HARNESS PENDANT

An almost complete cast copper alloy harness pendant of Medieval date (c. AD 1100 - c. AD 1200). Length: 42.8mm; width: 26.1mm and 12.7mm thick. Weight: 13.68g. The pendant has sexfoil openwork (shaped like a flower with six petals) and has a separate flat circular copper alloy disc at the rear and is hinged at the top of the sexfoil part. The hinge bar is missing. At the centre of the pendant there is a large projecting globular knop which is secured by an integral shank through a hole in the disc at the rear. The diameter of the knop is about 9.0mm in diameter and the length of the shank is about 6.5mm. There is a circular projecting lug above the hinge at the top centre which has a circular hole to accommodate a bar which enabled the pendant to swivel. The pendant has traces of a light green patina but is mainly covered with superficial copper alloy corrosion products. There are no traces of gilding. A similar harness pendant has been recorded from Alkborough Parish, North Lincolnshire. See Portable Antiquities Scheme find: SWYOR-D566D1. Similar harness pendants can also be seen in Cherry (1991) in Saunders (ed) Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum Medieval Catalogue Part 1. Harness pendants are generally dated from the twelfth to the fourteenth century, with circular and openwork examples predominating the twelfth century, more varied types in the thirteenth and fourteenth century including the enamelled and heraldic types more commonly (Griffiths, 1995, 'The Medieval Horse and its Equipment').