BROOCH

NGR; Cast copper-alloy brooch OF Colchester derivative Polden Hill (flat wing ends type, West Midlands), Mackreth 2011, 4.d, pg.73, Plate 47. Roman period, AD 80-120. Incomplete. Mass: 6.4g; length: 22.4mm; width: 18.9mm; depth: 11.5mm. The brooch is T-shaped in plan, with a humped, comma shaped profile. There is a moulded "plate" on each side of the head, adjoining the semi-cylindrical wings. There is a hook on the top of the head securing the external copper-alloy chord. The wings have pierced end-caps holding the copper-alloy axis-bar which secures the spring in the rear of the crossbar. The copper-alloy spring is largely complete but the pin is missing. There is a raised vertical rib defining one end cap on the front of the brooch, but the other end is corroded and chipped and this feature has presumably been lost. There are two incised lines running down the front of the head and bow, with transverse grooves between them, forming a median segmented rib. The bow has a sub-oval, almost D-shaped cross-section. The bow is broken at the bottom end. The brooch has a green patina in parts, but it is heavily pitted. Bayley and Butcher (ibid. p159) explain that the Polden Hill type of brooch, "exhibits a distinctive method of attaching the spring: it is carried in a semi-cylindrical crossbar which has closed ends to secure the axial rod, while the chord is held by a hook or crest on the head." In her "Roman Brooch Timeline", Worrell (2007) dates Polden Hill brooches to AD75-175. Bayley and Butcher (ibid. p 160) state that the main development of this type appears to have taken place in the West Midlands and that more recent finds have confirmed a concentration in this region.