Hampshire
Metal detecting in Winchester.
The country around England's old capital — Roman roads out of Venta Belgarum, Saxon estates and a Civil War battlefield. We've recorded 66 digs here. Locations are shown approximately, out of respect for the landowners and the ground we're trusted with.
The land around Winchester
The Winchester district is classic Hampshire chalk: rolling downland cut by the Itchen and the upper Meon, with beech hangers on the steeper slopes. Permissions are mostly arable on the higher ground, with pasture along the valley bottoms around Itchen Stoke, Ovington and Corhampton.
What's underfoot
Winchester was Venta Belgarum under the Romans and the capital of Wessex after them, and the roads and estate boundaries radiating from it still shape the farmland. Cheriton was fought over in 1644, and the Meon valley parishes hold a long record of Saxon and medieval occupation. Roman coinage and medieval personal items are the staples here.
How we search here
Thin soils over chalk. Finds sit shallow, which rewards careful, slow coverage rather than fast ground-clearing. 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.
Ground searched includes parishes near Cheriton, Beauworth, Hambledon, Hursley, Crawley, Colden Common and the Meonstoke area.
We have 66 recorded digs in the Winchester district, spread across 15 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 Winchester 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 →