Medieval seal found in field returned to Langley Castle
- Published
Warrick Rochester (left) has sold his find to Dr Stuart Madnick, owner of Langley Castle
A medieval seal found in a field has been returned to its ancestral castle.
The 800-year-old seal of the Barons of Langley was found in a field in South Tyneside last year by metal detectorist Warrick Rochester.
It has now been bought by US-based Stuart Madnick, who has owned Langley Castle Hotel in Hexham since 1986.
Mr Rochester, from South Shields, who started his hobby during the coronavirus lockdown, said discovering the seal was a special feeling.
"To find something that old and be the first person to hold it in that many years is quite unique to me," Mr Rochester told BBC Radio Newcastle.
The seal would have been used by the Baron of Langley to seal his letters
The price it sold for and exact location it was found are not being revealed.
Mr Rochester said he was just leaving the field when he got a "scratchy signal" which led to the seal.
At first he thought it was an 18th or 19th Century pendant, and only a few weeks later did he realise the significance of his find.
The copper alloy oval-shaped seal is personalised with the name of Adam de Tindal, and would have been worn around the neck when not being used to seal letters with wax.
Adam was the name of the first two Barons of Langley and the seal is dated to between 1175 and 1250, so could have belonged to either father or son, who presided over a 13,000-acre estate.
Mr Rochester said it was a mystery how the seal ended up where it did and "everybody has got their own version when they find something of how and why it got there".
The seal will go on display of the drawing room at Langley Castle Hotel
He said his theory was the owner "was travelling to Durham to pay his taxes and obviously lost his seal".
The Langleys started building their castle at Hexham in the 1350s and Dr Madnick said it was a "fantastic item of national importance" that deserved to be "reunited with Langley's story".
The seal will be displayed in the castle's drawing room.
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