Record ID: WMID-435AA7
Object type: BRIDLE BIT
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: Warwickshire
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
A copper-alloy fragment from an early medieval Anglo-Scandinavian cheek piece, part of the bridle fittings for a horse. The fragment is likely to be a terminal from a double headed cheek piece, with engraved decoration depicting a stylised beast of some sort. Although fragmentary, it is likely that this of Williams' Type 1 cheek pieces (Williams 2007, pages 2-4). It is likely to date from the 11th century AD, exhbiting Viking influence. As well as being broken it suffers from some wear. It has a rough, green patina. It measures 31.7 mm long, 19.62 mm wide, 4.94 mm thick and weighs 11.…
Created on: Tuesday 12th April 2011
Last updated: Sunday 14th June 2020
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: LIN-F9F9E6
Object type: BRIDLE BIT
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: Lincolnshire
Workflow stage: Published
An incomplete cast copper-alloy strap fitting, probably a cheek-piece from a horse-harness. The fitting has a rectangular loop on a short arm. The loop has three moulded ridges on each corner. The arm is trapezoid in cross-section. On the surface of the arm just before it splits into a circular frame there is a moulded, worn animal head. A curved arm projects from the right hand side of the circular frame terminating with an animal head shown in profile. A similar arm presumably projected at the other side of the frame too, but this is now missing. The zoomorphic arm is rectangular in…
Created on: Friday 28th May 2010
Last updated: Tuesday 11th April 2017
Spatial data recorded. This findspot is known as 'Kirkby la Thorpe', grid reference and parish protected.

Record ID: SUR-2A96E2
Object type: BRIDLE BIT
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: Surrey
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
A terminal fragment from an Anglo-Scandinavian horse harness cheek piece belonging to Williams' Type 2. The fragment is very worn and no decoration is visible. The edge of the central hole which took the horse's bit is present.
Created on: Wednesday 11th August 2010
Last updated: Tuesday 24th May 2022
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: BH-F89D83
Object type: BRIDLE BIT
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: Hertfordshire
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
A copper-alloy fragment of a bridle cheekpiece or similar fitting, dating from the Early-Medieval to Medieval periods. The surviving piece is 'U-shaped', one end terminating in a probable zoomorphic head, the other bifurcating to form the remains of an openwork element. The zoomorphic head has a relief-moulded cheek, oval eye and scalloped crest. The snout is rounded and has an angled, sub-crescentic moulding. A 'Y-shaped' groove may de designed to represent bridle straps. The underside of the piece is flat. The object measures 42.9mm long, 31.8mm wide, up to 4.6mm thick (at the …
Created on: Friday 27th May 2011
Last updated: Friday 30th October 2020
Spatial data recorded. This findspot is known as 'Offley', grid reference and parish protected.

Record ID: SWYOR-91BDC7
Object type: BRIDLE BIT
Broad period: POST MEDIEVAL
County: Sheffield
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
A Copper alloy and iron curb bit probably dating from the 18th or 19th century. The bit is almost complete with the bar and both cheek pieces surviving. It is an example of a LIVERPOOL driving bit which is described at http://www.drivingessentials.com/Bit%20Overview.php as : "The most widely used of all driving bits. It can be made in a variety of mouthpieces with fixed or swivel cheeks. Fixed cheeks do not allow the cheeks to swivel and are designed to be used with a pair of horses. This avoids the pinching of the lips that can occur with the …
Created on: Wednesday 3rd August 2011
Last updated: Wednesday 3rd August 2011
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: PUBLIC-0F8FB6
Object type: BRIDLE BIT
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: Oxfordshire
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
Early Medieval copper alloy harness fitting probably of 11th century date The harness mount is fragmentary represented by one loop and the arm only (with a surviving length of 39.1mm and a weight of 15.6g). The loop is D-shaped (with an external length of 21.8mm, a width of 16.1mm and thickness of 6.2mm and an internal length of 14.9mm and width of 9.2mm). The interior of the loop is roughly cast and unfinished but has been worn smooth from the strap near one end of the curved section. The arm is of D-shaped section, with straight sides gradually diverging to a stepped moulding, …
Created on: Tuesday 9th August 2011
Last updated: Friday 15th May 2020
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: HAMP-7F48F3
Object type: BRIDLE BIT
Broad period: POST MEDIEVAL
County: Hampshire
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
A broken cast copper-alloy mouth-piece from a post-medieval horse's snaffle bit. The bar has an incomplete loop, worn at the break; it is broken before the second one at the other end. The loop has an oval cross-section and is 5.1mm thick. The bar is decoratively twisted and has corroded to an orange-brown colour with areas of overlying mid-green corrosion product. It is slightly curved in profile. The bar would have attached to another like it at one end, and to the ring-type cheek piece at the other. The ring then held the strap for the reins and another for the bridle. A snaff…
Created on: Friday 29th February 2008
Last updated: Thursday 24th February 2011
Spatial data recorded. This findspot is known as 'Amport CP', grid reference and parish protected.

