THERE was a rise in the number of treasure finds reported in Cumbria last year, new provisional figures show.

It comes as the number of detectorists across the UK continues to grow, with the Institute of Detectorists raising concerns about the supply of historical artefacts possibly running out.

Data collected by the Department of Portable Antiquities and Treasure at the British Museum shows 23 treasure finds in Cumbria were recorded in 2022 – up from eight the year before.

The figures show the number of reported treasure finds for 2021 and provisional figures for 2022 within England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Detectorists use metal detectors to scour open land for buried items – occasionally unearthing historic coins, pottery or other historic items.

The amount of buried treasure discovered across the nations reached a new high last year with some 1,378 finds in 2022, marking the ninth consecutive year that the 1,000 mark has been exceeded.

In the North West, there were 64 finds in 2022.

Treasure finds in Cumbria include a silver bell from the post-Medieval period in Ousby, a post-Medieval coin hoard found in St Bees and three ancient bronze axe heads found in a field in Millom.

Keith Westcott, founder of the Institute of Detectorists, said: "The number of active detectorists has been steeply rising since the Covid lockdown."

He added the 2021 Portable Antiquities Annual Report suggested there might be as many as 40,000 active metal-detectorists in the United Kingdom.

"Current estimates for 2023, raise this figure to 50,000," he said.

He added the "amazing and precious" resource of portable heritage is being depleted as more people take up metal detecting.

He noted just 3,000 metal detectorists are recording with the Portable Antiquities Scheme which is managed by the British Museum and records archaeological finds discovered by the public.

Overall, around a quarter of the found objects and a quarter of the found coins were acquired by or donated to museums – totalling 270 additions.

Separately, a Department for Culture, Media and Sport survey in 2022-23 found an estimated 1 per cent of adults in England said they had taken part in metal detecting at least once in the 12 months prior to the survey.