THE discovery of a First World War medal has brought a Cumbrian man to Oswestry searching for answers about his ancestry.
Michael Furmston is from Carlisle and has recently arrived in Oswestry full of hope in finding out who the medal belongs to, whether it is part of his family or if it belongs to someone else from the town.
Metal detectorist Justin Critchlow discovered the medal in Leek, Staffordshire, and he took it to Facebook to find its rightful owner, after the name H. Furmston was seen engraved on the side.
Michael said: "Furmston is an unusual name but it's specific to this area, so when I saw the post I messaged Justin, and since I've had it I knew I had to come here and find out more."
The First World War campaign medal belonged to Herbert Furmston, according to the engraving, a rifleman with a Liverpool regiment, who was Michael's grandfather's brother's son.
Since Michael has had the decoration, he has restored it to its original state, removed the rust and put on a new clasp with the original colours.
Justin found it near a watering hole, where it is believed he might have stopped for a picnic on his way to a posting or more.
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Michael added: "People are known to have stopped there loads, to take a breather, to eat, and other people working the lands used to go there and play about.
"It was found in a field so whether it has fallen out of his pocket or he placed it down and forgot to pick it up, we will never know."
Michael believes that it might have belonged to the Borderland Farmer, the statue of a man in Oswestry, as the description of Herbert matches, and it could have been his relative.
He said: "I want to believe it's him so I have something to go off, but I am not sure as I think Herbert was a butcher."
The statue portrays a 4ft 10" man with a sheep, and it was sculpted by Ivor Roberts-Jones and placed in Church Street.
Trying to learn more about who this medal really belonged to, and wanting to delve deeper into his family history, Michael will spend the next few days in Oswestry.
He intends to go to the library and other places holding historic scripts, trying to find anything he can about Herbert
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