The Lullingstone Vervel: Small Artefact, Troublesome Treasure
By Geoff Burr
On Saturday 21st March, 2015 I was metal detecting a small 10 acre field that I had previously searched on a number of occasions, having had permission from 3 different landowners over the years! It has been productive but heavily contaminated with modern metal finds. I was pleased having just found my first Saxon coin, a primary series silver sceatta, series B bird above cross reverse type, in very fine condition. I had found a small number of Early Medieval artefacts over the years but this was the first coin of this period. However, just as I was working my way back to the car I received another small, scratchy signal and from just a couple of inches down came a small silver coloured convex shield shaped artefact with two partly squashed loops on the back and an inscription on the front. The inscription was extremely small but I thought I could make out the name “Harte” and “Lullinston” in Kent. I recognised both the owner's name and the location as being Lullingstone Castle, approximately 4 or 5 miles away and realised I may have found my first vervel, an identity ring attached to the leg of a trained bird of prey used to hunt small mammals. A vervel would be inscribed with the owner's name, residence or coat of arms; the latter was useful as not all the locals would be able to read.
Realising this could be a Treasure item, I gently rinsed off some of the dirt at home in order to read the inscription more accurately. It read “Sr. Persivall Harte of Lullingston in com Kent”. A local historian with a special interest in Lullingstone Castle informed me that “com” is a Latin abbreviation for County. I contacted the landowner of the field to inform her of the find and, armed with the above information, notified the present owner of Lullingstone Castle, Guy Harte-Dyke, whom I had previously come into contact with having previously conducted a geophysical survey with the West Kent Archaeological Society to look for the missing inner castle gatehouse, demolished some 400 years ago.
Two days later, my wife and I met with Guy Harte-Dyke in the Great Hall at Lullingstone Castle below a triptych portrait of a Sir Percyval Harte I painted when he was 80 years old in 1575. In the picture he is wearing his silver hilted knife of ceremony, the symbol of his Royal office of Chiefserver, to four monarchs from Henry VIII to Elizabeth I and holding a staff decorated in gold. The triptych also shows, on either side of Sir Percyval, two of his three sons George & Francis. Guy explained that the first son, also a Percyval, had died young and so was not featured in the painting. Guy took us to see a further portrait of a Sir Percyval hanging in the State Dining Room. He was knighted in 1601 and died in 1642 and he was also shown holding a gold-headed staff and wearing the same silver hilted knife. There was a third, Sir percyval Harte (1738), who had been a lawyer but no portrait was available. There being three Sir Percyval’s it made it difficult to know who had was the original owner the vervel! Guy, together with Sarah his wife, were excited to see and handle the vervel which I hoped to return to them, so it may go on display at the castle. Shortly after, I contacted the Kent Finds Liaison Officer (FLO) to hand over the vervel with confirmation that I had spoken to the direct descendant (Guy Harte-Dyke), who was keen to...
...have this important and sentimental object back at the castle where it belonged.
Almost a year after the find date I received a letter from the Assistant Treasure Registrar at the British Museum with a copy of the find report. The report identified the italicized inscription together with the abbreviation as late C16th-Early C17th — predating 1716 meant that it was eligible as Treasure but this also meant that the original owner was likely to be Sir Percival Harte II (1568-1642). It also explained that a local museum had expressed an interest in acquiring it and an inquest would follow. I guessed that it would be necessary for the coroner to make a final decision even though there was no dispute regarding ownership, so I wrote a letter together with other information to the Hart-Dykes and advised them to write to the coroner and declare their interest in the vervel.
In June 2016 I received a letter from the British Museum which, much to my surprise, explained that the vervel has been declared Treasure and the local museum was keen to acquire it for their collection. I looked up the details in respect to direct descendants in the Treasure Act 1996 for England and Wales which confirmed that ownership of Treasure rests with the Crown “but the rights of the original owners and their heirs, where known, are fully protected”. I therefore appealed to the Treasure Registrar at the British Museum, restating my claim that the original owners or their heirs should have priority over the fate of the vervel. I suggested that I would be more than happy to donate the vervel to the heirs, but I would require a reward should the vervel be acquired by the museum. I proposed that, should the museum (as was suggested by the Treasure Registrar in his letter) forego the acquisition and the Crown disclaim its ownership, then the object should be returned to me, the finder, thereafter it could then be donated to the Hart-Dykes personally by the landowner and I.
In August 2016 I received an email confirming the local museum had agreed to forego the acquisition and that the vervel would be released into my care. However, I would have to go to the British Museum to get it or wait for the FLO to collect it, which she duly did.
On 12th October 2016 the landowner and I officially donated the vervel to the Hart-Dykes at Lullingstone castle. We were made very welcome and received a private tour during which we called in at St. Botolphs, the parish church next to the castle, where we saw the tomb of Sir Percival Harte.
This small object measuring approximately 1cm² was my first vervel find, though I never imagined its discovery would set into motion such a complex chain of events. I learned of the vervel’s owner by name (Sir Percyval Harte II), looked upon his image, visited his home and walked under the gate house that he too must have walked under numerous times during a busy and important life. Most important though was the privilege of returning the vervel to its original and rightful home where it can be appreciated by the public. Finally, this small object won the West Kent Detector Club Any Sites artefact of the year for 2015 and then on to the NCMD Southern Region to win again and represent the Southern Region at National level where it won the NCMD Robin Hatt Memorial Trophy for Artefact of the year. All in all a very rare, if rather small, find indeed!