It doesn't seem possible, but it is exactly ten years since a chance find redefined everything historians knew about the UK.

Over sold ?

No, in this case, it really changed everything we thought we knew.

In a Nub News exclusive content editor Kay Kelly has been talking to the detectorist who found this incredible find.

Today (11 April) is the 10th anniversary of the discovery of the Frome Hoard, the largest collection of Roman coins ever discovered in a single vessel.

The coins, contained in a huge pot, had been lying in the Somerset soil on the outskirts of Frome for the best part of two millennia...until metal detectorist Dave Crisp made his once-in-a-lifetime find.

For more than 20 years, Dave had gone out every week with his metal detector in the hope of finding a hoard of buried treasure.

Then, in the space of just days, he discovered not just one hoard of rare Roman coins...but two. Both 'treasure' under the 1996 Treasure Act.

His first discovery of approximately 61 silver coins scattered in the field on the outskirts of Frome - was exciting enough.

But it was eclipsed by his second, the historically-important Frome Hoard.

Frome Nub News caught up with Dave, now 73, who was still metal detecting regularly before the coronavirus outbreak put a temporary stop to his hobby.

The events of that week a decade ago are still etched firmly on his memory.

Dave was living in Devizes, Wiltshire, where he still calls home, and working as a chef at Chippenham Hospital at the time of his discovery.

"It was an unusually hot spell for April and I had two days off so I went to farmland just outside Frome where I have permission to metal detect.

"When I arrived I spotted a field which the farmer had ploughed and rolled.

"I started heading over, swinging my metal detector as I walked.

"I was still two fields away when I heard a beep, dug into the grass and there was a little silver Roman coin from the late 4th century - it looked the same as would have the day it was minted.

"I popped it in my pouch, walked another three feet, and there was another beep...and I had another Siliqua.

"A few more steps, another beep and a third coin.

"Two or more coins constitutes a hoard, so I was very excited as I had never found a Roman hoard before."

Within three hours Dave had dug up around 30 siliquae, after telling the landowner and reporting his hoard to Wiltshire's Finds Liaison Officer (FLO) at the time, Katie Hinds.

Returning the following day, Dave discovered another 30-plus silver coins.

A few days later when he finished work early, Dave decided to return to the field...not realising that a few hours later he would uncover the largest single pot of Roman coins ever found in Britain.

"I found a couple more siliquae and then I got another beep, but couldn't find anything in the top layer under the grass.

"I kept digging down about a foot and there, in the clay subsoil, I found a bit of Roman pottery.

"I put in a probe and got a beep, pulled out more clay and discovered about 20 Roman radiate coins - a fairly common denomination made of debased silver and bronze - minted around 100 years before the silver ones I'd already found.

"It dawned on me that this was going to be a second hoard and something significant and I knew I had to call in archaeologists.

"It was a difficult decision, but I carefully filled in the hole and told my landowner we had a second hoard."

Dave downed his digger and again contacted Katie Hinds, who called Anna Booth, the FLO for Somerset, and local archaeologist Alan Graham was engaged to lead the excavation.

Recovery of the hoard took three days - watched and helped by Dave and his grandson Aaron.

Dave even took it in turns with Alan Graham to camp out overnight to guard the dig site.

"Watching the pot slowly emerge was thrilling.

"It was of lovely bluey black pottery, about the size of a beer barrel, and would have been used in the kitchen to store grapes, wine or oil etc.

"The size and weight of the hoard, and the fact that the pot was already broken, meant it was impossible to remove in a block...so it was excavated on site.

"The coins were taken out in numbered layers and labelled separately.

"In my mind it's still the same day, it was a once-in-a-lifetime find and one I will never forget," said Dave.

The hoard, comprising 52,503 coins spanning 40 years from around AD250 to AD290, was taken from the excavation site in 67 bags, weighing 160kg, to the British Museum for conserving, cleaning and cataloguing.

One of the most important finds was around 800 coins from the reign of Carausius, who ruled Britain from AD286 to AD293. The hoard also included five rare silver denarii.

Experts have determined that the hoard was probably buried as a ritual offering to the gods.

The Frome Hoard was declared 'treasure' on 22 July, 2010 by the coroner at Frome and later valued at £360,250 - shared between Dave and the farmer landowner, according to the Treasure Act.

It was also declared the nation's favourite treasure find following a vote by readers of the Telegraph in a poll undertaken to mark the 20th anniversary of the Treasure Act implemented in 1997.

The pot and a few of the hoard coins are on display at the Museum of Somerset in Taunton - the remainder is held by The British Museum - and a few coins were shown after the inquest in Frome Library.

A 10th anniversary celebration of the discovery was planned to be held in Frome next month, but has become yet another victim of the coronavirus pandemic.

"I was very much looking forward to giving a talk and Trowbridge and District Metal Detecting Club, of which I am a member, were going to have a display of many finds from the Celtic times onwards.

"Sadly, coronavirus knocked the plans on the head," added Dave