A METAL detectorist who unearthed one of the largest ever hoard of Iron Age coins in Britain and decided to keep 23 of them as a “memento” will have his metal detector destroyed. Groundworker Shane Wood, 62, found the treasure while on a walk in Chelmsford, Essex in September last year. Ashley Petchey, prosecuting, told Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court that “avid birdwatcher” Wood saw a feather fall from a buzzard and noticed a gold item in the field where it landed. Wood went home to fetch his metal detector and made the discovery, placing the coins into a bin liner. Mr Petchey said that the horde of 933 Iron Age gold Staters was “likely to be if not the largest then the second largest such find in Britain”.