Archaeological sites ??

[aikonbizz]

As a 'very' newbie I am concerned about straying onto land where it would be an offence to detect on or looking  a prat asking for permission to detect on land that is clearly out of bounds. In the area where I live there are according to the O/S maps several Hill Forts, Motte & Baileys, Tumulus(i) . Are these arche... sites ? I have been on Wikipedia but its a clear as mud!!
Many thanks.
P.S I found my 1st hammered coin 1562 at the weekend and am totally hooked !

[nomad]

its alwats best to ask permission..dont worry about looking a prat..most people think we as detectorists are...oooh the unimfored....good hunting..cheers paul

[handyman [Alan}]

A very sensible approach indeed. Well done

Most local authorities have a section dedicated to environmental matters, or historical records. it may be worth contacting your FLO, by email and ask them if they are aware of any local authority website links which provide you with the information of SSSi or sche duled areas, in your area. it may help them if you were to provide an indication of where you wish to search.

you could also pay a visit to your council offices and ask them to indicate to you where the scheduled sites are, so u can avoid detecting in such areas.

you could consider joining a club, who will probably be aware of the scheduled sites.

congrats on your 1st hammie..... post a piccy.

cheers

[nfl]

i think you will find such sites as motte and bailey ,tumuli etc will most likely be scheduled,if these places are on farm land try and get permission to detect said farm but leave a distance between you and said site to be on the safe side untill you can find out if they are listed,,,,my own personal view is that you will find more around these sites than on them themselves anyway....happy hunting.  

[waltonbasinman]

Hello Aikonbizz. We have met briefly at the Ludlow 1 rally and I hope you have enjoyed your days out with DW. With regards to detecting and the law with monuments. If a Scheduled ancient monument or SAM is recorded it will have a grid reference using the Ordnance Survey mapping system. Scheduled Sites can be upstanding or buried remains, for example most hillforts, barrows or tumuli, motte and bailey castles and deserted medieval villages are upstanding monuments that can be seen above ground. Like wise most Roman Villas are buried but are easily Identified by there negative cropmarks. All these types of monuments will usually have a SAM number which will Identify them and it is illegal to detect no closer than 50 metres from the monument. With Roman Villas especially they seem to get scheduled but seem to have a (special case ) for want of a better word about them. As they are usually identified through cropmark identification most other type of cropmarks that are Identified do not have SAM numbers so theoretically it would be perfectly OK to detect with the land owners permission.Indeed thanks to Metal Detectorists a lot of unknown Sites are found. To check out these sites look on the Heritage Gateway website or Pastscape. In Wales Coflein has a comprehensive list and if you are not sure contact your local sites and monuments officer who would be part of the council services. Hope this helps.

[aikonbizz]

Thanks chaps thats a great help. Can I ask another little Q ??
What about 'Pillow Mounds' -  are they OK to detect on ? Were they really for breeding rabbits ? (this is not a wind-up I promise)
Yes I enjoyed the Ludlow rallies hugely and look forward to coming again when I can. Thanks for being so welcoming and helpful. My hammered coin is very worn and you can hardly make out the date.

[farmer(phil)]

Well done Aikonbizz on your first hammered.So soon   well done

More to come....well done....Hope to see you soon on some more DW rallies.

Farmer Phil

[waltonbasinman]

Yes Rabbits were introduced to the UK by the Normans and were a staple diet. Pillow Mounds are Medieval Rabbit Warrens and I know of no Pillow Mounds that are Scheduled. You will find that the more you understand what a scheduled Site is, the more you will understand that the authorities have scheduled the wrong area. 

[dances with badgers]

detecting is the new rock n roll. people call you names they are just jealous.i was recently called a scrounger by a very large lady at the beach who obviously had'nt worked for years because of her " glands " and was probably waiting to get on the jeremy kyle show so she could get some money for cake.or find out who where the fathers of her twelve kids so she could claim money off them.i just smiled and kept on swinging.