TWO early Bronze Age flat axes unearthed in a farmer’s field near Silsden last summer have been declared as treasure by Bradford coroner Martin Fleming.

They were found at an undisclosed location in July by metal detectorist Edward Hannon, from Thornbury.

Mr Hannon, who was not at yesterday’s treasure inquest, had got permission from the landowner Philip Wallbank to go on the farmland before he started digging on July 19 last year.

The inquest heard Mr Hannon, who is not a member of any detectorist club, had started searching for antiquities in an area near land that the farmer had pointed out might be of interest.

It was there the detector activated and after digging 18 inches he found the two corroded copper alloy axes side-by-side – one of them was broken into two parts and decorated with a rain pattern marked as little dashed lines.

The axes were in contact with each other, with no space between – almost overlapping – and the blades facing in opposite directions.

Speaking after the inquest, Finds Liaison Officer Amy Downes, who works for the Portable Antiquities Service and had written a report for the coroner, said it was hard to say just how rare the finds were but the axes were certainly not a common discovery – especially in Bradford.

She said in the past 15 years there had only been 133 other treasure finds reported by metal detectorists in the Bradford area and added: “Usually discoveries are made on cultivated land, which Bradford doesn’t have so much of as other parts of the country,” she said.

“Axes were fairly prestigious objects to own and would have been cared for. This wasn’t a chance loss, they would have been put in the ground on purpose. The big question is, ‘why?’ Some say it is a ritual,” she said.

Miss Downes said she believed the British Museum might be interested in adding them to its collection and a reward could be shared by the finder and landowner.