I just can't imagine seeing that in a rural farming community close to the coast. I am sure they had never seen an elephant, or knew what they were. One thing for sure, they were not there to sell cookies and say hello.
Evidently most of England has such history that most every county has a local archeologist and the have some fantastic old records. They were looking at one area and they local archeologist pulled out records of the building construction from 1540s. They were finding layers from prehistoric (4,000 years old) Roman era, and 1500s in one location.
I own some coins from 310 BC era. and the later Roman era. I did not dig them up in the yard.
Mine is bronze and has more wear than the one in the article.