Millom metal detectorist's mind blown by axe head finds

Josh Carr (left) found four axe heads while out metal detecting with his brother Stephen

A metal detectorist says his mind was blown after finding what look like four ancient axe heads buried in a field.

Josh Carr unearthed the small metal pieces on two separate visits to a field in Millom in Cumbria.

He said he initially thought the signal from his detector was "too good to be true" and he expected to find a can.

The axe heads will be sent to experts for analysis but Mr Carr said they could be "hundreds - if not thousands" of years old.

Mr Carr, who has been metal detecting as a hobby for five years, said he came across a "dead good signal" and started to dig after getting permission from the landowner.

"I thought it was too good to be true," the 27-year-old labourer told BBC Radio Cumbria, adding he thought he would just find a tin can.

Josh Carr found three axe heads in one day and a fourth the following weekend

But after digging down 2ft he saw a flash of green and "carefully" dug out an axe head.

"I was that excited I had to go and have a fag to calm down," Mr Carr said.

He said he called a friend who confirmed the find was an axe head and suggested Mr Carr look for more.

He and his brother Stephen then found two more on the same day last month in what was left of the daylight, but returned on Sunday and found another one in the same area.

Mr Carr said he had wrapped the axe heads in tissue paper and sealed them in plastic bags inside plastic takeaway containers ahead of taking them to the Dock Museum in Barrow for analysis.

Josh Carr said he has been told the axe heads could be from the Bronze or Iron Age

He said he had been told they could be Bronze or Iron Age, with his previous oldest discoveries dating back to the time of King John who reigned from 1199 to 1216.

"It's been right on the top of my bucket list just to find an axe ahead," Mr Carr said, adding: "I was quite happy finding the one but finding another three is just mind-blowing.

"Being the first person to see it and hold it in hundreds if not thousands of years is mind-blowing. I call myself a time traveller."

Mr Carr said he hoped his new discoveries would "explode" interest in Millom's history and lead to further surveys and archaeological investigations.