BROOCH

An incomplete large Roman copper alloy hinged developed T-shaped brooch, probably dating to c. 75 - 150. The brooch comprises of the upper bow, the majority of the wing casing and a broken head loop, the lower bow, catchplate and pin are all missing.

At the head of the brooch the cylindrical wings survive almost intact except for the tip of the left wing where white cement is visible. There is a centrally positioned slot in the casing to hold a separate copper alloy hinged pin but only a small bit of this survives, mainly the triangular head. Expanding from the head of the brooch is an integral plate which terminates in a now-incomplete circular head-loop.

The bow is flat in section, with a flat back and front and relatively thin it rises from the head at about 60 degrees in a straight line before bending in a distinct carination to fun almost flat. This flatter section has a central pattern of double lines running vertically from the break of curve to an old break. The reverse is undecorated.

The bow measures 25.95mm in length, including the broken loop, 20.30mm in width at wings, 2.21mm in thickness and weighs 5.01g.

Although the lack of enamelled decoration is unusual for the group, this brooch appears to be an example of a "developed" T-shaped brooch, part of a distinct sub-class identified by Bayley and Butcher (2005: 167-168) as being of unusually large size and featuring relatively simplistic decoration (see nos. 138-139 in the above source). The type is described as having a distribution focused on the South West, with the limited dating evidence suggesting a second century date range (ibid). Other possible parallels are illustrated by Mackreth (2011: plate 64) nos. 2624 & 2615, the later example dated to before AD 120, although his group 15.b. as whole has a date range covering the entire Roman period.