BROOCH

An incomplete cast copper-alloy small-long brooch of Early-Medieval/Anglo-Saxon date. It is missing the base of the bow, foot, catchplate and pin due to old breaks. The brooch has a rectangular headplate that is perhaps missing parts of the outer edges. This is decorated with an incised border of double parallel lines that have on their inner edges a row of evenly spaced punched semi-circular motifs. On the back face of the headplate is an integrally cast single oval shaped lug with central circular perforation and small rectangular casting ridge running from the lug to the top of the headplate. The integrally cast bow is rectangular in form with a steeply curved profile and hollow/concave back face. At the top is a rectangular panel with single transverse groove at the top and double transverse groove at the bottom, between which are small triangular notches to either side. The bow itself is faceted with a prominent central rectangular ridge that has a central incised vertical groove and two less prominent, shallow vertical grooves to either side. The brooch terminates in old breaks towards the base of the bow, which is incomplete. This brooch measures 46.04mm in surviving length, 33.24mm in width at headplate, 14.01mm in width at bow, 3.92mm in thickness at bow, and weighs 19.77g. This is a fragment from a small-long brooch of Anglo-Saxon date. It is similar in form and decoration to examples from Lakenheath in Suffolk (West, 1998: nos. 108.7 and 113.2) and dates to the 5th or 6th centuries AD.