A Spalding museum has a new exhibit thanks to a metal detecting couple.
A medieval ring discovered in a Gosberton field by Dave and Dawn Stoneman has been donated to Spalding Gentlemen’s Society.
The pair were searching for artefacts with the group Digging History UK in July 2025 when they received a signal on their detector.
After removing a few light spadefuls of soil, out came a large, solid clump with the ring hidden inside.
The couple were elated, having only just started metal detecting around a year before their once-in-a-lifetime find.
The treasure was identified as a silver gilt 15th-century rectangular bi-panelled bezel type ring.
The bezel is adorned with a foliate motif composed of leaf-shaped elements in a repeating design.
This type of ring is related to contemporary iconographic rings but lacks the religious imagery, instead displaying simple geometric and floral decoration.
The Spalding Gentlemen’s Society says it will be on display when the revamp of its Broad Street museum is completed in spring 2027.
The museum is currently closed for building works, with exhibitions held at Ayscoughfee Hall Museum throughout the year.
“We’ve been delighted to acquire this incredible artefact,” explains Eleanor Chadd, Collections & Facilities Officer at Spalding Gentlemen’s Society. “It’s a really interesting piece that was discovered in a local Lincolnshire field.”
Eleanor adds, “In the collections, we already have another 15th-century gold iconographic ring that was found by the donor while digging in her garden in Pennygate, Spalding, some 50 years before it was donated to the Society in 2014.
“We plan to put them on display together for the public to see.”
The announcement comes just a week after that of an even earlier ring being discovered in Quadring.
