A very rare roman brooch dating back to the dawn of the Roman conquest has been found in a field by a metal detector enthusiast from Grantham.

The colourful horse brooch was unearthed in a field near Leasingham, Sleaford, by 48-year-old Jason Price and has - according to a local expert - rewritten the understandings around Roman brooches.

Jason found the brooch during a 'Detecting for Veterans' weekend.

He said: "It was the last field of the weekend and it was heavily ploughed - so I didn't hold out much hope of finding anything.

"You can imagine my surprise when my detector started buzzing.

"About eight inches down I found something caked in mud.

"At first I thought it was a piece of litter, but as I cleaned it off, my jaw dropped open.

"There it was - a horse brooch. I was shaking.

"I've found things like coins before, but never anything like this. Absolutely amazing!"

Dr Lisa Brundle, the Finds Liaison Officer at Lincolnshire County Council, said: "This brooch is an exciting and rare discovery.

"It depicts a fairly realistic horse with an outstanding level of detail and is in remarkable condition - it even has the pin still attached!

"The horse would have originally appeared gold-like and the recesses probably once contained bright red, blue or yellow enamel. It would have been a spectacular sight on someone's robe.

"This type of Roman horse brooch is incredibly rare in Britain - and is the second only to have been found in the UK.

"The only other one is in the British Museum and is decorated differently - with spots of enamel only.

"The Leasingham horse, however, is in a league of its own with its pin situated below the legs and the realistic depiction of a saddle."

The brooch will go on display at the Collection Museum in Lincoln later this year.