Record ID: NARC-49D06E
Object type: AESTEL
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: Northamptonshire
Workflow stage: Published
Description: A gold ‘Aestel’ of Early Medieval date (AD 850-900). Ascribed culture: Anglo-Saxon. The object is composed of a globular/hemispherical body with domed upper surface and flat lower face. On the side of the dome is a projecting cylindrical socket. Both parts of the object are hollow. The upper surface is formed from an embossed sheet of gold, with the lower face consisting of a second, flat, sheet of gold, the two parts soldered together The domed surface and cylinder are extensively decorated with beaded filigree wire and granulated gold pellets. A b…
Created on: Tuesday 23rd August 2022
Last updated: Monday 26th September 2022
Spatial data recorded. This findspot is known as 'Near Gretton', grid reference and parish protected.

Record ID: LEIC-57BE78
Object type: AESTEL
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: Leicestershire
Workflow stage: Published
Early medieval gold terminal mount in the form of an animal's head. The mount is hollow (now filled with mud), and has been constructed from a sheet of gold that has been shaped into a three-dimensional horse-like head, beneath which is a plain gold sheet back-plate probably attached by soldering. A single strand of beaded wire runs around the base of the artefact, masking the join between the head and the back-plate. Overall the mount is sub-rectangular in form and cross-section. The head is bulbous in the centre and tapers towards the blunt snout at one end, and the open socket at t…
Created on: Wednesday 23rd November 2016
Last updated: Tuesday 23rd April 2019
Spatial data recorded. This findspot is known as 'Melton', grid reference and parish protected.

Record ID: NMS-02D9D8
Object type: AESTEL
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: Norfolk
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
A complete early medieval gold terminal mount traditionally referred to as an 'aestel' (see Discussion). The mount is in the form of an animal's head, constructed from a sub-rectangular sheet of gold to which has been soldered a separate gold sheet back-plate, leaving a hollow void inside. At one end is a short, tubular socket which has been pierced through with a circular rivet-hole (now empty), torn open on the base-plate. The socket expands in width to form the roughly diamond-shaped animal head with a snubbed snout. It is slightly distorted by crush damage. The upper surface …
Created on: Wednesday 7th September 2016
Last updated: Monday 27th April 2020
Spatial data recorded. This findspot is known as 'South Norfolk', grid reference and parish protected.

Record ID: SF-3ABEB9
Object type: AESTEL
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: Suffolk
Workflow stage: Published
A complete gold object comprising a hollow dome with a projecting socket and separately-soldered back-plate. The dome is decorated all over its upper surface with filigree and granulation. In the centre is a raised circular setting comprising a strip of gold surrounded by a beaded wire collar, and set with a small blue glass cabochon. Around this is a lozenge-shaped field delimited by a single strand of gold beaded wire, which overall gives a cruciform effect. The outer terminal of each cross arm is marked with a cluster of pellets. The lozengiform field is filled with granulation, or…
Created on: Monday 12th January 2015
Last updated: Monday 22nd May 2023
Spatial data recorded. This findspot is known as 'Drinkstone', grid reference and parish protected.

Record ID: SWYOR-69C958
Object type: AESTEL
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: North Yorkshire
Workflow stage: Published
Description: Object made from gold and decorated with filigree. It appears to have originally been globular, or perhaps hemispherical with one face rounded and the rear face flat, but it has now been squashed so that the undecorated rear half has been pushed up into the hollow of the decorated face. One side of the object has been extended to form a long narrow point, probably originally a socket. The filigree decoration consists of both beaded and plain wires. A beaded wire 0.75mm in diameter has been soldered along the join between the top and bottom halves. A plain unbeaded wire…
Created on: Wednesday 18th January 2012
Last updated: Tuesday 11th March 2014
Spatial data recorded. This findspot is known as 'York', grid reference and parish protected.

Record ID: WAW-92EB56
Object type: AESTEL
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: Warwickshire
Workflow stage: Published
Date: 9th century. Description: Polyhedral socketed gold terminal ornamented with a pattern of deeply cut roundels seperated by lozenge-shaped fields, containing respectively triangles and squares inlaid with niello. Each roundel additionally contains three plain pellets. The short socket extends from a narrow collar below the head and ends in another. It is pierced by a rivet. The precise function of this object is not clear. Its small size, narrow socket and a lack of smooth flattened base (and thus its unsuitability for sliding across a page) set it apart from the four so called…
Created on: Wednesday 19th December 2007
Last updated: Wednesday 22nd February 2017
Spatial data recorded. This findspot is known as 'Bidford-on-Avon area', grid reference and parish protected.

Record ID: SWYOR-C75C64
Object type: AESTEL
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: Rotherham
Workflow stage: Published
The find is a gold hollow-cast zoomorphic finial, most probably to be fixed as a terminal to a æstel, or pointer. The head tapers to become a neck, which would have acted as a rimmed socket for a slender rod, secured to the terminal with a rivet through the two holes provided on the neck. The base of the object is flat. The dimensions are: length: 31mm; width: 13mm; thickness: 7mm; weight: 4.12g. The object has been squashed, and there is some damage visible below the left nostril and on the neck. The terminal is in the shape of the head of an animal, with applied ccomma-shaped ea…
Created on: Friday 10th August 2007
Last updated: Wednesday 15th June 2016
Spatial data recorded. This findspot is known as 'Aughton', grid reference and parish protected.