Archaeologist reveals how Church of England leader's treasure ended up in river after decades-long mystery

An archaeologist uncovered a cache of uncommon spiritual artifacts deliberately thrown successful an English stream — and has present shed airy connected wherefore they were dumped.

Gary Bankhead, an archaeologist astatine Durham University, has recovered a assortment of invaluable Christian artifacts successful the River Wear successful Durham.

The artifacts included a bronze crucifix, a metallic trowel and a christening spoon, arsenic good arsenic a metallic key, a 19th-century Russian icon depicting Jesus connected the transverse and a metallic medal from 1964 showing Christ with unfastened arms, surrounded by Greek letters successful a Byzantine-style font.

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Other important finds included gold, metallic and bronze medals commemorating the Second Vatican Council, arsenic good arsenic a golden Greek Orthodox transverse pendant and different medals, including 1 marking the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

Bankhead has linked the hoard to Michael Ramsey, an English bishop who served arsenic the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1961 to 1974 and aboriginal retired to Durham.

An archaeologist astatine Durham University uncovered a cache of Christian artifacts successful the River Wear, linking them to erstwhile Archbishop of Canterbury Michael Ramsey, pictured astatine left, and raising questions astir their antithetic disposal. (Ware successful the World/Heritage Images via Getty Images; Gary Bankhead)

It’s "exceptionally unusual" to find a hoard of artifacts successful a river, said Bankhead — particularly 1 linked to the caput of the Church of England.

Bankhead told Fox News Digital he's spent "many years" diving the River Wear and has recovered implicit 14,500 artifacts from the stream successful total. 

Still, to him, the Ramsey hoard "immediately stood apart."

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He uncovered the hoard astir 2 decades ago, but precocious elaborate the findings successful his book, "Pilgrim Souvenirs, Devotional and different Objects of Faith: Late-medieval to modern play tiny finds from the River Wear, Durham."

"What made it truthful striking was the mode the objects had been deposited," helium said. "They weren’t scattered randomly crossed the riverbed."

Instead, Bankhead recovered "distinct clusters" beneath Prebends Bridge, 1 of Durham's best-known bridges.

The archaeologist said the hoard stood retired among implicit 14,500 objects helium has recovered implicit the years. (Gary Bankhead)

The archaeologist noted it looked "as though idiosyncratic had stood supra the span and deliberately dropped them into the water" — hinting astatine what was to come.

Bankhead spent the adjacent 2 years recovering the hoard. Once he'd recorded each object, helium recovered that a wide signifier emerged.

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He recovered that Ramsey's housekeeper, Audrey Heaton, removed the artifacts astatine the acquisition of Joan Ramsey, the bishop's wife, arsenic the signifier did not suggest a crime.

Bankhead said his mentation "only truly came together" erstwhile helium spoke with the niece of Heaton, who shared Heaton’s diaries and memories of her aunt.

"She recognized that they had existent humanities and monetary value, and struggled with the thought of throwing them away."

He determined that Joan Ramsey packaged tiny groups of objects into integrative bags and weighed them down with stones to guarantee they sank — though the nonstop crushed remains unclear. Bankhead suggested the items whitethorn person been discarded due to the fact that they could not beryllium sold oregon fixed away.

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The niece told Bankhead that she recalled her aunt being "extremely upset" astir being asked to propulsion the spiritual items successful the river.

"She recognized that they had existent humanities and monetary value, and struggled with the thought of throwing them away," said Bankhead.

The discovery's mentation came unneurotic aft diaries elaborate distress astir being asked to dispose of the spiritual items. (Gary Bankhead)

"This wasn't thing Heaton ever forgot. It weighed heavy connected her, which is wherefore she talked astir it whenever they met."

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The disposal process was covert, and Heaton was tasked with disposing of the bags portion walking her dogs aboriginal successful the greeting oregon precocious astatine night.

"She was instructed to guarantee that nary 1 saw what she was doing," Bankhead said.

"My involvement has ever been successful the past and the communicative — not the monetary value."

He added, "The objects were not randomly dispersed. Items relating to Greek Orthodoxy were recovered unneurotic successful 1 location, Vatican-associated objects successful another, with the remaining worldly arranged successful chiseled clusters beneath the 4 antithetic span abutments."

Bankhead said he's ne'er seen himself "as a treasure huntsman successful the commercialized sense."

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"When the hoard was formally valued, I donated my stock to the Help for Heroes charity, due to the fact that making immoderate idiosyncratic fiscal summation from it ne'er felt appropriate," helium said.

The hoard included a premix of Christian items, including Catholic and Greek Orthodox objects, with each radical recovered clustered successful abstracted areas beneath the bridge. (Gary Bankhead)

"My involvement has ever been successful the past and the communicative — not the monetary value."

Bankhead noted that each portion of treasure had its ain story, with each 1 cautiously created by skilled artisans.

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Though the pieces are much modern, it's not the archetypal clip successful English past that spiritual artifacts person been deliberately dumped successful a river.

The hoard "feels similar a modern continuation of a signifier I’ve encountered repeatedly among the much than 14,500 artifacts I’ve recovered from the Wear," Bankhead said.

The find revealed a postulation of devotional objects spanning antithetic Christian traditions and clip periods. (Gary Bankhead)

"[It shows] radical choosing the stream arsenic the last resting spot for spiritual oregon profoundly idiosyncratic objects," helium added.

"What the hoard makes wide is that this signifier stretches backmost to late-medieval pilgrimage and continues, rather remarkably, into the 20th century."

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Bankhead's book, "Pilgrim Souvenirs, Devotional and different Objects of Faith: Late-medieval to modern play tiny finds from the River Wear, Durham," is disposable connected Amazon.