Record ID: WILT-1E8370
Object type: BRIDLE BIT
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: Wiltshire
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
An incomplete copper-alloy 11th century Anglo-Scandinavian cheek piece from a bridle of Williams Type 1, one of an original pair (and possibly with WILT-333782 which was discovered in the same field in 2011) which would have held between them the jointed iron bit for the horse to clench its teeth on. It consists of part of the plate and one arm, and is exceedingly worn with loss of patina and iron corrosion from a rivet through the centre of the surviving plate fragment. It weighs 31.90g. It measures 69.73mm in surviving length and 50.50mm in surviving width at its widest point. The p…
Created on: Thursday 30th July 2009
Last updated: Monday 3rd April 2017
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: SUSS-2D5753
Object type: BRIDLE BIT
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: Kent
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
An incomplete copper-alloy 11th century Anglo-Scandinavian cheek piece from a bridle of Williams Type 1, one of an original pair which would have held between them the jointed iron bit for the horse to clench its teeth on. It consists of part of the plate and the arm. It is worn with a corroded surface and worn breaks. It weighs 63g. It measures 77.7mm in surviving length and 63.3mm in surviving width at its widest point. The remaining half of the plate is formed of one of a pair of symmetrical strip-like creatures of Late Viking inspiration. Its neck is curved round so it appears to …
Created on: Friday 31st July 2009
Last updated: Tuesday 21st March 2017
Spatial data recorded. This findspot is known as 'Snargate', grid reference and parish protected.

Record ID: CORN-446DB5
Object type: BRIDLE BIT
Broad period: MEDIEVAL
County: Cornwall
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
Cast copper alloy barley twist bar from a horse's snaffle bit. The bar has two incomplete loops, one at either end, at perpendicular angles to each other. One loop has been severed from its connection and sheared off so that the terminals are flat and sharp, and the other loop has worn once having been broken, so that its terminals are now pointed. The bar would have attached to another like it at one end, and to the ring-type cheek piece at the other. The ring then held the strap for the reins and another for the bridle. There are the remains of black paint on the bar, perhaps trying…
Created on: Thursday 28th December 2006
Last updated: Friday 8th January 2016
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: SOMDOR-657AB2
Object type: BRIDLE BIT
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: Dorset
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
A fragment of a cast copper alloy cheek piece of probable eleventh century AD date. Its function was to link one end of a horse's bit to the cheek strap of the bridle. The surviving portion measures 38.2mm by 16.3mm by 6mm and weighs 8.6g. It comprises a rectangular loop, the adjacent arm which has a forward projecting dome at the end opposite the loop, and the stubs of two further arms which project diagonally to each side from this point. The front of the cheekpiece has bevelled edges and the back is flat. Three sides of the loop are decorated with short angled parallel lines. Other…
Created on: Thursday 11th January 2007
Last updated: Monday 20th March 2017
Spatial data recorded. This findspot is known as 'Compton Abbas', grid reference and parish protected.

Record ID: KENT-421644
Object type: BRIDLE BIT
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: Kent
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
Early Medieval horse harness fitting cast in copper alloy. This 11th century cheek piece is sub-triangular in plan with a central, circular hole. The circular hole is worn on its inside edge closest to the straight section of the cheek piece; it is probably wear from a strap or other fitting that would have originally been fixed through this opening. There is a small amount of iron corrosion adhering to one edge of the hole. There is a break running from the top of hole to the apex of the triangle (which has now been glued by the finder), and a partial break below. There is a high lev…
Created on: Thursday 15th February 2007
Last updated: Tuesday 24th May 2022
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: SF-457AB1
Object type: BRIDLE BIT
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: Suffolk
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
An incomplete cast copper-alloy late early medieval bit link from a horse harness. Bit links were attached to the ends of the iron bits adjacent to the cheek piece, and to which were secured the reins. One end has the characteristic knobbed loop while the other is oval; the oval loops were attached to the bit and are often found worn through. There is usually a rounded boss on the arm joining the two loops. The oval loop of this example is incomplete due to an old break. The other lozenge shaped knobbed loop is complete, the arm is D-shaped in cross-section and has an oval boss just b…
Created on: Tuesday 27th February 2007
Last updated: Monday 3rd April 2017
Spatial data recorded. This findspot is known as 'Barrow', grid reference and parish protected.

