with David and we found another section of the Viking silver that was first discovered in 1997, which is in the Lancaster Museum.

"We've found the rest of it, and it's currently being processed through the usual official channels - it'll become public soon.
"Another one of our best finds was a horde of 28 Roman silver coins but that wasn't in our area, that was in the Midlands.

"We found a Bronze Age burial site last year in the local area, and we found a horde of metalwork on a hilltop, and we found a burial site, with bones inside an inverted urn, which was estimated to be from around 1800BC." 

Matthew says they often provide an unexpected service for chastened spouses.

"I've found wedding rings for people last year that had lost them - we look in their gardens and close by and we often find them," he said.

"It's just a hobby, but you can get into it quite easily.

"It keeps you fit mentally and physically and you never know what you might find."