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Reporting a Find – The Portable Antiquities Scheme
All archaeological objects found in Cheshire by members of the public should be reported to the Portable Antiquities Scheme.
The Portable Antiquities Scheme is a voluntary scheme to record archaeological objects found by members of the public in England and Wales. Every year thousands of archaeological objects are discovered by members of the public, mostly by metal-detector users, but also by people out walking or digging their gardens.
All finders of gold and silver objects, and groups of coins from the same find spot, which are over 300 years old, have a legal obligation to report such items under the Treasure Act 1996. This is also the case for prehistoric base-metal objects found after 1st January 2003 as they qualify as treasure. All these finds are important and can tell us much about the past.
If you have found anything, not just metal objects, which you would like to report to the Portable Antiquities Scheme or would like more information on the scheme, see their website, which will also tell you how to contact your local Finds Liaison Officer. All finders contributing to the scheme will be fully acknowledged.
The Finds Liaison Officer for Cheshire, Greater Manchester and Merseyside is based at the National Museums Liverpool and holds surgeries at:
- The Grosvenor Museum, Chester on the second Friday of every month between 10.30 am and 4pm
Finds are recorded on a database which is available on this link.
Use of metal detectors on local authority owned or tenanted land
The document below sets out Cheshire West and Chester’s protocol on metal detecting on Council land.