A rare gold ring once worn by the wife of an elite Roman soldier has been named in honour of the late daughter of one of the Cumbrian men who found it.

Pensioner pals Graham Ryan and Bob Dennison, who live next to each other at Beckfoot, near Silloth, found the ring in January last year while using their metal detectors on a Maryport beach.

It has been declared as treasure after being examined by experts at both Tullie House in Carlisle and the British Museum in London. Mr Ryan, 73, has also been told his suggested name for the treasure – Angie’s ring – has been accepted.

Mr Dennison’s daughter, Angie, 43, died last year.

Mr Ryan said: “Bob is my next door neighbour and we’re good pals. We go out metal detecting together.”

Recalling the day they found the ring, he said: “It was bitterly cold, and we just went to this site hoping to find something. Within five minutes, I had found the ring.

“It was in some red clay. At first, I thought it one of those ring-pulls, but an old one.

“We’d thought we might find some coins, but not something like this ring.

“I cleaned the clay off it and it took me a little while to work out what it was, and when I did, I felt a bit like Howard Carter must have felt [the archaeologist who discovered the tomb of the Egyptian Pharoh Tutankamun in 1922].

“I was amazed by what I was looking at. I just stood there for a little while, looking at it.”

The gold ring, with a garnet stone as its main feature, is in pristine condition, said Graham, who is a long-term volunteer site assistant at world famous Vindolanda Roman fort on Hadrian’s Wall.

Graham continued: “I think this ring must have belonged to someone of wealth – a woman such as a Roman commandant’s wife.

“As a boy, I always thought one day I’d find treasure. Now that dream has come true. I’ve been using a metal detector for about 20 years, and this is the best find I’ve ever had.

“Bob and I were out together, so the ring is classed as a joint find, and I suggested that it should be called Angie’s Ring, because Bob lost his daughter a month previously.”

Talking of the find, Bob, 74, said: “It was exciting. It was fantastic to find something like that. It was just a case of being in the right place at the right time.

“It was Graham who found it and he who suggested we name it after my daughter. She was a lovely lass, and she’d have been over the moon to know this ring is named after her.”

The two men hope the ring will be acquired by Maryport’s Senhouse Roman Museum, which they say has expressed an interest in it. Such finds are assessed by the country’s Portable Antiquities Scheme, run by the British Museum and the Museum of Wales.

The finder of such treasure usually gets a share of its value once it has been formally acquired by a museum.