Question about churches

castle keep

Full Member
Oct 23, 2007
119
2
ENGLAND
Detector(s) used
Any that go bleep !!!!!
When you guys say you hunted a church how old do they date back and do your churches have graveyards attached to them? do you need permission to hunt there?
I ask this because here in England most of our churches go back many, many centuries and have graveyards so if we were to hunt one we would get run out of town or even thrown in the Tower of London lol
 

might it be some of the churchs mentioned or not used anymore i dont know but like you say here in the Uk hunting a church is akin to grave robbing lol
 

The churches i hunt are either old brick ones usually in farm fields or they are completely gone.Some like the one i just hunted have small cemetarys beside them,but i do not hunt the cemetarys......
These are usually private property,so yes i have to ask permission.....
 

OK that makes sense its just some of the pictures posted of your churches look quite modern and in use? i guess our churches are undetectable as the graves go right up to the church walls and as they are owned by the Church of England (well the ones i want to dig are) so it would be easier to get permission to detect on the moon :o :o :o
 

I believe some people do hunt old church yards that are still in use.
Here in Ohio there are a lot of small communitys with some very old churches still in use.I dont think many people have a problem with people getting permission for the grass areas,but to me cemetarys,even old ones are off limits.....
 

I have hunted plenty of churches here in PA still in full use. I have never asked permission and I have never had a problem. They are public places and are open to anyone. I do not hunt the cemetary either. Not that I would get anywhere close to a coffin but just out of respect. Mostly people just ask if I found anything.
 

oldplacesnofinds said:
I have hunted plenty of churches here in PA still in full use. I have never asked permission and I have never had a problem. They are public places and are open to anyone. I do not hunt the cemetary either. Not that I would get anywhere close to a coffin but just out of respect. Mostly people just ask if I found anything.

Well i will tell you what you havent been bothered yet,but as has been stated in previous post churches ARE private property.
They are owned by the church not the city or state....
 

Where I'm from in the Midwest (Indiana) there were plenty of very old churches (not as old as the UK's, of course) and no one would ever give me a second look when being around them MD'ing.

However, here in Florida, where I've lived for almost 20 years, it's a whole different story because every church is more like a business, and there are churches on almost every street corner, it seems.
 

teverly said:
oldplacesnofinds said:
I have hunted plenty of churches here in PA still in full use. I have never asked permission and I have never had a problem. They are public places and are open to anyone. I do not hunt the cemetery either. Not that I would get anywhere close to a coffin but just out of respect. Mostly people just ask if I found anything.

Well i will tell you what you haven't been bothered yet,but as has been stated in previous post churches ARE private property.
They are owned by the church not the city or state....

Exactly right. If you're a member of the church--no problem. If you're not and you detect, you'll probably be asked to leave; unless you have permission from the preacher or one of the deacons. The "money" church in my small town owns a vacant lot across the street that they use for overflow parking. That lot happens to be the site where one of the first houses built in my town once stood. I got permission from one of the church leaders to hunt there anytime I want. EXCEPT Sundays or Wednesday afternoons. The guy who gave me permission is a MDer. He found a pre-Civil War postman's breast plate about 4" deep on that lot. I've found a few wheaties from the teens and a war nickel. The place is about 1 1/2 acres and barely touched. That lot is only 2 blocks from my house, but with all of the other places in town I can search, the lot has only seen me twice. ;D


QUESTION: Has anyone on this forum ever found out where the SECOND Babtist Church is located? I've been all around the world and have yet to see one. All of them claim to be the FIRST. :D
 

Shortstack said:
teverly said:
oldplacesnofinds said:
I have hunted plenty of churches here in PA still in full use. I have never asked permission and I have never had a problem. They are public places and are open to anyone. I do not hunt the cemetery either. Not that I would get anywhere close to a coffin but just out of respect. Mostly people just ask if I found anything.

Well i will tell you what you haven't been bothered yet,but as has been stated in previous post churches ARE private property.
They are owned by the church not the city or state....



