Metal detecting in England
Last updated: 9 September 2026
Good detecting starts before you leave the house — with the ground read, the landowner asked, and the protected sites known. England has some of the richest buried history in the world and a set of rules that reward doing it properly. This is a guide to detecting in England the sensible way, and to the app that brings the maps and the heritage data together in one place.
In short
- You always need the landowner's permission — there is no land in England without an owner.
- Using a detector on a scheduled monument without written consent is a criminal offence.
- Treasure must be reported to the coroner within 14 days; other finds are recorded voluntarily with the Portable Antiquities Scheme.
- Bare-earth LiDAR reveals barrows, ridge and furrow and lost villages the aerial photo hides.
- Historic maps show vanished farms, mills and field names — where people were.
- Muld gathers the map layers, the heritage overlays and a private find journal on one map. The core app is free; the heavier layers are part of Muld+.
Is metal detecting legal in England?
Yes — metal detecting is legal in England, with no general licence to buy. What the law governs is where you search and what you do with what you find. Three things carry real legal weight, and it's worth knowing them cold:
- Permission. You need the landowner's consent on every piece of land, private or "public" — councils, the National Trust, Forestry England and the Crown Estate all own land and mostly restrict detecting.
- Protected sites. Using a detector on a scheduled monument or other protected place without written consent from Historic England is a criminal offence under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.
- Treasure. The Treasure Act 1996 makes certain finds the property of the Crown, and you must report them to the coroner within 14 days.
The full detail — what counts as treasure, the 2023 change to the definition, the penalties, and the areas that catch people out — is in our guide to the metal detecting laws in England, with the official sources so you can check for yourself.
The maps that matter
What detectorists call "the map" is really several layers stacked over one another. Some point you to promising ground; others keep you the right side of the rules. These are the ones that earn their place in England.
Bare-earth LiDAR
A hillshade of the ground with the trees and buildings stripped away. In the English landscape it picks out round barrows, ridge and furrow, deserted medieval villages and hollow ways that an aerial photo never shows. It's built on the Environment Agency's free national LiDAR. See our guide to LiDAR maps for metal detecting.
Historic maps
The old Ordnance Survey and tithe surveys show vanished farms, mills, chapels and field names — the places people lived and worked, and lost things. Our guide to old maps for metal detecting covers what each one reveals, including the GB1900 record of long-gone places.
Scheduled monuments and heritage
Muld draws the National Heritage List for England — scheduled monuments, registered parks and battlefields and more — straight on the map, so you can see a protected site before you walk onto it. Read our guide to scheduled monuments and metal detecting.
Permission and where you stand
Knowing whose land you're on is half of getting a permission, and knowing which sites are off-limits is the other half. Our guide to where you can metal detect in England walks through farmland, commons, footpaths, the foreshore and the places that are simply off-limits.
Reading the layers together
None of the layers is a promise of finds, but together they turn a map into a plan. A typical trip is planned at the kitchen table:
- Find promising ground on LiDAR and the historic maps — a rise in a field, a vanished farmstead, a telling field name.
- Check the scheduled-monument overlay so you're not looking at a protected site.
- Work out whose land it is, so you know who to ask.
- Get permission, then go — with the whole picture already in your pocket.
Metal detecting in England with Muld
Muld is a focused field app for detectorists: the map layers, the heritage overlays and a private find journal, gathered in one place and built to work outdoors on bad signal. Two things set it apart. First, it renders the heavy data — LiDAR, historic maps, heritage sites — live on the map, so you skip the download-and-GIS faff. Second, your finds stay on your own phone: there is no public map of where you detect, by design, so good ground stays yours. The core app is free; LiDAR terrain, the historic map layers and the deeper tools are part of Muld+.
Recording your finds
In England and Wales, most finds are recorded voluntarily with the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) through your local Finds Liaison Officer — it's how a stray Roman coin or medieval brooch becomes a dot on the archaeological record. Anything that meets the legal definition of treasure must additionally be reported to the coroner. Muld keeps a private journal of your finds — photos, position, notes — so that when you take something to your FLO, the record is already made. What leaves your phone is always your choice.
Official sources
This page is a plain-language introduction, not legal advice. The rules matter and the responsibility is yours — always check the official sources.
- GOV.UK — Treasure What counts as treasure, how and when to report it, and how rewards work.
- Portable Antiquities Scheme (finds.org.uk) Record your finds, find your local Finds Liaison Officer, and the Code of Practice.
- Historic England — the National Heritage List for England The official register of scheduled monuments and other protected sites.
- Environment Agency — LiDAR Composite DTM England's free national bare-earth LiDAR, under the Open Government Licence.
Read the ground before you dig
LiDAR terrain, historic maps, scheduled-monument overlays and a private find journal — gathered in one focused detecting app for England. The core app is free; the heavier layers are part of Muld+.