Ancient sword discovered in north Dorset river

Stephen Hill was out near Sturminster Newton, along the banks of the River Stour, when he was left 'gobsmacked' after discovering a sword believed to hundreds of years old.

Talking to the Echo about his find, Stephen said: "I knew I had something on the magnet, at first I thought it was a piece of rebar or scaffolding which is quite a common find.

"Then I saw the cross guard and I was a little gobsmacked, I knew this was something special."

The moment Stephen pulled the sword out of the river can be seen in the video below.

Stephen, 29, from Dorchester, has been magnet fishing for about five years and is passionate about history and offered his thoughts on what he thought the blade was.

"I have only found one before, I estimate this one is four to six hundred years old and is possibly some sort of cavalry sword. 

"I have contacted the finds liaison officer and will know more when they get back to me."

Stephen thought the sword was just a piece of scaffolding before pulling it from the water (Image: Stephen Hill)

Stephen has a passion for history and it is one of the reasons he got into magnet fishing in the first place. 

He added: It is originally why I started as I have an interest in history and i Kept it up for the environmental side of helping clear the waterways.

"I have stayed with it for these kind of once-in-a-lifetime discoveries - it was thrilling."

With his own YouTube channel, Stephen documents all his finds and has previously discovered several explosives.

His finds have included World War One grenades with the pin still in and an anti-tank shell that saw the bomb squad called to detonate the find earlier this year.

It was discovered whilst cleaning up the river on Lubbecke Way in Dorchester.

Stephen regularly fishes using a high-powered magnet which normally sees him pick up bottles, glass and litter from the river.

Stephen hopes the sword will make it into the Dorset Museum once experts have analysed it.