Baron Adam de Tindale would not have been a happy chappie when he returned from a day’s riding in what is now South Tyneside.
The powerful Northumberland landowner had lost the personal metal seal which hung around his neck from a strap. The seal was lost for around 800 years – until metal detectorist Warrick Rochester searched a field with the landholder’s permission.
The seal matrix has now been identified as dating from around the 13th century, with the family name around its edge. A father and son of that name were barons of Langley in Northumberland at this time. Ben Westwood, finds liaison officer for the Potable Antiquities Scheme, to which such discoveries are reported, said: “It is a fantastic object and of national importance.”