Exactly right. If you're a member of the church--no problem. If you're not and you detect, you'll probably be asked to leave; unless you have permission from the preacher or one of the deacons. The "money" church in my small town owns a vacant lot across the street that they use for overflow parking. That lot happens to be the site where one of the first houses built in my town once stood. I got permission from one of the church leaders to hunt there anytime I want. EXCEPT Sundays or Wednesday afternoons. The guy who gave me permission is a MDer. He found a pre-Civil War postman's breast plate about 4" deep on that lot. I've found a few wheaties from the teens and a war nickel. The place is about 1 1/2 acres and barely touched. That lot is only 2 blocks from my house, but with all of the other places in town I can search, the lot has only seen me twice. ;D


QUESTION: Has anyone on this forum ever found out where the SECOND Babtist Churdh is located? I've been all around the world and have yet to see one. All of them claim to be the FIRST. :D

LOL....I've never seen a SECOND Baptist Church either (or Third, or Fourth). I was raised in a Baptist Church (more like a Shi'ite Baptist Church, but fortunately many kind and caring young ladies in the Philippines effectively de-programmed me during my deployment there when I was a young 19-yr-old Marine). We're talking short hair, sinful for women to wear pants, Rock-n-Roll will make you pregnant, don't buy Procter&Gamble products, and the King James Version better be the ONLY version of Bible you're packing! But when I was a "Shi'ite" Baptist, we didn't take much truck with those other heretics from First Baptist, Faith Baptist, Bethel Baptist, Beulah Baptist, or any other (insert your name here) Baptist....Not any of those Non-King James Version-using blasphemers. They might possibly be going to Heaven, but we were going FIRST. Seriously, I think the church I grew up in was just one step removed from those Westboro nutcases out in Topeka....I'm just glad they never got around to wheeling out the punchbowl full of (ahem!) "Kool-Aid" before they finally ceased to function. I'm pretty much a non-denominational guy these days.

Oh yeah, same here on hunting churches.....Get permission from the Pastor or the Board of Deacons. I've had no trouble with hunting churches. I'll even show up for a service and contribute to the offering plate when it comes around. There are a couple old cemetaries that I'm planning to hunt, and just because they're out along two-tracks and are hardly visited anymore. There's no real laws against it in Michigan that I know of, but as a rule I don't hunt cemetaries because it just plain wouldn't look good to passers-by.

HH,
SgtSki
 

I have been detecting a local church here in town. I spoke with the Trustee of the church. But I think what helped giving me permission was that we hold our Boy Scout meetings at the church and they love the Boy Scouts!!!...plus the trustee use to metal detect. I do a bit here and there...doing a grid as not to miss a spot. He showed me where the houses were located and all. The church does not own as much land as it use to though. So far...I found a few memorial pennies and a 1966 Thunderbird Rim!!! (oh, and a few budweiser cans that were very crushed with lots of sharp edges!!!) This is at an area of the land were one house once stood! Hope to get back soon and grid out some more! I prefer to do the church in this weather now...so when Spring comes...there won't be alot of brown spots. I have also put some grass seed down on the spots I dug up...so hopefully you won't be able to tell I was there come Spring!!! :)

I am detecting at the Methodist Church and we are not members. I was raised Roman Catholic, but I don't attend church. My relationship is between HIM and I and no middle man!!!  ;D

There is, however, a very old church in my town that I really want to detect...but I have to finish my first project first...before starting another in town.

Only hunting I do in cemeteries is take photos...of all headstones and surrounding area of the cemetery location...for my book :)...

PS: just did a google search on SECOND BAPTIST CHURCH...believe it or not...there are some...check out this link with some listed... http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=second+baptist+church

Now type in google THIRD BAPTIST CHURCH...there are some of those! And a fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh....
 

QUESTION: Has anyone on this forum ever found out where the SECOND Babtist Churdh is located? I've been all around the world and have yet to see one. All of them claim to be the FIRST. :D

There is a "Decoy Baptist Church" not too far from where I live. I often mistake it for a church.
 

This is the reason i asked the question as here in England we would not hunt a church even if we could but i read so many posts even with pictures about you guys hunting churches it made me curious :-\
 

Shortstack said:
teverly said:
oldplacesnofinds said:
I have hunted plenty of churches here in PA still in full use. I have never asked permission and I have never had a problem. They are public places and are open to anyone. I do not hunt the cemetery either. Not that I would get anywhere close to a coffin but just out of respect. Mostly people just ask if I found anything.

Well i will tell you what you haven't been bothered yet,but as has been stated in previous post churches ARE private property.
They are owned by the church not the city or state....

