BROOCH

An incomplete Roman hinged T-shaped brooch that is missing the lower half of the bow, catchplate and most of the pin due to old breaks. The brooch has cylindrical/tubular wings that encase the axis bar and have double parallel incised grooves on the upper surfaces at both ends. At the rear of the wings is a central rectangular slot through which extends the remains of the hinged pin. At the head of the brooch where the bow joins the wings is a small projecting longitudinal crest or moulding that appears to be complete. The bow itself is flat, triangular in plan and tapers towards the now missing foot. Along each edge of the bow is a raised moulded rib that runs from the head to just above the break in the bow, where it terminates creating an almost stepped profile. Between these ribs on the upper half of the bow are two opposing triangular recesses that would presumably originally have contained now missing enamelling. Beneath the point where the two ridges terminate the bow continues to taper reaching a moulded transverse projection or ridge before terminating in old breaks. The back face of the bow is undecorated and hollow/concave. The surviving fragment of the brooch measures 24.49mm in length, 21.46mm in width (at wings), and weighs 4.82g. This is a fragment from a Roman brooch of T-shaped type. A similar example in terms of form is noted in Bayley and Butcher (2004: p. 166) and a near identical brooch has been recorded under the Portable Antiquities Scheme from Norfolk (NMS-080161). These indicate a date in the 1st to 2nd centuries AD for the current example.