The Portable Antiquities Scheme

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Anglo-Saxon small long brooch. This cast copper alloy brooch has traces of tinning on its surface, and the brooch is incomplete due to a missing bow and footplate. The degree of wear on the break at the base of the headplate is unknown. however the visible edges of the headplate from the photograph show chipped, damaged edges with little evidence of wear, suggesting that the brooch was damaged due to relatively recent agrticultural activity. The brooch is an example of Leeds (1945) cross-pattee headed small long brooch. As the typology suggests, the headplate is cross shaped due to three subrectangular projections with curved edges. The headplate effectively appears as though a semi-circle has been removed from each of the four courners of a rectangular headplate. It is decorated with ring and dot decoration, one in each of the subrectangular projections, and the fourth in the centre of the headplate. All these punchmark designs are of the same size and are comprised of two concentric rings around a dot. Small long brooches have a wide range of footplate shapes. The design of the footplate in this example cannot be speculated as Leeds typology was based purely upon the headplate design. However, two brooches with similar headplates to this example have been identified from High Down, Sussex, and both of these examples have lozenge shaped feet. Te brooch has been identified from a black and white photograph, which limits the information available. The colouration and patina of the brooch are unknown, as is the reverse of the brooch. Small long brooches usually have the hinge intergrally cast into the reverse of the headplate and are attached to a sprung iron pin. The missing footplate would have had an intergrally cast catchplate positioned on the reverse. The brooch fragment is approximately 25mm long and 30mm wide. Small long brooches date from the late 5th century, circa 475AD, through to the early 6th century, circa 525AD.

• Leeds, E. T., 1945 The distribution of the Angles and Saxons archaeologically considered, Archaeologia, 91, ppfig 23g-h..

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Created: Friday 15th December 2000
Updated: Thursday 24th February 2011