SF3630: WEIGHT
Conical lead weight with central perforation.
Stable URI: https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/18165

SF5707: STYLUS
Probable stylus which has been identified as late 12th or early 13th century by John Cherry at the British Museum. The shaft is rectangular in section, 3 x 2 mm at the rounded tip, and flares to a flattened eraser which is 10 mm in width at the slightly curved top. The eraser end is ?stamped with a lion passant guardant in a circle; there are some sketchy texturing marks on the body and the hindquarter, and the curving tail has a decorative blob halfway along it. Below the circle are some back-to-back curving tendrils, each ending in what is probably an ivy-like leaf. The stamp used appears to be a little too big for the object, so that details at the edges are missing. There is a final indecipherable motif at the bottom. The object has a thick matt brown patina, which has worn away in a few places at the junction of eraser and shaft to a bright gold colour. These are unusual colours and may result from much handling and/or poor cleaning. The uncertainty of identifying this object as a stylus lies in the tip; rounded, not sharp, it would not have been possible to create a fine line in the wax with it. Perhaps the tip has been modified. Although Biddle and Brown in the Winchester volume comment that 12th-century styli have T-shaped erasers, they illustrate one mid 12th- to 13th-century example with a flaring triangular shape (no. 2283).
Stable URI: https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/20425

SF6371: UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT
Piece of gilded copper-alloy strip, 11 mm wide, with engraved decoration on one face. Although the strip is incomplete, the decoration appears to consist of a long rectangular panel with one end missing, outlined with a single-line border and containing an engraved human figure with its head missing. It seems to be turned slightly to the left (as you look at it), with a long draped skirt, an arm bent at the elbow and ending in a hand, and then some lines of unclear significance. The area where the head would be is missing and the whole thing is slightly bent. There is no decoration or gilding on the reverse. Surviving length, in bent condition, 40 mm. The type of figure depicted is similar to that on late 14th- and 15th-century "iconographic" rings and end-caps from knives. What this one, which is rather larger, is from is unknown.
Stable URI: https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/21123

SF6553: PIN
Silver pin head and top of composite shaft. The pin head is a near-cube (measuring 6.5 x 7.5 x 7 mm thick) with the corners cut off; the lozengiform faces of the sides have relief decoration of a double lozengiform groove, a quatrefoil, a fleur-de-lis, and a cross over a lozenge. The top face has a double lozengiform groove. The triangular faces each have a triangular groove; one of the upper triangular faces appears to be inlaid with niello. The shaft begins with a collar around the top; below this, the shaft is 3 mm thick. It then flares very slightly to 4 mm in diameter at the bottom, which is decorated with two (not particularly well-made) grooves around it. The base of the shaft is hollowed out to a cone of about 5 mm depth, and part of the shaft has broken away around this hollow. There is no indication of what material the rest of the shaft may have been made from. The shape of the head, the style of decoration, the inlay and the presence of a collar all point to a middle Anglo-Saxon date, but there is no parallel to this kind of composite shaft construction. This item was submitted to the British Museum under the Treasure Act 1996, and James Robinson identified it as a high-medieval 13th-century pin head. Since then a similarly decorated example with one-piece construction has been found in Suffolk: SF-5BE675. In 2010 a further composite example was found: 2010T308 (CAM-D49EC6).

SF6697: VESSEL
Roman pottery. One body sherd of black-surfaced ware, some grog and some sand temper, first century AD. One body sherd from a large grog-tempered storage vessel, first century AD. One base and one body sherd, both small, of grey ware which cannot be dated more closely than to the Roman period. The first-century sherds both contain grog - crushed pottery mixed with the wet clay - which is characteristic of late Iron Age/early Roman pottery.

