A HOARD of Roman coins found in a Forest field has been named as one of the best finds of the year.

The eight silver denari coins were found in October 2017 by Sue Hassell of Cinderford and friend Alan Ward who described it as a “once-in-a-lifetime find”.

The hoard has now been declared the runner-up in a competition run by the National Council for Metal Detecting (NCMD).

What makes the collection rare is the fact they were all made before the Roman invasion of Britain in AD43.

The oldest was minted in 134BC, in the time of the Roman republic before Augustus became the first emperor.

The rest of the coins were made in the decades following, up to one minted during the reign of Emperor Tiberius between AD14 and AD37.

Susan is a member of Severnvale Research and Detecting Society and has been going out on land across the Forest with her metal detector for more

than a decade.

As a member of the NCMD she abides by a strict code of conduct when out with her detector.

She said: “To come second in the national competition is amazing – first I had the find of the month at my club and then find of the year.

“That qualified it for the final of the NCMD western region, which it won, and then it went to the national final.

“When you consider there are approximately 200 detecting clubs and in excess of 8,000 detectorists who are eligible, I’m really pleased to have come second.”

The overall winner of the hoard category was a group of Bronze Age axeheads which date to some 2,000 years before Susan’s Roman find.

The group of coins was declared as treasure by the coroner, which meant that Susan was able to keep them.

She agreed to pay the farmer on whose land they were found half of the value – although she is not revealing how much that was.

She said: “He was pleased to find out more about the history of the land where his family has farmed for generations.”

Susan still goes out twice a week but said the most she has found since has been “buttons, bits of lead, pennies and half pennies.”

She added: “We are running out of land to search so we would be grateful to any landowner who would give us permission to go onto their land.

“I can be contacted on (01594) 823804.”