Wednesday 11 February 2026

Help Save Leicestershire’s Bronze Age Torc

LAHS launches vital fundraising appeal

LAHS has begun a crowdfunding campaign to ensure that a 3,000-year-old golden torc discovered near Harborough can be saved and brought back to the county.

Discovered in 2024 by a local metal detectorist, the Leicestershire torc is a spectacular gold object dating to the Middle Bronze Age period, about 3,200 years ago. It was a piece of very high-status jewellery, possibly originally worn around the middle like a belt and later modified to be worn around the neck. It is the only example ever found in the county. (Article continues below image)

It was reported to the Portable Antiquities Scheme and declared to be Treasure and valued at £150,000. Leicestershire County Council Museums wish to acquire the torc for Harborough Museum, to ensure it stays part of Leicestershire’s history. So far, they have managed to raise £127,000 of the target, with contributions from the Art Fund, the Arts Council England/V&A Purchase Grant Fund, LAHS, the Market Harborough Historical Society and the Leicestershire Fieldworkers group.

We are now trying to raise the remaining money to ensure that this amazing discovery can come back to the county to be enjoyed by local people. We are aiming to raise at least £10,000 by the 20 March, 2026.

If we can't raise enough, the future of the torc is uncertain. It may never be displayed in Leicestershire, and could even end up in the hands of a private collector in the UK or abroad. If this were to happen the object could effectively disappear from sight, denying future generations the opportunity to see for themselves the objects of their own past. This would be hugely disappointing.

‘Finds like this are rare and this beautiful object is a unique and significant object of a type never before found in Leicestershire,' says Professor Elizabeth Tingle, Chair of the LAHS. 'There is no other torc exactly like it in the whole country, so it is of national as well as local importance. We want to make sure that it can come home to Leicestershire and add to our understanding about the Bronze Age in the county. 'We are excited about the plans to research and display the torc at Harborough Museum. The torc would be put under the microscope by the University of Leicester’s ‘A New History of Bronze’ project team, which may be able to tell us more about how the torc was made and used.

'If we don’t manage to raise the money, this glittering Leicestershire find may be lost to the county. We are asking local people to chip in what they can afford to help us bring it back home.’

>>>Click here to donate to the appeal<<<