Record ID: BM-5FCB75
Object type: SWORD
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: Lincolnshire
Workflow stage: Published
Anglo-Saxon hilt fittings: pommel, upper and lower hilt fittings, part of upper guard, part of lower guard Gold sheet, gold filigree wire, cabochon garnets, copper-alloy, lead Early seventh century The pommel is of ‘cocked hat’ form and is made of gold sheet, decorated with filigree wire, over a lead forma.   The two faces of the pommel are filled with zoomorphic interlace in triple strand interlace, made with one broad band of beaded wire flanked by borders of a very fine beaded wire.   Each face is filled with a balanced design of interlacing zoomor…
Created on: Wednesday 24th August 2022
Last updated: Thursday 1st June 2023
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: BM-D0330C
Object type: FINGER RING
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: Oxfordshire
Workflow stage: Published
Gold Anglo-Saxon finger ring, bezel w. 15 x 16mm; hoop w. 4mm; wt. 5.39g. Ring made in two parts from sheet gold: a plain broad band hoop with a longitudinal row of beaded filigree wire, ending in splayed lozenge-shaped terminals soldered behind the bezel. The bezel is a circular disc with a rim of finer beaded wire framing four collared settings of degraded bi-chrome glass beads. The beads appear to be spherical, one rotates slightly, and their gold collars are composite, each sheet collar carries a ring of beaded wire and an upper ring of plain wire.  The bezel is divided into …
Created on: Wednesday 17th August 2022
Last updated: Friday 2nd June 2023
No spatial data available.

Record ID: BM-512238
Object type: HOOKED TAG
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: Wiltshire
Workflow stage: Published
Silver Anglo-Saxon hooked tag, complete, l. 33mm, w. 14mm, wt. 1.95g.  This piece has a triangular plate with elegantly scalloped top and two internal holes near the corners for attachment. The field is plain but the long edges are decorated with borders of incised ladders.  There is a slight bulge above the tapering hook.  The back is plain.  This is probably a dress attachment which could have been used for veiling or gartering, probably the former because it is very light-weight. Heavier-duty hooked tags may also have been used to fasten purses.  
Created on: Thursday 11th August 2022
Last updated: Tuesday 26th September 2023
No spatial data available.

Record ID: BM-9A7DD8
Object type: SWORD
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: Suffolk
Workflow stage: Published
Crumpled gold foil pommel cap ornamented with C scrolls executed in beaded filigree wire.  The pommel cap is badly damaged with both ends crushed and distorted and the filigree ornament on one face missing.   The surviving filigree is well made filling the surviving panel with a balanced pattern of graded pairs of loops with spiralled ends enclosing a central motif of an inverted ‘C’ scroll lying back to back with a kidney shaped element executed with two beaded filigree wires.   The panel is enclosed by a border of filigree wire, of a heavier weigh…
Created on: Wednesday 15th June 2022
Last updated: Thursday 4th January 2024
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: BM-F1D4E7
Object type: PENDANT
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: Lincolnshire
Workflow stage: Published
Gold and cloisonné garnet insect pendant with a suspension loop in the form of a biconical spacer bead. The pendant consists of a flaring bifurcated backplate cut with a triangular head which wraps around the back of the suspension bead which is soldered to it. The back-plate supports a single gold strip, soldered flush to its edges, whose ends form a poor butt join beneath the suspension loop. This frames the cloisonné cell-work which is made with thicker strips of gold sheet and laid out in a complex design which can be read …
Created on: Tuesday 7th June 2022
Last updated: Friday 2nd June 2023
No spatial data available.

Record ID: BM-0A374D
Object type: RING
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: Norfolk
Workflow stage: Published
The ring is thicker on one side than the other and has a rounded, faceted section; diameter (external), 17.5 - 18.5 mm; diameter (internal), 9 - 10 mm. It is decorated round the girth with a row of punched dots, except on the thinner side where they are missing for about a quarter of the circumference, apparently because of heavy wear at this point. The upper and lower faces of the ring have been repeatedly nicked with the point of a knife in antiquity to test the metal, which has roughened the surface. Surface metal analysis conducted at the British Museum indicated an approximate si…
Created on: Tuesday 15th March 2022
Last updated: Wednesday 2nd November 2022
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: BM-0876E1
Object type: HOARD
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: North Yorkshire
Workflow stage: Published
A group of finds, including items of precious metal, found in association in a small, closely confined area and entirely separate from other finds from the “Ainsbrook” site (a fictitious name chosen by the finders), although the exact context is unrecorded. The object numbers in brackets below refer to the finds list drawn up by the conservation laboratory of the Yorkshire Archaeological Trust. A. PRECIOUS METAL FINDS Surface metal analyses conducted at the British Museum indicated the approximate precious metal contents noted for each object below. GOLD Gi…
Created on: Tuesday 15th March 2022
Last updated: Wednesday 25th May 2022
Spatial data recorded. This findspot is known as 'The Ainsbrook Hoard', grid reference and parish protected.

