BROOCH

Cast lead alloy (pewter?) disc brooch of later Anglo Saxon (probably 10th century) date. The brooch has been much plough damaged; it was discovered conjoined by a small strand of metal, but subsequently has been accidentally broken into two parts during recording. The brooch would have originally been circular, but it is now more oval or sub-rectangular. It is slightly domed in profile and is convex in cross-section. It measures 38.9mm length, 31.1mm width, is a maximum of 2.4mm thick, and weighs 14.14g. The front is decorated with a cast design which is much abraded. The overall design is based around a vertical cross which is enclosed within a circle. The arms of the cross are formed from vertical and horizontal cast ribs and the enclosing circle is formed from a similar curvilinear rib. At the centre of the cross, which corresponds with the centre of the brooch, is a large raised dome-like pellet. This pellet takes up the whole of the centre of the cross. To either side of this central pellet, within each arm, are further decorative elements consisting of a single smaller domed pellet enclosed by a circlet of smaller circular pellets in a flower-like pattern. In the triangular areas, outside the cross and within the containing circle, are further decorations consisting of single raised annulets. Outside the cross and circle is a border made up of a pair of concentric ridges with radiating lentoid ribs between. Much of this border has been lost.

The reverse of the brooch is undecorated. On the upper edge are two vertical raised lugs (each 8.2mm x 2.5mm x 2.8mm) which have been pierced. Through this piercing an axis bar would have passed to hold a pin. On the lower edge of the reverse is a single vertical raised lug (9.8mm x 3.2mm x1.9mm), which has been much abraded. This lug would have originally been much larger and would have been rolled over to form a catch plate. Neither the axis bar, pin or spring survive. From other examples known these are often formed from iron; however there is no iron staining on this example.

The brooch is a mid brown buff colour with an abraded patina. On most of the raised surfaces and on the edges the patina has been lost and light grey coloured powdery corrosion is present. This is also true for the lugs on the reverse. All of this damage is likely to be due to movement in the ploughsoil. The diagonal broken edge, although similarly abraded, is likely to be old damage as it has a well patinated edge, which has been similarly abraded to that of the body. It seems likely from the profile of the brooch that it was originally folded into two with the external face being outer most. This fold seems to have split and resulted in the well developed patina described above and subsequent movement in the plough soil has caused the brooch to reopen and split along the rest of the fold.

Similar lead / pewter brooches have been recorded by the PAS (mostly in the east of the country) and it is suggested that the original designs for them are based on coins. Thanks are extended to both Kevin Leahy (PAS Finds Adviser) and Mike Stokes (Shewsbury Museum) for their comments and help in identifying and recording this artefact.