Hampshire
Metal detecting in East Hampshire.
Where the Hampshire chalk meets the greensand — steep hangers, small fields and some of the oldest routeways in the county. We've recorded 83 digs here. Locations are shown approximately, out of respect for the landowners and the ground we're trusted with.
The land around East Hampshire
East Hampshire is more broken country than the open downland to the north. The chalk escarpment above East Meon and Buriton gives way to the greensand belt around Alton and Selborne, so field sizes are smaller and soils vary sharply from one permission to the next — flinty chalk on the tops, heavier sandy loam below the hangers.
What's underfoot
The district straddles ancient east–west routes along the South Downs and the old road between Winchester and Chichester. Alton was a significant medieval market town, and the parishes around Froxfield, Privett and East Tisted preserve a dense pattern of farmsteads that has barely moved in eight hundred years. Medieval and post-medieval material dominates, with earlier Roman finds where the chalk comes to the surface.
How we search here
Mixed soils mean we adjust settings field by field. The greensand runs quiet and deep; the chalk tops are noisier but shallower. Digs run midweek by written agreement with the landowner. We meet in the morning, spread out across the permission and search until mid-afternoon, refilling every hole as we go.
We have searched ground near Alton, Bentworth, Buriton, East Meon, Farringdon, Froyle and East Tisted.
We have 83 recorded digs in the East Hampshire district, spread across 19 parishes, part of 487+ digs across Hampshire. Every member works to the NCMD Code of Conduct, and finds of note are reported to the Portable Antiquities Scheme through our local Finds Liaison Officer.
Significant Finds
No published finds from East Hampshire yet.
Surveys in this district are ongoing, and records still working through the Portable Antiquities Scheme are not published here until they're released. In the meantime you can browse everything we've recorded elsewhere.
Browse the full finds gallery →