Record ID: BM-06E9C9
Object type: BUCKLE
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: Doncaster
Workflow stage: Published
Description:   1.   The toe and part of the frame of a silver-gilt triangular buckle or counter-plate.   The rounded toe still contains the large dome-headed rivet that originally held the front- and back-plates together on a leather belt.   The rivet is seated on a thin washer of sheet gold to which is soldered a beaded twisted wire collar.   The remains of the frame, channelled to hold either twisted wire or an inserted panel of stamped impressions, survive.  2.   Tongue plate and part of tongue, inlaid with cloisonné garnet cellwork.   …
Created on: Tuesday 15th March 2022
Last updated: Monday 3rd April 2023
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: BM-05DF90
Object type: DISC
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: Worcestershire
Workflow stage: Published
Description: Silver-gilt roundel decorated with five ‘chip carved’ spirals and a single triquetra knot. Four of the spirals are linked as pairs sharing a common stem above a triquetra knot, the fifth balances the design. The roundel is light with a piercing at the centre, probably for the seating of a stud. Three other, smaller, drilled holes, which are secondary, pierce the disc towards the border, while a fourth, and probably tertiary, piercing is placed in the interior. The back is plain.
Created on: Tuesday 15th March 2022
Last updated: Wednesday 25th May 2022
Spatial data recorded. This findspot is known as 'Childswickham', grid reference and parish protected.

Record ID: BM-8D43E1
Object type: PIN
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: Norfolk
Workflow stage: Published
Large silver gilt ball-headed pin (approx. diameter 20mm), decorated with four S-shaped double spirals set between four prominent bosses, with a further boss on the top of the pin. Each boss or setting has around it spiral filigree wire between further strands of spiral wire with spiral running in the other direction. Three of the four bosses around the side retain a flat cut disc of ?garnet or red glass in their setting. The boss on the top of the pin retains a damaged clear glass pellet or rock crystal cabochon.  The short collar of the pin springs from within a small boss compr…
Created on: Wednesday 9th March 2022
Last updated: Friday 16th June 2023
No spatial data available.

Record ID: BM-8CCEC6
Object type: PIN
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: Gloucestershire
Workflow stage: Published
The pin shaft is broken off, probably where it was originally bent. The shaft is connected to the head by a simple ring collar. The head of the pin is a plain faceted cube head.
Created on: Wednesday 9th March 2022
Last updated: Wednesday 25th May 2022
Spatial data recorded. This findspot is known as 'Deerhurst', grid reference and parish protected.

Record ID: BM-8C8705
Object type: BEAD
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: North Yorkshire
Workflow stage: Published
Description: Gold ‘bead’ or pendant loop fragment decorated with filigree wire. The fragment shows no sign of wear and no sign of solder and may be one end of a biconical bead or pendant. It is made of sheet gold and decorated with seven horizontal panels separated by two strands of wire, z- and s- twisted to form a tight herringbone pattern. Each panel is filled with beaded filigree wire scrolls panels soldered to the gold sheet so that they just touch each other. The surviving end is edged with a collar of plain wire.
Created on: Wednesday 9th March 2022
Last updated: Wednesday 25th May 2022
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: BM-8BD5F0
Object type: BRACTEATE
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: Norfolk
Workflow stage: Published
Gold bracteate disc pendant of type ‘B’ with repoussé decoration of a sword-wielding male figure facing right and engaged in combat with a beak-headed quadruped, with his left hand raised against (grasping, or being bitten by?) its jaws; diameter, 44 mm approx. His raised right hand clasps a sword behind his head and his hair is indicated by vertical ribbing, giving the impression of a helmet. There are four runes above his left hand, the central two of which are damaged making reading problematic. There is a further beak-headed quadruped behind and below the warrior…
Created on: Wednesday 9th March 2022
Last updated: Tuesday 1st November 2022
Spatial data recorded. This findspot is known as 'Near Holt', grid reference and parish protected.