Exactly right. If you're a member of the church--no problem. If you're not and you detect, you'll probably be asked to leave; unless you have permission from the preacher or one of the deacons. The "money" church in my small town owns a vacant lot across the street that they use for overflow parking. That lot happens to be the site where one of the first houses built in my town once stood. I got permission from one of the church leaders to hunt there anytime I want. EXCEPT Sundays or Wednesday afternoons. The guy who gave me permission is a MDer. He found a pre-Civil War postman's breast plate about 4" deep on that lot. I've found a few wheaties from the teens and a war nickel. The place is about 1 1/2 acres and barely touched. That lot is only 2 blocks from my house, but with all of the other places in town I can search, the lot has only seen me twice. ;D


QUESTION: Has anyone on this forum ever found out where the SECOND Babtist Church is located? I've been all around the world and have yet to see one. All of them claim to be the FIRST. :D

Theres a second Babtist church in Liberty Mo. ---And I have hunted it

Les
 

EasyMoney said:
Well, it really shocks me that some people don't have any respect for the dead and for those who morn their losses in that way. An (ex) hunting partner of mine showed up with a beautiful gold watch one day that he got from a grave(site?). That was the last time I spent my time with him. I'm very doubtful that he found it lieing right on the ground.

In America we have liberalism (now turning to Marxism, so-called "democracy", immorality, and deviance) to deal with and to the very max too. Liberalism is exactly what the early Christians had to deal with when those who didn't want to obey the rules decided to make their own free rules. That word alone means "free from", and that's what's now happening in this country, and so much that for those with morays and morals and Godly Christian principals like myself it's almost too much to stand sometimes. It really embarrasses me as an American that people want to behave that way and ruin and abuse our TH'ing hobby by acting in that manner. It's despicable and it makes me smile when they get busted and for fined for it, and their detectors taken from them.. Sometimes that's the only thing that people with low room temperature IQ's can understand.

In my opinion, it's worse than poaching, stealing, or bank robbing, and fits right in under child molestation or rape as far as disgust goes..

First, you need to grab a breath. Second, you better be reeeeal careful who you're calling names such as " child molesters". The primary subject we've been discussing on this particular thread is searching churdh YARDS. There is nothing wrong with searching church YARDS if you have premission. There have been some very valuable finds made in church YARDS. In particular, old country churches where the members held "dinners on the ground" through the years. If I or most anyother member of this forum were to see someone detecting IN a cemetery, we would certainly DO something about it. It is most disrespectful.

If you want to RANT on this subject, please take it to the RANT subject area. Not here.

Thank you and goodnight and may God save us from the gooooooooooood christians.
 

castle keep said:
When you guys say you hunted a church how old do they date back and do your churches have graveyards attached to them? do you need permission to hunt there?
I ask this because here in England most of our churches go back many, many centuries and have graveyards so if we were to hunt one we would get run out of town or even thrown in the Tower of London lol

Around here it is best to obtain permission from the church board president or equal. When I ask, I tell'em I won't go in the graveyard. I explain that to me it is sacred ground and I don't need bad karma following me...got enough of that, don't need more :D. There are a couple local churches that have refused to allow me to hunt.

The church next door to me was built in late 1860's. That is about the oldest church.
 

Shortstack said:
EasyMoney said:
Well, it really shocks me that some people don't have any respect for the dead and for those who morn their losses in that way. An (ex) hunting partner of mine showed up with a beautiful gold watch one day that he got from a grave(site?). That was the last time I spent my time with him. I'm very doubtful that he found it lieing right on the ground.

In America we have liberalism (now turning to Marxism, so-called "democracy", immorality, and deviance) to deal with and to the very max too. Liberalism is exactly what the early Christians had to deal with when those who didn't want to obey the rules decided to make their own free rules. That word alone means "free from", and that's what's now happening in this country, and so much that for those with morays and morals and Godly Christian principals like myself it's almost too much to stand sometimes. It really embarrasses me as an American that people want to behave that way and ruin and abuse our TH'ing hobby by acting in that manner. It's despicable and it makes me smile when they get busted and for fined for it, and their detectors taken from them.. Sometimes that's the only thing that people with low room temperature IQ's can understand.

In my opinion, it's worse than poaching, stealing, or bank robbing, and fits right in under child molestation or rape as far as disgust goes..

First, you need to grab a breath. Second, you better be reeeeal careful who you're calling names such as " child molesters". The primary subject we've been discussing on this particular thread is searching churdh YARDS. There is nothing wrong with searching church YARDS if you have premission. There have been some very valuable finds made in church YARDS. In particular, old country churches where the members held "dinners on the ground" through the years. If I or most anyother member of this forum were to see someone detecting IN a cemetery, we would certainly DO something about it. It is most disrespectful.

