TREASURE discoveries made by the public have reached record levels, it has been revealed, as gold jewellery found by a student using a metal detector was valued at £145,000.

There were 1,120 treasure finds in 2016 – the highest figure for 20 years, since the Treasure Act came into law.

It was revealed as Thomas Lucking’s discovery, a gold necklace and pendants of “national significance” found in an Anglo Saxon grave, was valued at £145,000.

Mr Lucking was a 23-year-old history student when he found the items while out metal-detecting in Winfarthing, Norfolk, in 2015.

The items, which Norwich Castle Museum wants to acquire and which includes a gold cross pendant, were previously declared treasure but their value has only just come to light.

Mr Lucking said any money he receives – the landowner and his metal detecting partner will also get a share – “will probably end up as a deposit on a house in some way. It’s going to make things a lot easier.”

Much of the gold jewellery was still on the skeleton of the woman, who would have been of extremely high status, buried between around 650 and 675 AD, and one of the earliest Anglo-Saxon converts to Christianity.

One of the large pendants, found lower down on the skeleton’s chest, was made of gold and inlaid with hundreds of tiny garnets.

It in itself is valued at £140,000.

The finds were announced at the launch of the Portable Antiquities Scheme and Treasure annual reports at the British Museum.