Sussex
Metal detecting in Horsham.
Early days for us in the Weald — heavy clay country with a very different find profile to the chalk. We've recorded 2 digs here. Locations are shown approximately, out of respect for the landowners and the ground we're trusted with.
The land around Horsham
Horsham district is Weald clay: small irregular fields, thick hedgerows, ancient woodland and pasture. Steyning sits at the southern edge near the Downs, Rusper up in the northern Weald. It is slower ground to work than open chalk, but far less searched.
What's underfoot
The Weald was Roman iron-working country and later a landscape of scattered farmsteads and droveways running north–south between the Downs and the forest. Steyning itself was a late-Saxon burh with its own mint, which makes the surrounding fields genuinely interesting.
How we search here
Heavy clay that bakes hard in summer and holds water in winter. We pick our weeks carefully and search after the plough where we can. 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.
So far our searches here have been near Rusper and Steyning.
We have 2 recorded digs in the Horsham district, spread across 2 parishes, part of 60+ digs across Sussex. 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 Horsham 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 →