A WIRRAL metal detectorist has uncovered a silver brooch thought to date back to medieval times.

Described as an 'annular brooch' the find was made on Sunday, February 13 2022 by Paul Jones while he was searching land in Pensby and Thingwall.

The exact location has been withheld.

At an inquest held at Gerard Majella Courthouse in Liverpool, to determine whether the rare find could be legally classed as treasure, senior coroner for Liverpool and Wirral, Andre Rebello, confirmed the brooch was over 300 years old and more than 10% precious metal and therefore is confirmed as 'treasure' under the Treasure Act 1996. 

Under the terms of the Act, a finder must report all discoveries of suspected treasure to a coroner for the district in which they are found either within 14 days after the day on which the discovery was made.

Mr Rebello added that the hearing was the first to be held in Liverpool since he became coroner for the city in 1999.

He said: "I have heard of people finding things in the tunnels, but no one has reported treasure to me since I started in the 1990s and I can't find a treasure inquest in the records, which I find a little surprising.

"Hopefully this will encourage metal detectorists to report treasure, so the history of this important area can be recorded and future generations can actually see these important treasure artefacts."

Following its discovery, Heather Beeton, finds liaison officer at the Museum of Liverpool, carried out an investigation into the brooch, which measures 20.95mm across, with a thickness of 2.22mm and a weight of 2.83g.

She said: "We don't get many treasure cases, if any at all, from the Merseyside area so it makes it quite an interesting find. 

"Most finds we receive come from metal detection and to do that you need permission from the landowner. In Wirral a lot of the land is owned by Leverhulme and they do not allow metal detecting on their land.  

"It would have been worn by someone of higher status than the average individual who was either living in or visiting Wirral.

"It was found in a rural area so is probably a stray find and was probably lost by someone out walking or horse riding where it's slipped off their clothing."

Ms Beeton confirmed that National Museums Liverpool (NML) hoped to now buy the brooch.

She added: "When objects like this come up and are reported as treasure they get offered to local museums close to where they were found and we are interested in acquiring it subject to its evaluation."