Museum acquires rare Anglo-Saxon gold ring

Exeter City Council’s Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery (RAMM) is celebrating the acquisition of a late Anglo-Saxon period gold ring, thanks to funding from the ACE/V&A Purchase Grant Fund, Headley Trust, Erin Cox Jewellery, Friends of RAMM, C James Cadbury CT, Julian Steer-Fowler and a further private donor.

The Wembworthy ring joins a small number of other pieces of Anglo-Saxon metalwork in RAMM’s collection. Anglo-Saxon material culture is a very rare find in Devon, and since 1970 only eighteen Anglo-Saxon metal finds have come into the museum.

These finds were made by archaeologists and metal detectorists and include clothing fasteners, harness mounts, a ring, a sword scabbard mount and an enamel mount for a bowl or piece of furniture. The Wembworthy ring will now join these items on display.

The ring will be a significant addition to this collection and will go on permanent display in RAMM’s Making History gallery. It will feature in a display that illustrates the fascinating diversity of Anglo-Saxon culture in Devon, bringing together examples of the few personal metal objects that have been found by metal detectorists over the last 20 years.

The Wembworthy ring is a small piece of jewellery, which may have been made for a small woman or even a child, decorated with an intricate pattern of intertwined animals. RAMM will work with University of Exeter’s Digital Humanities Lab to create 3D scans and imaging of the ring, allowing the public to examine the decoration up close.