Bill Wyman, bassist for the Rolling Stones, took up metal detecting after finding a medieval jug in his home: since then, he has discovered 200 roman coins
The musician bought a 15th-century estate in Suffolk in 1968 and turned a chance find into an archaeological investigation
One can always find a new vocation when and where one least expects it. This is the case of Bill Wyman , original bassist of the Rolling Stones , who discovered a new hobby beneath the ground of his own home. Yes, you read that right. His passion for archaeology began by chance on his estate in Suffolk , in the east of England, and has ended up providing data on Roman Britain. It all started when workers digging at his country house brought to light a medieval jug .
The property, from the 15th century , had been bought by the musician in 1968 , when he was still touring the world with the band. That jug sparked his curiosity about what the land might be hiding, so he got himself a metal detector and began scanning the fields. The first signals were not long in coming: ancient coins and small metal objects buried in the fields.
A 1,700-year-old Roman farm at Bill Wyman's house
Over the years, Wyman recovered more than 200 Roman coins, as well as brooches, a bronze key, and numerous pottery fragments. The collection made it possible to identify a Roman farmstead dating back some 1,700 years that had until then been unknown. The finds were recorded in the Suffolk Heritage Explorer , the county’s heritage database, and the musician himself documented them on his website.
His search was not limited to the Roman era. He also unearthed flint tools, fossils, and medieval coins , eventually assembling a collection of about 300 coins from different periods, according to The Independent . Among his pieces are medieval gold coins that, according to reports, are worth about 1,000 pounds each, around 1,200 euros , although he insists that what drives him is historical interest and not money.
Archaeology, Bill Wyman's secret hobby
Wyman has publicly defended this pastime with enthusiasm . He insists that it is not a thing for eccentrics, but probably the most enjoyable way to learn history, and says that he comes home with his pockets full , washes the pieces, lays them out to dry, and wonders what they are. Then he invents his own stories about how a coin or a brooch ended up in a certain field. He even launched his own model, the Wyman Signature detector.
Part of his collection is on loan to a museum in Bury St Edmunds , where the public was able to see it for the first time. The story shows how a simple medieval jug can open the door to a deeper past and turn his estate into a chapter of Roman Britain.
