A childhood souvenir sat in a toffee tin for nearly 60 years, and now it is back where it came from.

Three fragments of medieval clay floor tiles, dating from the late 13th to early 14th century, have been returned to Wenlock Priory in Shropshire after Simon White found them during a house move and contacted English Heritage.

White took the pieces during a family visit to the priory in the late 1960s, when he was nine years old. He is now 68 and a retired chartered surveyor.

He told officials he remembered his father encouraging him to take the fragments, but said he had always felt uneasy about it and was pleased when he found them again.

“I can remember the day this all happened with my father standing guard,” he said. “Heaven knows what he would have said if we’d been caught. What happened to the tiles afterwards I’m not really sure, but they survived numerous house moves and assorted family upheavals only to turn up in my loft earlier this year in a battered tin.”

Using family diaries, White worked out the pieces probably came from Wenlock Priory and got in touch with the site’s custodians.

Matty Cambridge, assistant curator at English Heritage, said medievalists agreed White was right to identify Wenlock as the source.

She said tiles like these were only known from three places in Shropshire: Haughmond Abbey, Bridgnorth Friary and Wenlock Priory.

“Given Bridgnorth Friary has no in situ tile and wasn’t excavated until after Simon’s trip, and Haughmond Abbey only has a small patch of tile still at the site, we can narrow down the tiles found to Wenlock Priory,” Cambridge said.

Wenlock Priory was once home to Cluniac monks, who were known for elaborate architectural decoration.

Cambridge said English Heritage was especially pleased that one fragment carried a dragon motif previously unknown at the site.

“That’s quite exciting,” she said.

Another fragment shows the face of what is thought to be a lion, or possibly a grimacing face.

White handed the fragments back during a meeting with Cambridge at Wenlock Priory.

“He wanted to make a bit of a pilgrimage,” Cambridge said. “There are no hard feelings. He was only nine and was told: ‘Oh, this is pretty – take it home.’ We are very grateful to Mr White for coming forward.

“It’s not unheard of for mementos to have been taken from historic buildings, though is it unusual in this case that the artefacts were kept so well for so long and preserved. Nowadays we have far more stringent measures in place to prevent it, but if Mr White’s example pricks anyone else’s conscience from years ago, we’d love to hear from them.”

The tiles will not be returned to the priory floor. English Heritage will move them to an archaeology store for further analysis.

White said he has taken a keen interest in archaeology since retiring.

“The local society I’ve joined are likely to take a dim view of this. It’s only right and proper that the tiles are returned home.”

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