Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 January 2015
The site where the torcs were found is just above the 100-ft contour (30.5 m.) on high land 3.2 km. east of the town centre (TM 13684273). The torcs were lying on the west flank of a hill overlooking a tributary of the Belstead Brook; this tributary has now been filled in and underlies Bridgwater Road. The hill is pasture land adjoining Fir Tree Farm and, being steepsided, is unlikely ever to have been ploughed. It was decided to cut back the hill at its foot to provide larger gardens for the houses of Holcombe Crescent. The flank was removed by bulldozing in 3-m. swathes, the width of the machine. When Mr Tricker walked past the spot he saw an almost vertical cliff some 4-5 m. high; the bulldozer, which was removing the second swathe, was working, as a safety precaution, about a metre from the edge; the spine of earth which was left was falling down the slope, loosened by the vibration. Projecting from this loose earth, some 2 m