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Wednesday, 23rd March 2005 (6734 views)

A gold ring discovered on Northamptonshire farmland has been returned to the family of its original owners.<br/><br/>The 300-year-old ring was found last year by amateur treasure hunter Paul Warren, of Kingsthorpe, Northampton, with his metal detector in fields near Old Stratford.<br/><br/>The 44-year-old, who runs the Northants Detecting Association, carried out months of research and finally returned the ring to the descendants of its owner, eight generations after it was lost, Northampton Today reports.<br/><br/>The 22-carat gold ring bears the inscription Henry Purifie OB 23rd July 1704 AET 39, and is believed to have been an obituary ring worn by either his wife Elizabeth or son Henry, after his death. <br/><br/>"It is a find of lifetime but I just wanted to get it back to the family," said Mr Warren. "I was lucky there was quite an uncommon name engraved on it, otherwise it would have been impossible to find them."<br/><br/>When the ring was found it was only 299 years old, and so did not have to be officially reported as treasure trove. Mr Warren located the Purifie family, now known as Purefoy, using the British Census and returned the ring to Simon Purefoy, Henry's great-great-great-great-great-grandson.<br/><br/>Mr Purefoy added: "It's amazing to have something like this. Our family has a long history in this area and to have something like this from 300 years ago is incredible. We have paintings and letters from that time, but nothing like this ring."<img alt="track" src="http://directnews.dehavilland.co.uk/dn.gif?feedid=196&itemid=8100216"/>

 

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