A neighbour in the village is a detectorist and she unearthed these Roman coins in a nearby field. She said that on another occasion, and in a similar location, she had found Russian coins dating from the early nineteenth century, which were probably lost by merchants who had brought flax over to Somerset when local crops were insufficient. So Russian flax would have ended up in ropes and canvas for the British Navy, since the flax industry had a significant presence in the area. Rope was produced at West Coker at the twine works and flax canvas was woven at Crewkerne and over the Dorset border in Bridport. The Russian guy who lost his coins in a Somerset field must have been pretty annoyed with himself.
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