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MEDIEVAL FIND A GOLD CHARM

By County Press Reporter - Monday, May 22, 2006
By Martin Neville
A GOLD miniature annular brooch, believed to be 13th century, is the latest discovery made by Island metal detectors.
The piece found by Allan Hall in the parish of Godshill will be anaysed by experts at the British Museum and made subject of a treasure inquest.
The brooch is inscribed with the letters AGLA, each letter separated by a cross potent (a sort of Medieval full stop), which comes from the Latinised version of a Hebrew phrase, Atha Gebri Leilan Adonai, or Thou Art Mighty Forever o' Lord.
These words are known to have been considered to be a powerful charm against fever in the Middle Ages.
Mr Hall, of Newtown, a member of the IW Metal Detecting Club, said: "I have a friend, Rob, and we are always joking who is the best metal detector. Every time he comes over to talk to me, he finds some good coins.
"On this particular day he was coming towards me and he was dragging his spade in the soil making a furrow. He was about 10ft away from me and we both got a signal so we started digging but it only turned out to be a couple of pieces of lead.
"When he walked off I trained my detector on the furrow he had made and found this amazing brooch."
Dave Clark, group chairman, said: "Frank Basford, the IW Council finds liaison officer, says he doesn't think there has been another gold one found on the Island. Ruth Waller, county archaeologist, has only seen one before on the mainland in London and that is plain while ours is inscribed."
May has been a fruitful month for the club with members also unearthing a Medieval posy ring, a James I gold coin, a Roman bracelet along with some unique Roman fibula brooches and six Saxon sceat coins.