Forget roses and chocolates this Valentine’s Day. Lovers from the past set the bar high, with romantic poetry, locks of human hair, beautifully crafted silver and even a new city dedicated to a lost love.

Join Amy Matthews and English Heritage historians and curators for a look at love tokens, secret messages and heartbreak memorials from our sites, to discover how people in the past flirted, mourned, adored and remembered. It turns out that whether it’s a sonnet, a statue or a sentimental keepsake, love has always been messy, meaningful and very human.

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Love tokens from history