Sussex
Metal detecting in Chichester.
West Sussex downland above the coastal plain — Roman Noviomagus, the Harting escarpment, and the estate country around Petworth. We've recorded 58 digs here. Locations are shown approximately, out of respect for the landowners and the ground we're trusted with.
The land around Chichester
The Chichester district climbs from the flat coastal plain up onto the South Downs at Harting, Elsted and Treyford. The plain is brickearth over gravel and grows heavy crops; the downland above is chalk with flint. Rogate and the Rother valley to the north add greensand into the mix.
What's underfoot
Chichester was Noviomagus Reginorum, one of the most important Roman towns in southern Britain, with Fishbourne palace on its edge. The downs above carry barrow cemeteries, cross-ridge dykes and Romano-British field systems. This is also where our National Trust survey work at Petworth sits.
How we search here
Two very different soils in one district: sticky brickearth on the plain, clean flinty chalk above. We plan days around which is fit to walk. 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 ground near Compton, Harting, Elsted and Treyford, Oving and Rogate.
We have 58 recorded digs in the Chichester district, spread across 5 parishes, part of 60+ digs across Sussex. 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.
Significant Finds
No published finds from Chichester yet.
Surveys in this district are ongoing, and records still working through the Portable Antiquities Scheme are not published here until they're released. In the meantime you can browse everything we've recorded elsewhere.
Browse the full finds gallery →