Back in 2011 Wessex Archaeology undertook work on the site of the proposed Outwood Academy in Adwick-le-Street, Doncaster. This involved evaluation trenching and open area mitigation excavation which uncovered the well-preserved archaeological remains of an Iron Age/Romano-British ditched field system. Between the 1920s and 1960s the land was used as allotments, which left behind evidence such as the foundations of greenhouses and pet burials.
Wessex was contacted by local historian Gerald Sables, whose father had lost a St Christopher pendant on the site back in 1957. The medal had been given to Gerald’s father by his grandmother as a good luck talisman for his car, which he parked in a garage on the site alongside his allotment. St Christopher is said to have carried the infant Christ across a river and for this reason. St Christopher is widely identified as a protector of travellers and drivers. The placement of such a medal in a car is moderately common for this reason.
Despite the passage of over 50 years, an excavator was successful in recovering the pendant. Now that work on the archive is completed we have been in contact with Gerald about returning his father’s medal. Unfortunately, Gerald is unwell at present so we’d like to wish him a speedy recovery; hopefully this St Christopher medal may be some inspiration for his journey back to health.
Jess Tibber, Finds and Archives Officer (Sheffield Office)