AN ARTEFACT from Sussex dating back over 300 years has been found in a man’s garden… in Cornwall.

Brian Sellick, who lives near Torpoint in Cornwall, dug the medallion-like object up in his garden about 10 years ago and kept it tucked away somewhere.

He only recently googled the words on the object - “Christ’s Hospital”. Christ’s Hospital School’s website popped up which has a crest which matches that of the object.

The school was established in London in 1552 but moved to Horsham in 1902. The object which Brian dug up was from 1703 and turned out to be what is known as a “leave ticket”.

Brian said he has been “puzzling” to find out how the item ended up in his back garden.

He said: “As the area borders the river Tamar, where there is a history of seafaring, it could well have been lost by ancient seafarers when coming ashore.”

Mike Barford, who works for Christ’s Hospital Museum, said: “What Brian found in his garden is a 'leave ticket', which was greatly treasured by Christ’s Hospital pupils in its day, as it entitled them to leave the school premises in Newgate Street, London, for half a day, or sometimes a day.”

“A pupil who was granted a leave ticket wore it suspended from a buttonhole in their coat; if they were caught outside the school without a leave ticket, they would be in serious trouble!

“To appreciate why it was so treasured, it helps to know that pupils were not allowed to go home even in the holidays and had to stay in the school 365 nights a year for the seven years they were usually at school for.

“A leave ticket was therefore the only opportunity to escape the school for a while.”

This type of circular leave ticket was replaced by a triangular shaped one in 1729 after a further 500 tickets made in 1720 had all been lost.

It is thought that pupils might have purposefully lost their tickets in a place where they could be found and re-used again and again, which is why the new shape of ticket was introduced to render the old, round ones worthless.

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