Detectorist finds 'largest' gold nugget in England

Auctioneers believe the gold nugget could be the largest found in England

A large gold nugget was found by a metal detectorist in Shropshire, despite his metal detector not working properly.

Richard Brock from Somerset made the discovery on farmland near Much Wenlock during an organised dig, for which he had turned up an hour late, using a machine that was "pretty much kaput".

Auctioneers Mullock Jones said the 64.8g nugget could be the largest ever found on English soil.

Called Hiro’s Nugget, it is being sold with an asking price of £30,000 to £40,000.

Mr Brock said he had only recently learned that it could be the biggest found in England, which was "quite incredible really", and he was going to split the proceeds with the landowner.

An old track or road and a railway line are thought to have run through the farmland where the nugget was discovered, and the site contained stone understood to have originally come from Wales, said the auctioneers.

On the day of the organised dig in May 2023, other people had up-to-date kit, said Mr Brock, while he "bowled up with three old machines", one of which immediately stopped working.

The online auction for the gold nugget runs until 1 April

His back-up detector, which had a faded screen, initially only flagged up a "few rusty old tent pegs", but within 20 minutes of scanning, the gold nugget was detected about five or six inches under the ground.

"I couldn't believe it," said the 67-year-old who first began metal detecting in 1989.

"I turned up late, was only there a matter of minutes and this treasure hunting expedition was supposed to last all day."

Ben Jones, from Telford-based auctioneers Mullock Jones, said: "We've handled gold before but usually in the form of a ring, or jewellery or coins. But this is certainly a one-off for us."

The auction house said it was expecting "considerable interest".

Bigger examples of gold nuggets have been found in Great Britain before, but they were in Wales and Scotland.

"The last one which claimed to be bigger in England was 54g but mine is 64.8g, so we're pretty confident it is the biggest found on English soil," said Mr Brock.