Lockington Arm Rings

These beautiful objects are extremely rare and show the skill of Bronze Age goldsmiths. The two cylindrical armlets  are made from a band of sheet metal decorated by embossed ribs. They were found during excavations of the Lockington-Hemington Bronze Age cemetery, which contained at least 11, mainly ploughed out, barrows. They were found in a furnished grave in a barrow along with two pottery vessels and a copper dagger with wooden scabbard, unusually all the items were declared ‘Treasure Trove’.

The copper dagger is also very significant. It was the first of its type found in Britain and  was buried in a wooden scabbard, amazingly fragments of this are still attached to the blade – an extremely rare survival.

The objects were excavated in 1994. The arm rings are on permanent display in the British Museum in room 51 (British Museum 1996,0901.2).  The dagger and pottery are held in the care of Leicestershire Museums.

The pottery and replica arm rings will be on temporary display at Charnwood museum for the Festival of Archaeology and throughout the summer