Metal detectorist unearths rare 1,000-year-old golden pendant in field near Downton Abbey location

Published: 16:24 BST, 4 October 2026 | Updated: 21:54 BST, 4 October 2026

After a long day of metal-detecting, you could probably do with a helping hand to search that last field.

And Nick Berry, 58, got just that when his detector started bleeping on a farm near the real-life setting of Downton Abbey. 

Mr Berry dug up a rare 1,000-year-old Anglo-Saxon golden pendant on farmland in the village of Ashmansworth, a few miles from Highclere Castle in Hampshire.

Experts believe the pendant was meant to symbolise the hand of God and was likely dropped by its owner, lying undiscovered for over 1,000 years, as no other items were found alongside it.

Mr Berry, a carer, had been taking part in an organised metal detecting rally when he discovered the treasure.

He said: 'We decided to go to a patch of a field at the far end that nobody had detected. There were three of us searching and I was in the middle.

'I got a really good signal. I dug down and looked into the hole and saw straight away the glint of gold.

'I carefully pulled it out of the ground and as I did I had a really strange feeling and felt quite emotional.

'Then I gently brushed away the loose soil and there in my hand, ironically, was a hand.

Experts believe the pendant was meant to symbolise the hand of God, and was likely dropped by its owner

The artefact is 32mm long and 10mm wide. It weighs 1.6g and is 'very high carat'. It was found near the real-life setting of Downton Abbey

Nick Berry, 58, celebrates after he discovers the golden pendant on arable farmland in the village of Ashmansworth, a few miles from Highclere Castle in Hampshire

'I just stared at it. I knew straight away it was something very different and could tell it was Anglo–Saxon.'

He added that despite metal detecting for over 30 years he had 'never seen anything like it' – and everyone he had spoken to felt the same.

'It is the find of a lifetime. I will never find anything like it again,' he said.

Highclere Castle, an 11-minute drive from where the pendant was discovered, serves as the famous exterior and primary setting for the long-running TV drama Downton Abbey.

Mr Berry, a married father-of-two from Northampton, reported the discovery to his local Finds Liaison Officer and it is now with the British Museum – which has already declared it treasure that must be saved for the nation due to its uniqueness.

He said he had been told the treasure is believed to date to the early medieval Anglo-Saxon period, probably to the ninth or tenth centuries.

'They don't think it was made in the country but came from the east because of the style of it.

'It must have belonged to a high-status individual like some sort of noble person and was definitely worn around the neck like a talisman.

'The hand has always had a strong symbolic meaning, like when you shake hands to show the other person you haven't got a weapon in your hand.

Treasure hunter Nick Berry pictured on the day of the find. He probably will not be getting the treasure back, however, after it was handed over to the British Museum

'Its original owner would most certainly have been of a very high status in the society of the time,' an expert said

'It has already been claimed as treasure and I probably won't be getting it back. I imagine the British Museum will have it.

'I have no idea what it is worth. It weighs 1.6g and is very high carat you can tell by the colour,' he said.

Julian Evan-Hart, editor of Treasure Hunting magazine, said: 'This is a truly wonderful and evocative find, the cause of many future ponderings as to origin and potential meaning no doubt.

'As far as I'm aware it appears to be unique and judging by the reeded section and loop style most likely dates to the mid–Anglo–Saxon period.

'The hand has often been symbolically related to Christianity and features as "The Hand of God" on several late Saxon/Viking period silver coins and later ecclesiastical artwork.

'In this case it would seem likely that this too represents a "Hand of God" manufactured in the form of a gold pendant.

'Its original owner would most certainly have been of a very high status in the society of the time.'