SHROPSHIRE — Simon White returned three medieval tile fragments to Wenlock Priory in Shropshire almost 60 years after taking them as a souvenir during a family visit when he was nine years old. White, a 68-year-old retired chartered surveyor, handed the fragments to English Heritage at the priory after rediscovering them in an old toffee tin during a house move.

The three pieces of decorative clay tiles date from the late 13th to early 14th century. The fragments had been stashed in the toffee tin for almost 60 years after being pocketed during the family outing in the late 1960s.

White contacted English Heritage after the tin turned up earlier this year, then used family diaries to determine that the tiles probably came from Wenlock Priory. Medievalists concluded that the priory was the source of the fragments. Tiles of that type were only known to have existed at three places in Shropshire: Haughmond Abbey, Bridgnorth Friary, and Wenlock Priory. Bridgnorth Friary has no in situ tiles and was not excavated until after White's childhood trip, and Haughmond Abbey has only a small patch of tile still at the site. Wenlock Priory was once home to Cluniac monks who used elaborate architectural decoration.

One fragment carries a dragon motif that was previously unknown at the site, according to English Heritage. Another shows the face of a lion or possibly a grimacing face.

"I can remember the day this all happened with my father standing guard," White said. "Heaven knows what he would have said if we'd been caught. What happened to the tiles afterwards I'm not really sure, but they survived numerous house moves and assorted family upheavals only to turn up in my loft earlier this year in a battered tin."

White met assistant curator Matty Cambridge at Wenlock Priory to hand over the fragments. "The local society I've joined are likely to take a dim view of this," he said. "It's only right and proper that the tiles are returned home."

Cambridge said White "wanted to make a bit of a pilgrimage" to the site. "There are no hard feelings. He was only nine and was told: 'Oh, this is pretty – take it home,'" she said. "It's not unheard of for mementos to have been taken from historic buildings, though is it unusual in this case that the artefacts were kept so well for so long and preserved."

Cambridge said safeguards at the site had since changed. "Nowadays we have far more stringent measures in place to prevent it, but if Mr White's example pricks anyone else's conscience from years ago, we'd love to hear from them," she said. The tiles will not be put back on the floor but will be moved to an English Heritage archaeology store for further analysis.