STRAP FITTING

A copper-alloy strap mount of Medieval date.

The artefact consists of two parallel plates of roughly rectangular form. The upper plate is slightly shorter than the back plate. At the centre of each of the two short sides is a decorative 'V-shaped' cut out, the point of which extends into a tapering groove. The long sides have been 'toothed' by the creation of a number of vertical incisions along the edges. Just inside each long side, running parallel to them, is an incised line border. A number of other grooves within the surface of the upper plate may be the remnants of a pattern or, more likely, are the result of damage. The back has straight sides and is undecorated. At the centre of the artefact, passing through both plates, is a large circular perforation. The two sides would originally have been held together by four rivets, one located on each corner. Three of these rivets survive in situ, although two of them no longer join the plates, due to damage to the upper plate. On one corner the rivet hole is empty and, probably because of damage to the back plate at this point, a further rivet has been added, a short distance in. In the gap between the two plates, traces of textile survive.

The artefact measures 36.8mm long, 17mm wide and 4.7mm thick. It weighs 5.04g.

The form of the upper plate is comparable with that often seen on composite strap-ends of the late 13th and 14th centuries (see Egan and Pritchard 1991: 142/fig. 93). This piece is probably a decorative belt fitting of the same period.