Wedding ring lost in Uist potato patch in 1960s is found

Peggy MacSween lost her wedding ring while lifting potatoes

A woman has been reunited with the wedding ring she lost in a potato patch in the Western Isles 50 years ago.

Peggy MacSween believed she would never see the band again after it slipped off her finger while she gathered potatoes at her home on Benbecula.

But after recently learning of her lost ring, a fellow islander set out to find it with a metal detector.

Donald MacPhee unearthed it after three days of searching the area where the potato patch once was.

Mr MacPhee, who runs Benbecula's Nunton House Hostel, dug 90 holes and found pieces of old metal, drinks cans and ring pulls before finding the ring.

Mrs MacSween's ring after it was unearthed from the sandy soil

Mrs MacSween, 86, said: "He just came to the door and said: 'I have something to show you'. It was the ring.

"I couldn't believe it, but there it was. I thought I would never see it again."

• Couple's joy as lost wedding ring found on beach

Mrs MacSween now has three wedding rings - the original, her mother's and one bought as a replacement

Peggy and John MacSween

Mrs MacSween lost the ring while gathering potatoes on Liniclate Machair, an area of sandy coastal meadow in the late 1960s.

She said: "I was shaking the sand out of my gloves and the ring disappeared. I didn't know until I got home."

"I went out once or twice to look for it, but there was no way of finding it."

Mrs MacSween's husband John, who she married in July 1958 and died a few years ago, bought her a replacement while they were on holiday. She wore her mother's wedding ring until she got the new one.

Donald MacPhee spent three days searching the area where the potato patch had been