If you want to RANT on this subject, please take it to the RANT subject area. Not here.

Thank you and goodnight and may God save us from the gooooooooooood christians.

Exactly....i hunt the church yards but stay away from the cemetarys...i hunt a picnic grove that is close to a cemetary but i know a lot of people who go to the church and they know i would never hunt the grave yard.
 

castle keep said:
This is the reason i asked the question as here in England we would not hunt a church even if we could but i read so many posts even with pictures about you guys hunting churches it made me curious :-\

Hello Castle Keep:
With the long history that England enjoys, your church yards would hold a lot of promise for some really, really, really old coins, BUT, as you have pointed out, most of your churchyards fully incorporate your cemeteries where it's deffinitely a no-no to detect. Here in the US, there are some churches in the same type layout. But, for some reason, most of our churches and cemeteries are separated. Some sit opposite each other on different sides of the road. The distance for some is measured in miles, because, the cemetery land may have been donated to the church by a members family. In many, many cases a church has no cemetery of its own. The church I mentioned in my first post, above, is one of those. It is the big First Baptist Church in my town, but the cemeteries here are considered multi-devotional. Every denomination is represented in them.

No one with any sense and common courtesy would ever MD in a cemetery. Most of us would not confront a person who IS detecting a graveyard and act like a mad man. We'd simply walk up to them and politely suggest that they shouldn't be doing that. They could then respond in a civilized way or get their a-- in an uproar at which point we could take things up a notch. Either way, detecting in a cemetery would be stopped not because of some holier-than-thou stance, but because common courtesies dictated it.
 

EasyMoney said:
And your comment about "goooood christians" was very inappropriate. You in fact need to thank the Christian religion for it's advancements, not to scold it or ridicule it or one of it's constituents.

Goooooooood Christians are those individuals who spend most of their time telling OTHERS how to worship, interpret the scriptures, and point fingers at anyone who does not agree. Sort of like the Pharisees and Sadducee's. I'm sure you are familiar with the kind.

Because I have no intention of hi-jacking this thread, I will no longer respond on this particular line of "speak".
 

EasyMoney said:
Well Shortstack, in case you forgot the original statement about cemetaries and their being connected to graveyards, then I would strongly suggest that you re-read the original post.

My "rant" as you so inappropriately named it, was about part of the original statement and in fact was of emense value to the world of metal detector enthusiasts who want to continue onward enjoying this hobby unencumbered. And yes, it is the liberal nature of some people who want to just go ahead and take the chance and try to get by with something that is illegal, inappropriate, or harmful to others or their feelings. A person of a conservative nature (by it's original, correct and religious definition) would never even THINK of commiting such an offense..

So many people abuse this hobby that it just about makes me puke. If you are not guilty of such actions then you have nothing to add to the cemetary discussions. If you are then it YOUR guilt and not mine that needs to be corrected and/or scolded. If you are not then it is not your place to criticise me, and in fact you should have thanked me for my statement and contribution..

And your comment about "goooood christians" was very inappropriate. FYI, before the Judaic/Christian faith was established there were no such thing as "morals" and "rightousness", and that is a matter of record. Thank Judaism and Christianity for the laws we now have, the rules, the morals, and YES the cemetaries. The early Jews and Christians invented cemetaries, not the Romans. And in fact it was because the early Christians buried their own under the walls of the city of Rome, and because the Romans were afraid that the walls would topple, the Christians began burying them in cemetaries instead of burning them or entombing them. .

Without the Judaic/Christian religion we would still be without a republic or any other form of government save for Kingdoms and dictatorhips, hacking each other with swords and beating each other with clubs as punishment and roasting each other over open pits scraped out of the ground. Christianity has contributed more to the advancement of modern living than has any other religion on the planet, including inventing modern medicine. It was Christian Europe that made so many of these laws, and advancements and rules and governments, and we Americans and others merely copied them.. And that is a matter of record too. You in fact need to thank the Christian religion for it's advancements, not to scold it or ridicule it or one of it's constituents.

Why did religion enter into this.The original question asked was simply about hunting churchyards and cemetarys.And you are wrong.
anyone who has an opinion on this subject should chime in.If you have or have not hunted a cemetary is irrelavant.
And as to thanking you for your in put that sounds kinda self centered to me.
Just my opinion and take it for what you will.
 

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