An exquisite 3,000-year-old sun pendant from the British Museum will be displayed in Stornoway this summer.

The stunning pendant, known as a gold bulla, is one of the most significant items of Bronze Age metalwork ever discovered in Britain and was found by a metal detectorist in the Shropshire Marches in May 2018.

It is going on show in Scotland for the first time, with Stornoway’s Museum & Tasglann nan Eilean hosting the extraordinary piece of jewellery as part of the prestigious British Museum Spotlight loans tour Gathering Light: A Bronze Age golden sun exhibition.

The exhibition will run from Saturday, June 10 to Saturday, September 16 and include other Bronze Age gold artefacts, including a gold lunula (amulet) discovered in an Irish bog and a hoard of Cornish torcs and rings.

Also on display will be a gold ring from the archaeological excavations at Cladh Hallan, South Uist, and local Bronze Age finds from the Museum & Tasglann nan Eilean collections.

Caitriona MacCuish, Museum Development Officer at Museum & Tasglann nan Eilean, added: “We are delighted to host this British Museum spotlight loan giving local people and visitors the opportunity to see these internationally significant objects. Museum & Tasglann nan Eilean are proud to display fascinating objects found in the Outer Hebrides, which tell their own captivating stories, alongside such a spectacular artefact as the Shropshire sun pendant.”

Neil Wilkin, Curator of Early Europe at the British Museum, said: “The Shropshire sun pendant is an internationally significant object, reflecting the artistic brilliance of communities from the deep past and the social and religious connections that spanned western Europe.”