STIRRUP

Complete but worn cast copper-alloy stirrup strap mount dated from AD. c.1000 to c.1100. The item is roughly pentagonal in shape with the typical narrow flange at a right angle to the base of the mount; there is ferrous corrosion and traces of the two iron rivets originally used for fixing the mount to the top of the iron stirrup along the underside and reverse of this flange. There is also some slight iron staining adjacent to the rivet hole at the apex of the mount where it would have been attached to the leather strap. The design of the mount is openwork with three zoomorphic heads, in an inverted triangular arrangement, projecting outwards between. Unfortunately most of the surface detail has now been lost but such mounts are considered to owe much to known Anglo-Scandinavian art styles such as Ringerike and Urnes. The item has been classified as a Williams Class B, Type 1, Group 3. Most copper alloy mounts are placed at the junction of the stirrup and stirrup leathers and mainly date to the 11th century AD. They have a wide distribution within England and to an uncertain extent on the near continent. Although most mounts appear in a variety of shapes, they can usually be recognised by a prominent flange/ ledge which projects from the lower edge of the undecorated reverse side. The flange appears at right angles or more obliquely, and the objects have two or more fixing holes, usually for iron rivets. Class B, in particular, have a trapezoidal or sub-rectangular shape. They are often openworked, many have zoomorphic heads facing outwards. Further illustrated examples similar to this one can be seen in D. Williams (1997), 'Late Saxon Stirrup-Strap Mounts', p.88, fig.55.