Metal Detecting Tips: Research

Pondguru
Nov 9, 2026

Taking time to research a site will pay off. Search the area on Google to see what comes up. Parish records, battle sites, mines, old maps - they can all be found on the internet.
Google Earth will show up sites of old houses, footpaths, ancient water courses etc. which may be invisible from ground level.
Talk to old people - they've been around a long time and will have knowledge of local history. That's helped me alot with the sites I have.
Above all, use common sense. If there are modern features like a cross roads, the fields around there (assuming the roads have been used for hundreds of years) could have many finds waiting to be discovered.
The shape of the land can indicate ancient farming methods also with 'rig and furrow' (undulating land caused by years of linear ploughing) showing that people have worked the land in the past, even if now, the field is just pasture.
Thanks to the lads in the Blayon Search and Recovery Association for teaching me so much in the short time I have been a member.