Pilgrimage Badge, Battle Abbey

This lead pilgrimage badge showing a crowned head is just 40mm long. It probably depicts St Edward the Confessor, as it is very similar to another badge found in London where St Edward’s cult flourished, but St Edmund is also possible.

Pilgrim badges were common from the 14th century until the Protestant Reformation. They were small, mass-produced tokens usually made from a cheap metal, like lead or pewter, depicting the saint whose shrine had been visited. They could be worn by pilgrims or put on display to show which shrines had been visited – rather like tourist souvenirs today.