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Welcome to the National Council for Metal Detecting

Promoting, Protecting and Encouraging Metal Detecting for over 40 years.
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Welcome to the NCMD

At the NCMD we love metal detecting! For over 40 years we have promoted, protected, and encouraged metal detecting for our members and the wider Metal Detecting Community.

We are formally recognised by the UK Government and play a vital role in representing members on the creation of any changes to legislation that may affect our great hobby.

Our introduction video is a great way to get to know us and learn what we are about.

Getting started with metal detecting

About us

Who we are and why we do it.

Why join?

Benefits of joining the NCMD

Detecting advice

Get advice and guidance on metal detecting

News

Catch up on our latest news

Major finds help

Our Major Finds Excavation Fund can help you with important finds

FAQ

Our FAQs can help with additional questions/advice

NCMD merchandise products

The NCMD Merchandise Shop

The NCMD Merchandise shop is where members can buy branded items such as caps, tshirts, hoodies and mugs.

While the shop is only open to our members, anyone can buy a gift voucher for a member. Great for those struggling to buy something for that metal detectorist in their life. The voucher gets sent straight to the member and they can use it to purchase anything from the merchandise shop.
(Vouchers cannot be used to purchase NCMD Membership)

If you are member you can visit the shop by logging into your NCMD account and scrolling down to the merchandise page under the ‘Members Only’ menu.

For non-members who wish to buy a gift voucher for an NCMD member you can use the button below.

Buy NCMD Gift Vouchers

The NCMD app

Our free mobile app is a great tool for NCMD members to log the position of find spots, take pictures, as well as adding key notes about the find. This makes it easier if it’s a reportable find, as you can look back on the information when talking with the FLO (Finds Liaison Officer).

You can also backup and save your finds data to a secure server, which only you have access to. A great option should you change/lose your phone. (The NCMD does not have access to the server.)

Members can also chat with each other through the online community forum, great for asking questions and sharing knowledge. You also have instant access to your digital membership card.

Once you have purchased NCMD membership you can download the app from Apple or Google Store via the following links.

Download on the App Store
Download on the Play Store

Latest news

Important Changes to NCMD Membership Cards

The NCMD is always looking at ways to ensure we offer members the best value for money when joining us. However, due to the increases in postage and printing costs, we will now only be issuing digital membership cards. Our Overseas members have only ever received digital cards, so there is no change for them. We understand some members may still like to have a physical membership card, so the next time you renew there will be a £2 charge

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17 March 2025 No Comments

Annual Reports from Treasure Act and the Portable Antiquities Scheme.

Members of the NCMD Committee recently attended a meeting at the British Museum for the launch of the annual report for the Portable Antiquities Scheme, and the Treasure Act annual report from the Department for Culture, Media & Sport. While the Treasure Act report is for 2024, it contains details of finds made in 2022. This was due to Covid when the treasure process suspended. The figures for 2022 show the first return to normality, with 1,377 finds reported.  Overall,

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28 February 2025 No Comments

January 2025 Finds Competition Winners

Congratulations to the winners of the January Finds competition. The judges were, yet again, very impressed with the quality of the entries that had been put through. They said while this months winners both happened to be gold items, it doesn’t mean that’s the only thing they look for when judging. We asked the judges what their top tips would be for making a find easier to judge: Going forward the Junior competition will now be judged every quarter. Therefore

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21 February 2025 No Comments

Portable Antiquities Scheme – January Update

It has been a busy year for the PAS so far. This latest monthly update aims to keep the detecting community (and others) informed on the work of the Scheme across England from a British Museum perspective. Lots more is happening locally! The main object types recorded this month were coins (1,737), buckles (370), brooches (278), tokens (165) and vessel fragments (154). Most items were Post-Medieval (1,439), followed by those of Medieval (1,427) and Roman date (1,105). 2,634 items were

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10 February 2025 No Comments

Jon & Wendy Overcoming Adversity

Hi, we are Jon and Wendy, married for 40 years we have enjoyed our own separate hobbies and joint hobbies over the years. Jon’s main hobby is metal detecting, something he has been doing for over 50 years, since he was 9 years old. It is something he is very passionate about. Unfortunately, just over 3 years ago, Jon was prescribed a very strong antibiotic (Ciprofloxacin) for a “suspected” infection, which it turned out he didn’t have. After taking just

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30 January 2025 No Comments

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