Cool Finds

Six Decades Ago, a Boy Stole Medieval Tiles From an English Monastery. He Just Returned the Illicit Souvenirs

A ghoulish face and a graceful dragon decorate the broken clay tiles from the late 13th century or early 14th century. They were found tucked in an old toffee tin

Sonja Anderson | Daily Correspondent

May 1, 2026

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In the 1960s, 9-year-old Simon White visited a medieval English monastery with his family. Encouraged by his father, White pried up some of the historic site’s 700-year-old floor tiles to keep as souvenirs. At home, he stowed them in an old toffee tin for safekeeping. And there the tiles stayed, forgotten, for nearly 60 years.

Recently, White—now 68 years old—was sorting through his belongings and he came across the tin. At first, he couldn’t remember where the red clay tile fragments, decorated with a beastly face and a dragon, were from.

“Fortunately, my mother kept very detailed diaries written in tiny, spindly handwriting,” White tells ITV News’ Mark Gough. “So I read them again … and I was able to pinpoint one day in 1967, a summer’s day, when we came to Wenlock Priory. And I thought, ‘This has got to be the best bet.’”

Located in the West Midlands county of Shropshire, the priory was founded more than 1,300 years ago as an Anglo-Saxon monastery, then refounded in the 11th century as a Cluniac monastery. It was one of many historic sites White’s parents took him to during his childhood.

“Of course, back then there was no visitor center or CCTV, and you could wander around these places willy-nilly, for free,” White tells the Telegraph. “[My father] literally stood over me while actively encouraging me to take these tiles; I stole three of them—which, in hindsight, was a dreadful thing to do.”

Upon rediscovering the tiles and their origins, White contacted English Heritage, the charity that runs Wenlock Priory and other historic sites across the country. Matty Cambridge, an assistant curator at English Heritage, says in a statement that the organization is “thrilled to see the safe return of these pieces of history.”

“Tiles of these designs are only known at Haughmond Abbey, Bridgnorth Friary and Wenlock Priory and would have been locally made in Shropshire,” Cambridge says. “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 by Mr. White to Wenlock Priory.”

The site’s history stretches back to the late seventh century C.E., when it was founded by Merewalh, ruler of Magonsaete. Magonsaete was a subkingdom of Mercia, one of the most powerful kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England. For the following centuries, Wenlock was a “dual house,” hosting both nuns and monks. One of its abbesses was princess Milburga, Merewalh’s daughter, later honored as a saint.

In 1066, William the Conqueror of Normandy, France, invaded England and defeated its king, Harold Godwinson. So began the Norman Conquest, a pivotal period of English history that saw increased French influence—which affected Wenlock. Monks from La Charité-sur-Loire, France, came to Shropshire and turned the priory into a Cluniac monastery. Partial to elaborate decoration, the monks replaced the Anglo-Saxon church with a lavish new abbey between 1225 and 1260.

White’s tiles belong to the floor of this 13th-century church and library, which stands in fragmented ruins today. In the 20th century, conservators relaid its floor and left some of the tiles loose, which allowed White to grab some broken ones in the ’60s, per ITV News’ Stacey Foster.

The tiles White returned are valuable not just for their provenance. The dragon piece is unique: Cambridge says that researchers haven’t seen that motif elsewhere in Wenlock’s floors. Also, due to their longtime storage in a toffee tin, the artifacts are in unusually good condition.

“It’s lovely to be able to hold them and really see just how detailed they are, because they’re beautifully preserved,” Cambridge tells ITV’s Gough. “Especially compared to some of the ones on the pavement here, which obviously have been walked on and open to the elements.”

White says in the statement that he’s “absolutely delighted” to return the medieval tiles. According to the statement, they’ll be kept at Wenlock Priory and potentially further analyzed by English Heritage archaeology researchers.

“The delicious irony of this is that, now I’m retired, one of my hobbies is archaeology, and the local society I’ve joined are likely to take a dim view of this!” White says in the statement. “So, after almost 60 years, it’s only right and proper that the tiles are returned home.”

Sonja Anderson | Read More

Sonja Anderson is a writer and reporter based in Chicago.