Metal detector enthusiasts uncovered rare treasure three times in less than a month in West Sussex.

A 13th Century gold brooch and coins from the Iron Age and Roman era were among the artefacts dug up on farmland.

One haul was discovered during a metal detector rally attended by 600 people.

The treasure has been handed to the British Museum in London where its value is being assessed by experts who will decide how much reward the finders and landowners should receive.

The British Museum will then have first choice to buy the items and other museums can put in bids.

West Sussex Coroner Roger Stone held inquests in Chichester yesterday to decide whether the discoveries were treasure trove, and therefore the property of the nation which should be held in museums.

The first discovery was made by Robert Frost, 75, of Ruston Park, Rustington, in a field in Aldingbourne on September 23 last year.

He uncovered a 13th Century circular gold brooch with a bar across the middle.

Mr Frost had permission from farmer David Gillbard to search the land and the pair agreed to divide any finds equally.

Mr Frost was digging in one of Mr Gillbard's fields near his farm in Park Lane when he came across what he thought was a coin, buried four or five inches down.

When he removed the earth he realised it was a brooch and took it to Mr Gillbard.

The item was taken to Worthing Museum and then passed to the British Museum, where it is currently being held while local museums bid for the right to have it in their collections.

An expert at the British Museum said the brooch was 57 per cent gold and dated from about the 13th Century. The coroner ruled the item was treasure trove.

Two other metal detector fans uncovered treasure in August last year.

Father and son Anthony and Paul Hunt, of Wimborne, Dorset, were among 600 people searching an undisclosed plot of land at Climping on August 20 when they uncovered 89 Roman coins.

The coins were sent to the British Museum where it was discovered they were silver Roman dinarii, some dating from AD81 to AD 140.

Mr Stone ruled the coins were treasure trove.

Examinations revealed they were 90 per cent silver. Littlehampton Museum has expressed an interest in acquiring the coins when they are released by the British Museum.

Just ten days after the discovery, Marcus Constant, from Fontwell, who had been one of the detectors on the rally at Climping, searched the site again.

He returned on August 30 and uncovered 18 gold coins which were also sent to the British Museum.

They were Iron Age coins made of a mixture of gold, silver and copper. Eight of them were of a previously unknown type.