BROOCH

A cast copper ally Roman brooch of Colchester derivative, Polden Hill (Mackreth Group 5, flat wing ends type, Western Group), cf. Mackreth 2011, 5.a2 Plate 50, no. 1575. The wings are semi-cylindrical with one wing missing. The remaining wing has an incomplete wing cap with a small circular hole to support the axis bar. The axis bar, spring and pin are all missing. There is an integral lug with a hole in the centre, positioned transversally in the centre of the upper edge of the wings. The hole is filled with a fragment of copper alloy wire which originally was part of the spring mechanism. The wings are otherwise undecorated. The bow head is slightly hump-like in profile and is sub-rectangular in section. The bow head is decorated with a prominent vertical ridge running from the lug on the upper edge of the wings. This ridge tapers to a point on the bow. Either side of the ridge on the bow and bow head there is a finer ridge forming a border. The bow tapers to a broken terminal. The break is possibly recent as the break has a different surface condition to the majority of the surface. Due to the break the bow foot and catch plate are also missing. The surface of the brooch has a mid grey/green patina with traces of a white alloy coating. The brooch is in quite a poor condition and is incomplete. It measures 20.73mm across the wings and 23.57mm long, weighing 5.7g. The brooch is a Polden Hill variant type, which probably dates to the mid 1st century into the 2nd (Bayley and Butcher, 2004 Roman Brooches in Britain: A technological and Typological Study Based on the Richborough Collection Society of Antiquaries). Hattatt (Hattat, R 1985 Iron Age and Roman Brooches Oxbow) illustrates a similar brooch, No. 382 which he describes as being a Polden Hill variant. Bayley and Butcher (2004) go on to comment that the distribution of Polden Hill brooches is concentrated in the West Midlands.