How to find metal detecting sites in England

The research method — last updated: 16 October 2026

The best permissions aren't the ones with the most finds — they're the ones you researched first. Before a detectorist walks a field, they read it: free bare-earth LiDAR to see the shape of the ground, historic maps to see what stood there, and the records to see what's already known. This is that method, step by step — how to find old sites worth asking to search in England, using data that is free, and how to bring it together on one map.

The data is free — don't pay for it

A note worth making first, because it saves money: the research data English detectorists use is public and free. The Environment Agency's national LiDAR, the National Library of Scotland's historic Ordnance Survey maps, the GB1900 gazetteer and the public heritage records are all open. Some sites repackage this free data behind a subscription — you don't need them to do the research below. What's genuinely worth paying for is the time saved by having it all on one map instead of six browser tabs.

Step 1 — read the ground with LiDAR

Bare-earth LiDAR strips away trees and buildings to show the shape of the ground itself. Shaded with a low, raking light (a hillshade), faint earthworks stand out: ridge and furrow, hollow ways and lost tracks, the platforms of deserted settlements, round barrows and old field boundaries. Scan the ground around your area and look for regular shapes that don't match the modern field pattern.

One honest limit: much of England's free LiDAR was flown at 1 m resolution, which catches earthworks but can miss the faintest, and coverage has gaps in places. Check the resolution of the tile before you rely on it, and treat LiDAR as one layer of the picture, not the whole answer.

Step 2 — overlay the historic maps

LiDAR tells you the shape; historic maps tell you what made it. Compare the ground with the old Ordnance Survey — the six-inch and 25-inch editions on the National Library of Scotland's side-by-side viewer — and with the tithe maps of the 1830s–40s, often held at your county record office. The GB1900 gazetteer records the labels those maps carried: farms, mills, chapels, wells and field names long gone.

The pattern to hunt for is a mismatch across time: a building, lane, pond or boundary that appears on an 1880s map, or as an earthwork in LiDAR, but not on the modern map. That's where something stood and people lived, worked or passed — and where they lost things.

Step 3 — check what's already known

Before you get excited about a mark on the LiDAR, see whether it's already recorded. The Historic Environment Record for your county, the Archaeology Data Service and Historic England list known sites and finds. Two reasons this matters: it tells you whether your lead is a known settlement (promising) or a known protected site (hands off), and it helps you record responsibly later.

Step 4 — check it's legal, then ask

Research points you at ground; the law decides whether you can search it. Confirm the site is not a scheduled monument or other protected place — detecting one without consent is a criminal offence — and that no other designation gets in the way (our guide to where you can metal detect in England covers SSSIs, commons, National Trust land and the rest). Then work out whose land it is and ask — ideally with a short written permission agreement. No amount of research substitutes for the landowner's yes.

Step 5 — ground-truth it

A lead on a screen is a hypothesis. Once you have permission, walk the field, look for surface clues — pottery, building rubble, a change in the soil — and let your signals and early finds tell you whether the research was right. Use what you learn to refine the next search. The map gets you to the gate; the ground tells you what's behind it.

Doing it on one map

The slow part of this method is juggling separate sites — one for LiDAR, another for old maps, another for the records — and trying to line them up by eye. Muld renders LiDAR terrain, historic maps and the heritage sites on the same map, so you can switch layers over the exact same ground and spot the mismatches directly. Save the fields you want to ask about, keep a private journal of what you find, and plan the whole trip on your phone. Your research and your finds stay on your own device — there's no public map of where you detect, so a site you worked for stays yours. The core app is free; the heavier layers are part of Muld+.

Free sources

Everything you need for the research above, free and official. This page is a plain-language guide, not archaeological or legal advice.