Record ID: SF-1DB183
Object type: BRIDLE BIT
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: Norfolk
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
A complete copper alloy early medieval (Anglo-Scandinavian) bridle bit link from a horse's harness. The object consists of two loops linked by a strip of metal. The reverse face is flattened and the outer face rounded. One loop is lozenge-shaped with a circular hole through the centre and angular outer edge. The second loop is oval in shape. The central strip is c.15mm long and there is a small rounded moulding on its outer face behind the oval loop. The surface of the metal has largely corroded away and now has a pitted brownish colour. These fittings are 11th century in date and …
Created on: Wednesday 1st February 2017
Last updated: Thursday 13th July 2017
Spatial data recorded. This findspot is known as 'Bressingham', grid reference and parish protected.

Record ID: LIN-5DEAC3
Object type: BRIDLE BIT
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: Lincolnshire
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
Fragment of a copper alloy cheek piece from a horses' harness. The piece has an oval shank in cross-section with two square sectioned moulded collars. The far end of the shank is broken. The other end of the shank divides into two arms, now broken but presumably once coming together to form an oval loop. The two arms are rectangular in cross-section.
Created on: Friday 17th February 2006
Last updated: Monday 15th June 2020
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: CORN-04D4B2
Object type: BRIDLE BIT
Broad period: MEDIEVAL
County: Cornwall
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
Cast copper alloy terminal from a horse's cheek piece, circular in plan and clylindrical in profile, with one slightly more convex side, in keeping with Type E in Ward Perkins' typology (after London Museum, 1940, 80, Fig.19a) illustrated in Clark (2004), page 47, Fig.30, Type E, dated from the 14th to the 15th century. The terminal could also be from a dagger guard, like one illustrated in Williams (2001) "Finds from Surrey", Vol.88, p.328, Fig.13, No.121, dated to the 16th century. The terminal has been analysed, under a scanning electron microscope, by staff at the Camborne School …
Created on: Monday 26th June 2006
Last updated: Friday 21st July 2017
Spatial data recorded. This findspot is known as 'Padstow', grid reference and parish protected.

Record ID: SF-B990B5
Object type: BRIDLE BIT
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: Suffolk
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
A copper-alloy late Anglo-Saxon cheekpiece fragment. D Williams states that "A single cheek piece comprises a flat plate with a centrally-placed projecting arm for attachment to the leather harness strap; the arm usually terminates in a knobbed loop. Cheek pieces were provided in pairs and each is pierced with a round hole through which the ends of the jointed iron bit (the bar which the horse clenches in its teeth) projected. Sometimes this hole has been worn through friction against the bit, causing the cheek piece to be discarded." All that survives of this example is a fragment of…
Created on: Monday 17th July 2006
Last updated: Thursday 10th November 2016
Spatial data recorded. This findspot is known as 'Little Finborough', grid reference and parish protected.

Record ID: SUSS-9A83B4
Object type: BRIDLE BIT
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: East Sussex
Workflow stage: Published
An elaborate cast copper alloy Anglo-Scandinavian cheek piece fragment, dating to the 11th century. The decoration on the fitting has been inspired by the characteristic 11th century style of engraving known as Ringerike-style. The design could represent a beast, with its nose at the apex as drawn. This design is very abstract and stylised. The object has been cast from one solid piece of copper alloy which has been decoratively moulded, again in an abstract and stylised pattern. The artefact comprises a plate of cooper alloy which is an irregular shape, roughly twice as long as it is…
Created on: Wednesday 22nd December 2004
Last updated: Monday 3rd April 2017
Spatial data recorded. This findspot is known as 'Nr. Berwick', grid reference and parish protected.

Record ID: NARC-C25CB3
Object type: BRIDLE BIT
Broad period: MEDIEVAL
County: Northamptonshire
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
A cast copper-alloy fragment, probably a knobbed terminal from a cheek-piece of a medieval horse's snaffle bit. An example illustrated in Clark (ed. 1995, 50; fig. 36) shows a Ward Perkins' type C cheek-piece with developed terminals, including knobs, similar to the present example. The fragment consists of the terminal and the broken end of the cylindrical arm. The arm survives over a length of up to 14.4mm. It has a diameter of 11.0mm and is slightly bent with regard to the terminal. The terminal itself is hemispherical in shape. It is 10.7mm in length and 15.4mm in diameter at the …
Created on: Monday 5th September 2005
Last updated: Wednesday 10th June 2020
Spatial data recorded.

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Record ID: KENT4784
Object type: BRIDLE BIT
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: Kent
Workflow stage: Published
A copper alloy zoomorphic cheek piece from an Anglo-Scandinavian horse harness. Although of copper alloy, the metal has pinkish patination, covered by patches of green patination. The object is in the shape of an animal's (a dragon?) head, and is decorated with incised lines. A circular hole perforates the piece, and the broken half of an attachment loop is at on end. The piece varies in thickness, from less than 2mm at the animal's snout to over 8mm at the broken loop.
Created on: Tuesday 12th November 2002
Last updated: Monday 17th July 2017
Spatial data recorded.