Suffolk metal detectorist finds coin hoard in field behind pub

Luke Mahoney said the "feeling of scraping the dirt away and seeing the coins is indescribable"

A metal detectorist who has spent 10 years searching for hidden treasure found "the biggest hoard of his life" in a field behind his village pub.

Luke Mahoney, 40, discovered more than 1,000 silver coins on land belonging to The Lindsey Rose pub in Lindsey, Suffolk.

The hoard is thought to be worth at least £100,000.

Mr Mahoney said: "That feeling of scraping the dirt away and seeing the coins is indescribable."

The father of three, who runs his own metal detector shop, had been out in the 15-acre (6.1 hectares) field on 26 July when he made the discovery.

He said he had found a gold coin and a sixpence in the morning, before retiring to the pub for Sunday lunch.

On his return, he "almost immediately hit this signal and I pulled out this Charles I coin. Then I hit another signal, and another".

He added: "They were everywhere. It was pandemonium."

The coins were found in a field owned by the The Lindsey Rose pub

Charles Buckle, 26, who runs the pub, said: "Luke gets quite excited about everything he finds so I was like 'yeah OK,' but he kept ringing and told me I had to come down and see what he had found."

Mr Mahoney unearthed 1,061 silver coins dating back to the 15th to 17th Centuries.

He said the most popular theory from experts and historians was the coins were buried by a wealthy landowner who had gone off to fight in the Civil War.

Nigel Mills, from international coin specialists Dix Noonan Webb, said the coins would fetch at least £100,000 at auction.

He said the earliest coin in the find was an Elizabeth I era shilling dating back to 1573-78, while it also contained a number of Charles I half crowns from 1641-43.