HARNESS FITTING

Late Iron Age (c.100 BC - AD 100) cast copper alloy winged type terret ring with a D-shaped profile and expanded terminals which taper to either end of the lozenge-shaped strap bar. The ring is oval in section with three applied oval 'lips', 25 mm long and 18 mm wide, set parallel to the ring, each with two wings, 3 mm thick, on either side that fan out at 90 and 45 degree angles from the upper surface of the ring. The ring as a whole has an external diameter of 71 mm and an internal diameter of 53 mm, and the diameter of the ring in section is 7 mm at the apex, expanding to 15 mm at the trumpet terminals. The object has patches of dark green shiny patina on the wings but most of the surface is corroded and pitted with some light green sections of active corrosion.

Terret rings with three sets of wings arranged around the ring, are classified by Lewis (2015, p.76) as a terret with "triple projections". D-shaped terrets are a "uniquely British phenomenon" and were present from around the third century BC until the end of the first century AD (ibid.1). Triple projections are a decorative feature of many later terrets (ibid.282). Somerset is known to have a high concentration of terrets with winged projections (ibid.154), and terrets with parallel wings are mostly limited to south-west England and the West Midlands (ibid.163). Lewis' (ibid.121) estimated chronology of terret forms suggests that parallel wings are limited to the first century BC. Leins (2015) illustrates a similar but more ornate enamelled terret ring from Polden Hill in Somerset on page 34, which is dated from c.AD 40-60.

Terret rings were used widely in Iron Age and Roman Britain to harness pairs of horses for pulling carts and chariots. They were generally produced in sets of five, with four smaller terrets on the yoke and one larger ring like this one through which the reins would be gathered. Stead (2003) illustrates the full set of five terret rings from Polden Hill in Somerset on p.80, pl.87, and the largest ring is very similar to this terret ring with the same profile, wings and 'saddle-shaped' bar which occupied a central position on the line of the cart pole and helped to secure the strapping attaching the yoke to the pole (ibid pp.81-82).