"Will you search through the lonely earth for me ... ?"

A former lorry driver has relived the moment he discovered a hoard of 18 post-medieval silver coins in Derbyshire that have been declared as treasure.

Derby Coroner's Court heard on Tuesday the coins found by detectorist Tim Cox on 1 August in the parish of Longford dated from between 1564 and 1604.

As the items were more than 300 years old and at least 10% precious metal, they were deemed to meet the requirements of the Treasure Act 1996, external.

Speaking after the treasure inquest, Cox, 62, told the BBC he couldn't believe it" when he first found the collection of coins which depict the faces of monarchs Elizabeth I and James I.

A baby boy whose skeleton was found beneath floorboards could have died up to 300 years ago, an inquest has heard, adding more mystery to what happened to him.

The baby, referred to in official documents as Baby Auckland, was found by contractors renovating a building on Fore Bondgate in Bishop Auckland in July 2024.

Opening an inquest in Crook, County Durham and Darlington senior coroner Jeremy Chipperfield heard the baby was full-term but it was not clear if he had been stillborn.

A cause of death could not be ascertained but carbon dating suggested he lived sometime between 1726 and 1812, even though he was wrapped in a newspaper from 1910 and the property was built in the Victorian era.

For over 20 years, Nettie Edmondson has scoured the earth in search of hidden treasure.

Her detecting skills have been so successful that her cabinet at her home in Wilden, Bedfordshire, is now full and she needs to make some space.

So on 16 May her collection of hundreds of items found in fields in Bedfordshire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire and Norfolk will go under the hammer and is expected to sell for about £11,000.

She says she is not auctioning her items for monetary reasons but hopes her finds will go to "someone who loves history".

A well believed to date back to medieval times has been discovered by builders while working at a department store in a North Yorkshire cathedral city.

The structure, with a depth of 42ft (12.8m), was found near the Marshall Way car park in Ripon, and is thought to be hundreds of years old.

It was recently uncovered by contractors during groundworks for a new courtyard at Halls of Ripon.

Robert Sterne, whose firm Sterne Properties is leading the works, said: "The plan is to put a secure reinforced glass cover on it and make the well a special feature."

Also half a million years ago comes a similar find at Boxgrove.  In January 2026, Archaeology referred to: