Sussex boy makes international news after finding gold Roman bracelet on walk: mum and son share story of ‘exceptionally rare’ discovery as archaeological excavations take place in West Sussex

Rowan Brannan, 12, made the amazing discovery with his mum Amanda, 44, while they were on a dog walk in a field about two years ago.

The two got in touch with this newspaper following the incredible recent news about the remains of a Roman settlement being uncovered in West Sussex.

The story has now been picked up by the New York Post, Archaelogy News, Daily Mail online and other newspapers in America.

“It was back in the summer (two years ago),” said Amanda. “Rowan has always been into finding all sorts of bits and pieces. Picking stuff up of the floor. I’m forever saying ‘put it down, it’s dirty’ but on this occasion he kept holding this bit of metal, convinced that it was actual real gold.”

Rowan said: “It was just normal to me because I pick up a lot of things that I probably shouldn’t!”

Rowan took the piece home and researched how to tell whether it was real gold. It met all the criteria on the checklist but the two did not realise Rowan’s lucky find was anything more until a hairdresser came to their house. The hairdresser told Amanda and Rowan she was going on a metal detecting day-out so Rowan told her about the metal he had found. Intrigued, the hairdresser took a photo of the piece and showed it to the leader of the metal detecting session. He told the hairdresser that the piece looked old and recommended Amanda and Rowan contact a Finds Officer. By this point a jeweller had told them it was gold as well.

Archaeological dig uncovers 14-hectare Roman settlement in West Sussex

Amanda said: “We didn’t even know these people (Finds Liason Officers) existed.”

They got in touch with the Finds Liaison Officer about two years ago and have been receiving frequent updates about the piece.

Rowan described how the excitement just kept building over the months following his discovery. He said: “We took it to the jeweler and that got me a bit excited, and when it was sent away and it was like ‘gold’ and then it got more exciting. Then it got to the treasure process and it just got even more exciting.”

Amanda said: “It’s been rumbling on for a really long time.” She (the Finds Liaison Officer) was very interested in it, so we had to go up to Horsham to drop it off because it’s then property of the Crown while it’s going through all of these different processes.”

Amanda said the piece has been analysed at the British Museum and has gone through the Coroner’s Court in a ‘fascinating’ process where they have been learning more and more about the bracelet.

“It’s very exciting whenever we read an email,” she said. “The Coroner’s Court emailed and said ‘it's been so lovely to deal with Rowan's treasure’.”

Amanda explained: “It’s a first century Roman bracelet of armilla type. An armilla bracelet – our understanding is – was given to the Roman soldiers as a mark of respect and valor and service. It’s a portion, it’s not a full circular bangle.”

After the valuation process Rowan was told it was ‘an exceptionally rare find’ for somebody who was just on a dog walk.