One of my regular readers has very kindly forwarded to me an article in today’s Daily Mail about the discovery and impending sale at auction of what appears to be a striking medieval episcopal ring.
The ring was found by a metal detector in a field at Shepdham in central Norfolk and it is dated to the late twelfth or early thirteenth centuries. It is known that by the early thirteenth century the bishops of Ely had a manor house at the village, so the likelihood is that the ring has an Ely provenance.
The central stone is a sapphire and the similarity to that from the grave of Archbishop Walter de Grey, who held the see from 1215 to 1255, is made in the article. Looking at the photographs it does rather look to have been designed to go over episcopal gloves.
Presumably because it is assumed to have been lost it is not being preserved as treasure trove and will be auctioned. This is the type of item one hopes will be bought by a public institution so that it can be made available, and visible, to researchers and the wider community.
The illustrated article about the ring and its recovery can be seen at Medieval 'bishop's ring' found in field is set to fetch up to £18,000
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