SOME of Yorkshire's finest Gothic artefacts feature in a major exhibition at London's Victoria and Albert Museum.

The Middleham Jewel, the Boar Badge of Richard lll, The Bolton Book of Hours, and stained and painted glass from the St William window in York Minister are included in the exhibition: Gothic Art for England 1400-1547.

It is the first time the glory of late medieval art from the reign of Henry lV to Henry Vlll has been put together.

Two of the works are both from Middleham Castle which was Richard III's favourite castle.

His Boar Badge dates from pre-1485 and was probably worn by one of his retainers. The King ordered 13,000 boar badges to distribute just before his son, Edward, was invested as Prince of Wales. It and the Middleham Jewel have been lent to the V&A by the York Museums Trust.

The Jewel - gold and set with a sapphire - dates from 1430-1470 and was discovered by metal detector in a field near Middleham in 1985.

It was probably designed to contain a wax roundel showing the Lamb of God. The last two words of the inscription are magical.

"Tetragrammaton" symbolised the unwriteable name of God and "ananyzapta" was used as a charm against epilepsy. The inscription was originally enamelled blue.

The glass panel from the St William Window in York Minster was made in York, almost certainly by John Thornton.

It shows pilgrims at the shrine of St William in the Minster.

The Bolton Hours dates from 1410-1420 and is a manuscript which was illuminated in York, probably for Margaret Blackburn, whose daughter married into the Bolton family.

A young woman is shown praying to Richard Scrope, Archbishop of Canterbury, who was widely venerated as a saint in Yorkshire after his execution in 1405.

Ripon Minster has loaned an oak misericord, the underside of a hinged choir stall, dating from 1489-1494, which clergy used to rest on during long services. It shows Samson carrying the city gates that he smashed in his escape from the Philistines.

Other items on display include Henry Vlll's horse armour and tournament armour and the garter sword and scabbard of Emperor Sigismund which was given to York City Council in 1439 as a civic sword.