STRAP END

Treasure case 2012 T70: Acquired by Bristol City Museum

Description: Early Medieval silver strap-end of Thomas Class A, Type 1. The strap end is a flat plate, split at the attachment end with two rivet holes to hold the strap, now both broken through. It has convex sides and a slightly convex terminal. The front is decorated with incised lines and indented areas but is quite crudely executed. It begins below and between the rivet holes, with an incised pelta- or fan-shaped design divided into three. Below this, the long edges each have a grooved border, outside which are very worn transverse nicks forming a ladder pattern. This pattern seems especially worn at the top of the strap-end.

The main decorative panel is sub-rectangular and consists of a cross within a sub-rectangular design within a recessed panel flanked by vertical incised lines. The upper part of the central panel is concave to fit around the fan-shaped field.

The cross has a square centre, straight horizontal arms with no terminals, and vertical arms that taper in width towards the ends where they expand out into trapezoid terminals. In each of the recessed quarters between the arms are simplified Trewhiddle-style animals. At least three of the four motifs are remarkably similar, and it seems likely that the same motif was intended, perhaps a backward-biting animal in profile; three have the double nicks characteristic of the Trewhiddle style.

At the terminal is an animal head seen from above, with semi-circular nostrils in the lower corners, an incised V forming the brow, and above these two large circular ears with pointed chevron detail within. A short curved line links the ears and marks the top of the head.

The reverse is undecorated, with a large scar of adhering iron and copper corrosion on the lower part, where it was presumably previously adjacent to another item in the soil. The split between the front and back runs about a quarter of the way down the strap end. There is no evidence of niello inlay.

Dimensions: It is 29.9mm long, 11.5mm wide, 1.3mm thick near the base and 2.0mm thick at the split and weighs 2.45g.

Discussion: Type 1 (Trewhiddle Style) strap-ends are the most common of Thomas's Class A strap-ends, characterised by their zoomorphic terminals and tapering or convex-sided plates (Thomas 2003:2). Although this example is relatively crude in its decoration, it does have the divided fields characteristic of southern England.

Date: The use of the Trewhiddle style dates this type broadly to the 9th century.

Laura Burnett
FLO for Somerset
April 2012.