BROOCH

Head and upper part of the bow of a Roman cast copper-alloy initial T-shaped brooch with hinged pin dating to c. AD 60-100. The lower part of the bow, foot and most of the pin of the brooch are missing to worn breaks. The brooch head has open-ended cylindrical wings, 31.5m wide, containing an axis bar for the hinge. Both are almost completebut one has small amounts of a white substance visible in the end. The wings are each decorated with a single transverse incised line near the end. There is a large transverse slot through the centre of the underside of the head, between the wings, where the pin hinges.Copper alloy and iron corrosion around this area suggests an iron axis bar and copper alloy pin.

The bow is D shaped in section with a flat back and convex front. It rises at c.90 degrees to the head before curving over through a shallow 120 degrees in the upper part of the bow, before the break. The lower part of the bow is starting to straighten just before the break and probably originally ran relatively straight to the foot, now missing. The bow tapers in width and thickness gradually but consistently from the head to the worn break. By the break it is worn and corroded. The upper part is decorated with moulded raised ribs, there are three at the top and they converge as they go down the bow to create a 'V' shape with a central short line. The upper part of the bow, where it meets the wings, is flanked by side ribs. The brooch fragment is 26.5mm long, 12.4mm thick and weighs 8.09 grams.

Bailey and Butcher (2004:158) illustrate similar pieces although with a range of different moulded decoration and suggest a Flavian or slightly earlier date. They suggest T-shaped brooches are very variable in the decoration on their bows and this type is mainly south western in distribution. Mackreth (2011, p.94, pl.62) illustrates a similar example, no.2357, type 10g, but with four rather than three ribs from Exeter. he suggests this group is all similar enough to perhaps suggest they emanated from a single workshop, with most examples are known from Somerset and Devon.