This beautiful gold ring was found by archaeologists at Sandal Castle, during the excavations that uncovered the Castle from 1964-73. It is about 500 years old.

Rings like this are called love rings because they have lovers’ promises on them, which say things like ‘my whole heart’, ‘there is none so good’ and ‘she is my desire’. The wording on this one says ‘tout le vos’tre’, which means ‘I am all yours’ in medieval French (the language of the upper classes in the Middle Ages). Plants are engraved between the words. Both plants and wording were filled with white enamel, so the design showed up as white on gold.

Drawing of the inscription on the ring

What are the plants shown on the ring?

Museum staff have been trying to identify the plant shown on the ring, which has a knobbly head on a straight stem. It looks rather like the autumn berries of the arum lily; and a trip to the library confirmed that the arum lily has many traditional names which refer to love and sex. They include lords-and-ladies, cuckoopint, sweethearts, Adam and Eve, Jack-in-the-pulpit and willy–lily.

 Autumn berries of the British arum lily

 Who owned it?

The ring is small and would only fit a woman with slender fingers. It must have been given to her by a man with some money and status, so she was probably not a castle servant. The ring could have been bought locally; there was a goldsmith called Thomas Goldsmyth listed in the poll tax records for Wakefield in AD 1397.

 Where was it found?

Archaeologists found the ring in the inner moat of the castle. The moat was used for centuries as a rubbish dump. The ring was in a layer which had been built up during AD 1485-160.

 How did it get lost?

We don’t know how it got lost but we can make some guesses:

• Perhaps the girl who owned it threw it away when her boyfriend dumped her.
• Perhaps it got thrown out by mistake with kitchen waste put into the inner ditch.
• The layer where it was found dates from AD 1485-1600, but as the ring dates from AD 1450-  1500, perhaps it was already an heirloom when lost or thrown away.