A PRESTIGIOUS military medal has been returned to its roots - thanks to a Lottery grant.

The Army Gold Cross is now on show in Lancaster after the King's Own Royal Regiment museum secured it for more than £40,000.

The medal, which went under the hammer in October, is one of a set awarded to Lieutenant Colonel John Piper in the early Nineteenth Century.

The museum secured £36,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund and raised the rest of the cash itself.

"It is an important piece of British history which was in America. We have brought it back to the UK and, more importantly, to our regiment," says museum curator Peter Donnelly.

"It is rarer than the Victoria Cross and there has been lots of interest in it."

The medal was officially unveiled last Friday at a ceremony attended by current and retired personnel from the Kings Own.

John Piper was born in 1783 and was commissioned as an Ensign in the King's Own at the age of 12, in 1795. Later that year was promoted Lieutenant.

Piper was involved in the Battles of Vottoria and Nive and the storming of Badajoz.

He is said to have received the Army Gold Cross in 1817 - one of only two awarded to officers of the King's Own and 163 presented to the British Army.