BROOCH

Middle Anglo-Saxon strip brooch made from a single strip of copper-alloy, which is expanded to form a lozenge-shaped plate in the centre but narrows to wire on either side of the plate. At the base of the plate the wire is simply curled round to form a hook which acts as a catchplate for the pin. At the top of the plate the wire is looped round on itself in a single loop to the right of the plate, forming a primitive spring. The wire is then bent back down along the length of the brooch to form the pin, which tapers to a point at the end. The lozenge plate is rather worn but traces of decoration can be discerned, in the form of a double transverse line and possible punched annulets across the top of the plate. Length 56.9mm, width 10.4mm, thickness 14.6mm, weight 5.87g

Naomi Payne is currently reporting on some examples recently excavated at Sedgeford in Norfolk. She notes "Middle Anglo-Saxon safety-pin brooches appear to be a type found mainly in the east of England. Hattatt published two examples (Visual Catalogue, fig. 140, nos. 1442 and 1385) from Norfolk but misattributed them to the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Excavations at Flixborough, Humberside, have produced nine, eight of which are similar and one almost identical. There is another parallel from Brandon, Suffolk (no. 5007). A further example from Gringley on the Hill, Nottinghamshire has been recorded on the Portable Antiquities Scheme database (reference SWYOR-B804D7)." Further examples on the PAS database now include GLO-8D5E03, SF7054, KENT1321 (no illustration) and NLM7136 (no illustration). Two have characteristic 8th-century animal art (HAMP-CEBED7 and NMS-829627). See also K. Leahy, The Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Lindsey, page 146, Fig 52.