BROOCH

Early-Medieval (c. AD 500 - c. AD 600) radiate-headed brooch: The copper alloy cast brooch is incomplete, only the head plate and a fragment of the bow remains. The head plate is semi-circular with five equi-distant, integral, knops on the outside edge. The knops have a double-stranded linear groove at the base. The outer face is decorated with a plain border within which there are three spiral motifs. The reverse of the head plate is has two integral, vertical, perforated lugs with traces of iron corrosion.

Protruding from the lower edge of the head plate is a narrowed, integral bow which has a broken lower edge. The break is not recent, the patina covers the break. The outer face of the bow is decorated with a central high-relief vertical rib which is bordered by two finer and less deep ribs.

The surface of the brooch has a well-developed mid-dark green patina. It measures 39.72mm long, 34.2mm wide across the head plate, 8.42mm thick across the lugs and outer face of the head plate and weighs 10.32g.

The brooch is an Early Medieval radiate-headed brooch which was possibly manufactured by the Franks on the Continent, although there is evidence for this type of brooch also being manufactured in Kent and possibly Oxfordshire (MacGregor and Bolick, 1993:147). These type of brooches are spread from the Isle of Wight (IOW-B52767) to Yorkshire (YORYM-2A90CB). This example is the second to be recorded on the PAS database from Warwickshire, the first is SUR-553F25. MacGregor and Bolick, 1993 illustrate similar examples 16.1 to 16.6.

This type of brooch dates to the 6^th century (MacGregor and Bolick, 1993:147).

MacGregor, A. and Bolick, E., 1993 A Summary Catalogue of the Anglo-Saxon Collections (Non-Ferrous Metals) British Archaeological Reports British Series 230: Oxford.