Medieval Rings Found in Britain: Signets, Posy Bands and Stirrup Rings
Medieval rings found in Britain survive in many forms, from practical signets and private inscribed bands to devotional crosses, floral designs and raised gemstone settings.
The variety reflects the different roles jewellery could play. A ring might identify its wearer, carry a private message, express religious devotion, display a merchant’s mark or simply provide colour and ornament. The intended meaning of an individual find is not always certain, but its surviving design still gives us a direct connection to Medieval life.
Medieval signet and bezel rings
A signet ring carries a distinct design on its bezel. Some were capable of making an impression in wax, while others may have been worn primarily as personal emblems.
The Gloucestershire Merchant’s Signet has a circular bezel bearing a geometric merchant’s mark. Symbols of this kind could identify an individual or business in a world where a recognisable device could be as important as a written name.
The Essex Lombardic Signet uses an inscribed oval bezel and grooved shoulders. Lombardic lettering was widely used in Medieval inscriptions, although the exact letter or intended reading of a worn surviving design can sometimes remain uncertain.
The Norfolk Medieval Flower Signet replaces letters and merchant marks with a six-petalled floral motif and foliate shoulders. The flower may have carried romantic, devotional or personal meaning, or may simply have been selected as an attractive emblem.
The Cumbrian Medieval Concentric Ring has a circular bezel marked by concentric grooves. Its direct geometric design is visually powerful, but no surviving evidence fixes one definite meaning to the circles.
Medieval posy rings and decorated bands
The Oxfordshire Medieval Posy Band represents the private side of Medieval jewellery. Its plain outer surface conceals the remains of an inscription inside the band.
Posy inscriptions could express love, friendship, devotion or betrothal. The hidden location made the words especially personal, intended primarily for the wearer rather than public display.
The Berkshire Fleur-de-lis Band takes a more visible approach. Repeating stamped fleur-de-lis and circular motifs run around the outside of the ring. The fleur-de-lis could be associated with purity, the Virgin Mary, heraldry and French influence, while the circular elements may have been decorative or protective.
These two bands demonstrate how a simple ring form could carry meaning in very different ways: one through a concealed inscription and the other through a repeated surface pattern.
Crosses, flowers and personal symbolism
The Wiltshire Medieval Cross Ring carries a flared cross surrounded by radiating lines. The cross naturally suggests Christian devotion, while the surrounding scores may represent light or may simply emphasise the central image.
The Shropshire Medieval Floral Ring has an openwork rosette bezel. Its pierced petals create a much lighter appearance than a solid signet. Flowers in Medieval art could represent purity, love, divine grace or renewal, although the reason this particular design was chosen is unknown.
Both rings show how familiar symbols could make jewellery personally meaningful without requiring a written inscription.
The Medieval Stirrup Ring
The Medieval Stirrup Ring reproduces a 12th–13th-century find from Wiltshire. Its raised bezel gives the design the outline from which the modern name “stirrup ring” is derived.
Rings of this form were made to hold a small gemstone, lifting the stone above the finger and giving it a strong visual presence. The original stone is often missing when such rings are excavated.
Our reproduction can be set with ruby, sapphire, emerald or diamond. The stone is selected and fitted to recreate the coloured appearance that a ring of this kind may originally have carried, without claiming to know which gemstone was once present in the individual Wiltshire find.
Which Medieval ring should you choose?
The strongest choice depends on the character you want:
- Choose a merchant or Lombardic signet for a ring centred on identity and inscription.
- Choose the Oxfordshire Posy Band for a private message concealed inside the ring.
- Choose the Berkshire band for repeating fleur-de-lis decoration.
- Choose the Wiltshire Cross Ring for visible devotional imagery.
- Choose the Norfolk or Shropshire floral design for Medieval flower symbolism.
- Choose the Stirrup Ring for a raised coloured gemstone.
- Choose the Cumbrian Concentric Ring for a strong geometric bezel.
Each form offers a different link to the Medieval world: trade, faith, affection, symbolism, colour or pure geometric design.
Beyond rings: the Scottish Medieval Head Pendant
The collection also includes the Scottish Medieval Head Pendant. The original object is thought to have been a human-form terminal or mount rather than jewellery.
Its surviving three-dimensional face has been preserved and adapted into a wearable pendant. This allows the expressive Medieval image to be worn while clearly distinguishing the new function from that of the original find.
Explore the wider history of human-face motifs in medieval metalwork and the Scottish Head Pendant.
Exact historical reproductions, individually hand-cast in Leeds
Every design begins with a genuine historical artefact found in Britain. The original object is pressed directly into casting sand, allowing its surviving proportions, wear and surface character to be reproduced in solid sterling silver, gold or platinum.
Each piece is individually cast, sized where the design allows and finished at our workshop inside the Leeds Corn Exchange. Historically appropriate gemstones are cut and set at the bench where required.
Qualifying precious-metal pieces are independently tested and hallmarked by the London Assay Office.
Explore the complete Medieval jewellery collection, learn what Medieval signet-ring symbols may have meant, or discover how our historical reproductions are created.