Just how did a treasure trove of 30 rare medallions, coins and other religious items collected by a former Archbishop of Canterbury end up at the bottom of the River Wear?
Thorpe Thewles History Group will be hosting an illustrated talk, presented by Gary Bankhead, on this fascinating story plus the many other items recovered, on Friday 18th May at Grindon Parish Hall in Thorpe Thewles at 7.00pm. The talk is entitled "800 years of history from the River Wear in Durham".
The artefacts were found from 2007 onwards by two divers, Gary and Trevor Bankhead, in the cold, murky river waters that loop around Durham Cathedral. Research shows some of the finds are linked to the late Michael Ramsey, a former Archbishop of Canterbury with longtime ties to Durham, where he served as Bishop and spent his retirement years from 1974 until his death in 1988.
Gary and Trevor spent 15 years diving at exotic locations all around the world before a coffee shop chat led them to explore the River Wear, in Durham. Gary's wife, Angela, came up with the idea. Gary said "We were having a coffee at Framwellgate, overlooking the river. She pointed at the river and said " Why don't you dive there?" "I thought, why not?' and that's how it started". The brothers' first find, in 2007, was a silver trowel presented to the Archbishop for laying the foundation stone of an Indian church in 1961. "It was really by chance that we found the first find on our first dive. The trowel was on the surface," Mr Bankhead added.
Artefacts discovered include medals and medallions presented to Mr Ramsey during his work and travels as Archbishop of Canterbury including a commemorative medallion presented for the Queen's coronation in 1952. In addition, a 24 carat gold coin apparently given to Ramsey by a Japanese Buddhist leader was found, along with a Russian icon, and precious medals that may have been given to Ramsey when he met Pope Paul VI in Rome in 1966.
Mr Ramsey was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1961 to 1974, and met many senior religious figures and world leaders during that time.
Gary Bankhead has concluded that Ramsey himself probably dropped the items into the river. He thinks some of them were dropped from Prebends Bridge, near the retirement apartment where Mr Ramsey lived with his wife in their latter years, as a slightly bizarre offering to the people of Durham. Gary said it also is possible that Ramsey threw the items into the waters because of his Christian belief that a person enters the world with nothing and leaves it with nothing.
The items were found in six locations, including four close to the bridge. Tests suggest that items thrown from the bridge would have been found close to the actual locations. The dives were hazardous because of the extremely cold water and poor visibility, often limited to about three feet. The items were found on the river bottom, which is littered with sharp pieces of broken glass that regularly pierced the neoprene gloves Gary and his brother wore for protection.
Gary has since gone on to recover an assemblage of over 3,000 medieval and post-medieval artefacts from the same river. These include military insignia, lead toys, hammered silver coins (including only the second Henry VIII hammered silver coin from the Durham Palatinate mint ever to be found within the boundaries of Durham City), cloth seals, lead tokens, pit check tokens, Nuremburg jettons, medals, medallions, gold and silver rings, coin weights, brooches, bottles, badges, pocket watches, bracelets, earrings, buttons, buckles, candle snuffs, spindle whorl, scissors, printing press items, keys, sword fittings, clay pipes, whistle's, pins, needles and cutlery even hand grenades, daggers and pistols.
Gary's personal favourites are a 12th century horse harness pendant with an inscription AVE MARIA GRACIA, a rare unrecorded example of a bronze medallion bearing the image and name of St Augustine - the 1st Archbishop of Canterbury and a 13th century armorial seal matrix with a motif around the edge of the seal in Latin which reads S IOHIS DE INSVLA which is short for Sigillum Iohannis de Insular. Translated into English this reads as the seal of John Delisle or John de Lisle, whose family were possibly members of minor nobility.
Perhaps the most significant aspect of the assemblage is the number of lead cloth seals that have been recovered - currently standing at 171 different seals
Some other unusual finds also include a so-called brothel token - the first of its kind seen in the UK featuring a woman's legs and a brooch depicting Queen Elizabeth and Sir Walter Raleigh.
This has been a voyage of discovery for Gary who said "It's changed my life beyond belief. Diving was a hobby before, but this has become my passion".
The British Museum has indicated that this is one of the largest river assemblages of such material from outside of London, and is of international importance. Gary's illustrated talk will explain how he is working with Durham University to research his finds and reveal their fascinating history.
Tickets for this talk (on Friday 18th May 2012) are available from Carlton and Stillington Post Office or Tel 01740 630014 to reserve a place.
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