Metal detecting in Wiltshire.

The land around Wiltshire

This covers the Wiltshire unitary area outside Swindon: an enormous sweep of chalk downland cut by the Avon, Wylye, Nadder and Ebble. Fields are large and arable on the plateau, with pasture and water meadow in the valleys. Ground conditions are as good as detecting gets in England.

What's underfoot

Few landscapes in Europe are as archaeologically dense. Amesbury sits beside Stonehenge; the plain is ringed with barrow groups, Iron Age enclosures and Roman settlement; and the valley villages from Broad Chalke to Boyton have been continuously occupied since the Saxon period. Everything from Bronze Age metalwork to Civil War material is on the table here.

How we search here

Clean chalk, excellent depth, and a great deal of it. Sensitive sites are strictly off limits — we search only ground the landowner holds and that carries no scheduled protection. 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.

Permissions have included land near Amesbury, Aldbourne, Alderbury, Broad Chalke, Boyton, Chitterne, Buttermere and Chute Forest.

We have 222 recorded digs in the Wiltshire district, spread across 37 parishes, part of 239+ digs across Wiltshire. 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.