A GOLD bracelet that could once have been worn by an Iron Age chieftain has been saved for the county where he once ruled.

The rare 2,000-year-old object – known as a torc – will stay in North Yorkshire after an outpouring of financial support by the public.

The Yorkshire Museum in York launched an appeal in September to reunite the torc with a similar one already in its collections. Both were found at Towton, near Tadcaster and together represent the first gold Iron Age jewellery ever found in the north of England.

Now the full £30,000 that was needed to make sure the iconic piece of Iron Age remained in the county has been raised.

The Victoria and Albert Purchase Grant Fund donated £7,000, while the rest of the funding came from charitable funding bodies and individuals who wish to remain anonymous.

Curator of archaeology Natalie McCaul said: “It is wonderful news that the funds have been raised to keep this fantastic piece of jewellery. We have been overwhelmed by the generosity of the public and without their help we may have seen the bracelet enter a private collection.”

She added: “We are now looking forward to researching the torcs to learn more about both of them and what they can tell us about life in Yorkshire 2,000 years ago.”

The two torcs were found separately by metal detectorists, in 2010 and 2011, within metres of each other and were almost certainly buried at the same time.

Experts are convinced they belonged to an extremely wealthy, possibly royal, member of the Brigantes tribe, who ruled most of North Yorkshire during the Iron Age.

Although similar bracelets have been found in Britain, mainly in Norfolk which in the Iron Age was home to the Iceni tribe, there was no evidence of the Brigantes tribe using gold before the discovery of the Towton torcs.

And that has raised the possibility that the bracelets were spoils of war, a gift or used in trade between the two tribes.

The first torc was purchased by the Yorkshire Museum in January 2012 for £25,000, also after a public appeal.