AN old worn shield, stored for many years among Presteigne’s museum collections, has been found to have historic links with Ethiopian royalty.

Little was known about the item, listed as ‘Tuareg shield with spear’ in old Presteigne Museum records at the former Shire Hall, now the Judge’s Lodging.

But studies by a young conservator , as part of her Cardiff University project, have revealed that the shield was not in fact a gift from nomadic people of the Sahara.

Instead, Gemma McBader discovered that the shield had been presented by Emperor Menelik II on the signing of the 1897 Anglo-Ethiopian Treaty.

Staff at the Judge’s Lodging are now delighted at news that Ms McBader has been shortlisted to the final four of the much contested Student Conservator of the Year Award.

During her researches, she looked at other museum collections in Britain to find similar shields, including the British Museum and the huge ethnographic collection at the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford.

She eventually found that the Presteigne shield was “quite unique in its colouring and decoration”, reports the Judge’s Lodging manager, Gaby Rivers.

It was already known that the item had belonged to British diplomat, Sir James Rennell Rodd, who lived at Rodd, near Presteigne.

During his career, he played a key role in negotiating the Anglo-Ethiopian Treaty with Emperor Menelik II.

Ms Rivers said: “Gemma’s painstaking research so excited staff at the Judge’s Lodging when she identified the precise moment when it was presented to Sir James by the emperor on the signing of the treaty.”

The shield has now returned home to Presteigne, as has the spear, which featured in a Tuareg exhibition at the Royal Georgraphical Society in Kensington.

Gifted at the same time as the shield, it belonged to Sir James’ son, Francis, a senior intelligence officer who studied the Tuareg and wrote ‘People of the Veil’, one of the greatest works on the Sahara region and its people. Sir Francis was president of the Royal Geographical Society.

Both items will be on display at the Judge’s Lodging this autumn. Meanwhile, staff will be keenly awaiting news of the student conservator awards to be announced in October.