Wales · Artefacts · Post-Medieval · 21 Sep 2026

Detectorist's shipwreck treasure on display at Swansea museum

Metal detectorist Peter Hughes spent over two decades uncovering a vast hoard of treasure from the 1583 wreck of the ship *Ann Francis*, which was lost off Margam Beach in Neath Port Talbot during a violent storm. His discoveries—made after coastal storms shifted the sand concealing them—include approximately 870 gold and silver coins, personal items, drinking utensils, a boatswain's whistle, and an unopened brass combination lock. Highlighting a key period in Welsh maritime history, the full collection of artefacts has now gone on public display for the first time at the National Waterfront Museum in Swansea, while the stretch of beach where they were found has been designated a protected site to prevent further detecting.

Reported by BBC. The full report is linked below.

Editor's note

Twenty years is the number that should stop you. Peter Hughes did not find this hoard; he found it repeatedly, walking the same stretch of Margam Beach after every storm that shifted the sand, across two decades, for a wreck that went down in 1583. Around 870 gold and silver coins came out of it, along with the things that actually put people on the ship — drinking vessels, a boatswain's whistle, and a brass combination lock still locked. The legal route here is not the one most detectorists know. Material from a wreck is not treasure under the 1996 Act; it is wreck under the Merchant Shipping Act 1995, and it goes to the Receiver of Wreck, who has 28 days' notice as the starting point. And there is a genuine sting in the tail worth saying plainly rather than glossing over: the stretch of beach that gave all this up is now a protected site, closed to detecting. The reward for two decades of doing it properly is that nobody gets to do it again. Both halves of that are true at once, and the collection standing in a case at the National Waterfront Museum rather than scattered through private hands is the reason the second half is worth accepting.

Approximate location51.57, -3.75View on map

Source: BBC

Before you dig

Finding things is the easy part. These are the people who make a find count for something.

The Code of Conduct NCMD — permission in writing, backfill your holes, report what matters
Find your Finds Liaison Officer PAS — the person who records your find properly, free of charge
Search the PAS database Over a million recorded objects, and a good way to identify your own
National Council for Metal Detecting Advice on permissions, landowner agreements and insurance

Scotland, Ireland and Northern Ireland

Those four are for England and Wales, where the Portable Antiquities Scheme records finds and the Treasure Act decides what must be reported.

Scotland runs its own system, and every find is reportable there — not only treasure. Treasure Trove Unit ›

The Republic of Ireland is different again, and severely so. Searching for archaeological objects without the Minister’s written consent is a criminal offence carrying fines or imprisonment, and the definition is broad enough to cover coins, buttons and buckles of almost any age. Do not assume British rules travel with you. The law, from the National Museum ›

Northern Ireland is stricter still. The Treasure Act applies and finds go to National Museums NI within fourteen days, but any searching that involves digging — metal detecting expressly included — needs a licence, and licences are only granted for archaeological projects. National Museums NI ›

This site covers discoveries from all over the world, and so does the variation in the law — from a recording scheme that thanks you, to a criminal offence. Wherever you are searching, find out what applies there before you go, not after.

Found something? What to do next › · Buying or selling a find? What is legal to sell, and where ›

Detectorist's shipwreck treasure on display at Swansea museum

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