{"id":349591,"date":"2025-12-15T13:19:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T13:19:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/349591\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T13:19:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T13:19:11","slug":"my-metal-detecting-find-in-rugby-connects-me-to-lives-long-ago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/349591\/","title":{"rendered":"‘My metal detecting find in Rugby connects me to lives long ago’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shannen HeadleyWest Midlands<\/p>\n

\"RugbyRugby Borough Council<\/p>\n

The medieval chape has been declared a ‘find of note’ by the British Museum<\/p>\n

A metal detectorist who discovered a 1,500-year-old scabbard chape in a field has recalled the “thrill” of a find giving “connection to lives lived centuries ago”.<\/p>\n

Kathy Bonehill found the decorative copper-alloy piece, which dates back to between AD400 and AD600, on the edge of a farmer’s field in Kings Newnham in Rugby.<\/p>\n

Scabbard chapes were used in medieval times to protect the sheath of a dagger or tip of a sword. The British Museum’s Portable Antiquities Scheme, which keeps a record of archaeological finds in England and Wales, declared the one in Rugby a “find of note”. <\/p>\n

Ms Bonehill has donated the possibly Viking-used item to Rugby Art Gallery and Museum, where it is on display. <\/p>\n

Reliving her discovery earlier this year, she said: “I’ve been metal detecting in the Warwickshire countryside with a regular group for a couple of years, uncovering some fascinating items along the way, yet nothing compares to this stunning dagger chape.<\/p>\n

“At first, it was clagged with dirt, its beautiful detail hidden beneath layers of grime.<\/p>\n

“Only after an hour of patient work with a wooden cocktail stick did the design begin to emerge – and I realised I was holding something truly special, perhaps even unique.”<\/p>\n

Experts said the chape’s decorative design featured a human face flanked by a pair of birds – possibly representing Odin, the chief god in Norse mythology, and his ravens, Huginn and Muninn.<\/p>\n

Ring-and-dot motifs run along the lower edge of both birds and vertically through the “body” of the human form.<\/p>\n

\"RugbyRugby Borough Council<\/p>\n

Kathy Bonehill, pictured right, with Rugby Art Gallery and Museum’s Catherine Shanahan, said the find was “thrilling”<\/p>\n

Weighing just nine grams, the chape measures three-and-a-half centimetres in length, two-and-a-half in width and just under a centimetre in thickness at its widest part.<\/p>\n

Ms Bonehill added: “There’s a thrill in moments like this.<\/p>\n

“The slow reveal of craftmanship long buried, the sense of connection to lives lived centuries ago.”<\/p>\n

Councillor Neil Sandison from Rugby Borough Council thanked Ms Bonehill for her donation.<\/p>\n

He said: “What a marvellous find. We had been aware Vikings had been active in the Rugby area and this now provides evidence of them being present in medieval Warwickshire.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shannen HeadleyWest Midlands Rugby Borough Council The medieval chape has been declared a ‘find of note’ by the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":349592,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-349591","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=349591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349591\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/349592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=349591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=349591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=349591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}