LYME REGIS: Celebrations were in order as a Freedom of the Borough of Lyme Regis certificate was brought home to the town.

Australian coffee shop owners Jeff and Debi Johnson, from Crystal Brook, South Australia, repatriated the certificate in Lyme Regis Guildhall on Monday.

The certificate was discovered by Debi in an Australian antique shop and its return comes 76 years after it was presented to ex-Lyme Museum curator Cyril Wanklyn in 1938.

At the Guildhall, the certificate was received by museum director David Tucker at the exact spot where it was awarded.

Graham Davies, curatorial volunteer and researcher at Lyme Museum, said: “After the certificate was repatriated, I spent the rest of the day showing Jeff and Debi Johnson around Lyme, whilst my colleagues made a copy of the original certificate for the Johnsons to take back home.

“Jeff and Debi were delighted with the quality of the copy, which will be displayed in their coffee shop in Australia.”

Mr Wanklyn, one of Lyme’s foremost historians, saved the museum and the ancient borough records from oblivion.

His work on the records saw them transcribed and placed in safe custody and it was for that the award was given, recorded in a brass plaque in the Guildhall.

Debi bought the certificate for its beauty in Hazel’s Antiques in Blakeview, just north of Adelaide, 20 years ago.

She had no idea of its significance until an internet search gave information about Cyril Wanklyn on the Lyme Regis Museum’s website.

Debi then contacted researcher Graham Davies and offered to come over to the UK and present it to the museum, in exchange for a digital copy to display in their coffee shop.

How the certificate got to Australia remains a mystery, but Cyril may have many Australian connections besides his known chairmanship of mining syndicates.

Jeff said: “Debi and I were excited and intrigued that through sheer luck and coincidence we were a part of the mystery of this certificate. We discussed things and wanted to return the certificate to Lyme personally.”

Mr Tucker added that the certificate will become a key exhibit in a new display about Cyril Wanklyn.