Record ID: BM-898068
Object type: INGOT
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: East Riding of Yorkshire
Workflow stage: Published
Surface metal analysis conducted at the British Museum indicated an approximate silver content for the ingot of 99%; it weighs 23.11 grams. The fragment has been cut, possibly with a chisel, from one end of a cigar-shaped ingot of rounded trapezoidal section; length, 25 mm; width, 16.3 mm. It would have been cast in a simple, open-topped mould cut in stone or drawn in the earth, and there is a slight lip along one edge where the metal has overflowed the mould. There are three parallel, transverse incisions in the top next to the cut and what appear to be three worn nicks, or tes…
Created on: Wednesday 9th March 2022
Last updated: Wednesday 25th May 2022
Spatial data recorded. This findspot is known as 'Barmby Moor', grid reference and parish protected.

Record ID: BM-893E52
Object type: INGOT
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: Norfolk
Workflow stage: Published
Fragment of a gold ingot, one end rounded and thick, the other broken away jaggedly and transversely. The two broad surfaces are flat and smooth except adjacent to the break where a rounded hammer mark of the full width is visible on both. The edge, convex and less smooth, contains cracks and fissures, some of which may be the result of post-depositional damage.
Created on: Wednesday 9th March 2022
Last updated: Wednesday 2nd November 2022
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: BM-885BD4
Object type: HOOKED TAG
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: Dorset
Workflow stage: Published
The sub-triangular plate has three pierced attachment lugs at the broad end (producing a scalloped-effect) and it tapers to a form a hook, rounded in cross section, and broken off at the end. As customary in the decoration of such pieces, the main field is subdivided, here in three portions by a pair of plain bands, departing form the central piercing on a dotted ‘stem. However, the main decoration on the field is not interrupted by these, and it consists of an elegant vegetation motif. From what might be interpreted as a vase at the narrowest end of the field depart a central bu…
Created on: Wednesday 9th March 2022
Last updated: Wednesday 25th May 2022
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: BM-87F099
Object type: HOOKED TAG
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: Cambridgeshire
Workflow stage: Published
The plate of the tag is an elongated triangle, with two perforations at the wider end for attachment, whose areas are circumscribed by an incised line. A continuous incised line also runs around the perimeter of the field: at the side of the tag the spaces have been filled with a simple decoration of incised lines, forming a ladder-like pattern, whilst the area at the top is left plain. From the narrow end of the tag, reinforced by an animal mask, departs the long tapering hook.
Created on: Wednesday 9th March 2022
Last updated: Wednesday 25th May 2022
Spatial data recorded. This findspot is known as 'West Wratting', grid reference and parish protected.

Record ID: BM-7843E1
Object type: HOOKED TAG
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: Norfolk
Workflow stage: Published
A hooked-tag with a round plate and two attachment holes. On the front of the plate an engraved line forms an incomplete circle 1mm from the edge, there being a 2mm wide gap below the springing of the hook.
Created on: Tuesday 8th March 2022
Last updated: Wednesday 2nd November 2022
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: BM-773C95
Object type: RING
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: Norfolk
Workflow stage: Published
A finger-ring or ear-ring, the ring is penannular in shape, with an almost circular section tapering from 6mm to less than 1mm in diameter. This piece is very similar in size and form to a gold piece found near the Fishergate site in York and identified as an ear-ring (Rogers 1993, no. 1373 and 1495, fig. 670(b), no. 5789), and a copper-alloy example from Thetford (Rogerson and Dallas 1984, p. 69, fig. 110 no. 21). This example appears too inflexible to have functioned as an ear-ring. There is a larger silver example from Ireland, without a findspot (diameter about 3–4cm),…
Created on: Tuesday 8th March 2022
Last updated: Tuesday 1st November 2022
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: BM-7411CE
Object type: BRACELET
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: North Yorkshire
Workflow stage: Published
Surface metal analysis conducted at the British Museum indicated an approximate silver content for the bracelet of approximately 72%; it weighs 11.76 grams. The find constitutes about one third of a broken bracelet of penannular type and consists of a plain, curved rod tapering from the break to a blunt end; length, 49 mm across; cross-section, 7 mm max. This type of bracelet is a Viking form which can be broadly dated to the 10th – 11th centuries by comparison, for example, with those found in the hoard from Skaill, Orkney, deposited around AD 950 (J. Graham-Campbell, 1980, Vi…
Created on: Tuesday 8th March 2022
Last updated: Wednesday 25th May 2022
Spatial data recorded. This findspot is known as 'Boroughbridge', grid reference and parish protected.