BROOCH

A copper-alloy Roman brooch of the Colchester derivative, hinged type.

. The brooch is unfortunately broken, missing one of its wings. The pin is also missing. The brooch has a curved bow in the dolphin style, and has the characteristic ovoid moulded appendages on each side of the head of the bow which are indicative of the Polden Hill brooches. A vertical rib runs up the bow, incised with diagonal decoration.

Below the beaded  ridge, are two lenticular bosses on each side of the central decorative rib. The brooch has tubular wings with provision for a hinged pin which is more characteristic of T-shaped brooches than Polden Hills, though Hattatt does make reference to oddities amongst the Polden Hill types (1985 82). The surviving wing has grooved and incised decoration at its tip. The presence of a foot knob on this example is also more reminiscent of T-shaped brooches than Polden Hills. The catchplate on the brooch is intact and is triangular in shape, curving gently up to meet the bow. The brooch measures 43.7 mm long and would have had an original wingspan of 34 mm wide.

The closest parallel found for this brooch is a T-shaped example illustrated in Hattatt (1985, 93; 395). Polden Hill brooches appear in the mid first century AD, and T-shaped brooches appear at around the same time but run longer, into the middle second century (Hattatt 1985, 87). It seems likely that this brooch, with its hybrid characteristics, dates from the mid to late first century AD.