A SEAL belonging to a 13th century vicar from Wedmore has been found in a field outside the village. Members of the Weston Metal Detecting Club picked up the artefact while skimming a field, which used to be owned by the church. Members of the Axbridge a

A SEAL belonging to a 13th century vicar from Wedmore has been found in a field outside the village.Members of the Weston Metal Detecting Club picked up the artefact while skimming a field, which used to be owned by the church. Members of the Axbridge and District Museum Trust believe the seal was owned by the first vicar of Wedmore, Thomas de Harptree, as the name on the artefact says Thomas the chaplain.Seals were the wax impressions applied to documents to validate and authenticate them, as signatures do today.Club chairman John Page said: "It was found in a field which was used for ceremonial purposes by the church, right next door to glebe land, which was land owned by the vicar."The seal has something on the back you can thread cord through and wear it round the neck. Obviously the strap broke and he lost it."It's an exciting find. It's quite unusual to find the actual seal which was pressed into the sealing wax."The artefact is now on display at King John's Hunting Lodge along with some seals from the Axbridge Corporation, one from 1557 and the other from the 18th century.A new picture gallery has also been set up in the museum with images of Axbridge over the years.The display features water colours and oil paintings depicting what the town looked like hundreds of years ago.