SF7017: STIRRUP
Stirrup terminal made from cast copper alloy. At the top it is a semi-cylindrical tube, originally measuring c. 10 mm wide by 6 mm deep but now with one corner broken off. There is a groove around the open top of the tube. At the bottom it angles out to become rectangular in cross-section, just above a closed end which would have held the corner of the stirrup; no iron from the stirrup, however, survives. Beyond the closed end is a flat trefoil terminal consisting of a large central foil with rounded end, and two smaller side foils which are both slightly bent up in the manner of a fleur-de-lis. The trefoil has deeply engraved, slightly irregular decoration which has been made by rocking an engraving tool very slightly back and forth. The central foil has a pointed oval border, and the two side foils each have a single curving line. The complete terminal is 31 mm long, with the tube forming 21 mm of this. The trefoil is 19 mm wide and the maximum thickness is 8 mm.

NMS-3A996D: DRESS FASTENER (DRESS)
Description: Gold hook element from a dress fastener, of composite construction, consisting of a hook (now incomplete) and an applied plate made from several elements. The applied plate is built up on a backplate made from a piece of circular sheet gold about 7mm in diameter. This has a vertical gold sheet collar soldered around the edge, which may originally have held a setting of glass, gemstone, etc. Around the collar is a separate outer frame of circular-section gold wire about 1.5mm in diameter, which has fine transverse grooves all the way round its surface. A butt joint is visible under magnification. This frame is decorated with six trefoils, each a separate element, which are held onto the frame by their stems. The stems have an irregular square cross-section (perhaps 0.5mm square) and are wrapped around the thicker wire frame in a wide spiral, giving the impression that all six elements are part of a single plant, like a trail of ivy. The stems are also soldered to the backplate and perhaps the collar, fixing the whole frame in place. The hook-attachment is soldered to the reverse of the backplate. It consists of a piece of gold wire, circular in cross-section (0.4mm in diameter) which runs across the backplate in two closely set parallel lengths. One end turns up as it meets the frame, and is then broken across both wires; this was originally the hook end. The other end has one wire broken as it meets the frame, but the other turns outwards to form a loop which projects out beyond the plate. Originally there would have been two loops, used to sew the object to the clothing. Dimensions: Surviving length including loop, 11.7mm. Width perpendicular to this, 11.3mm. Thickness including hook-attachment, 2.1mm. Maximum thickness of plate only (at the frame), 1.8mm. Weight 0.7g. Discussion: This object is of very complex manufacture yet the detail is extremely small, almost to the point of invisibility. There is no very close parallel on the PAS database, but other hook-and-eye items made in the same way do form a coherent group which includes the silver hook-pieces NMS-EDAEB2 (2016T177), SF-BBAB39 (2015T710) and LVPL-859AC5 (2014T378) and the copper-alloy hook-piece NLM-0ECC97. They fit into Read's early post-medieval Class B, Type 2 (circular plate) (Read 2008, 158-161).. Some of the design elements can be seen in other object types, with pendants DENO-C2DE6B (2019T183) and DENO-65C775 (2013T466) each having a setting within a separate decorated wire frame. Date: Read (2008, 158) points out that where decorated, his early post-medieval Class B items are all 16th-century in style, and this is true for the PAS parallels cited above. The decorative style of this item, however, is closer to the pendants with settings within wire frames, and these have date-ranges including the 15th century, based on parallels from the Fishpool hoard (deposited in 1464). As hooked dress-fasteners do not appear to come into use until the 16th century, a date of c. 1500-1550 is therefore likely.

NMS-51C906: HARNESS PENDANT
Very worn medieval copper-alloy horse-harness pendant with incomplete loop. It is shield-shaped, with a straight top and sides curving to a point; the corners are now all worn and rounded. The shield (without loop) now measures 29mm long by 26mm wide. The loop is angled slightly forwards, flat on the reverse, and is pierced from side to side with a circular hole; it is now broken through this hole. No trace of any decoration survives on the shield, which is now only 1.5mm thick at most. The surviving total length is 35.5mm and the maximum width, at the broken loop, is 5mm. It weighs 5.58g.

NMS-51A14D: PURSE
Fragment of late medieval or early post-medieval copper-alloy purse frame, now very worn. It is L-shaped in cross-section, with one arm of the L being D-shaped in cross-section and thicker and wider, and the other slimmer and trapezoidal in cross-section, tapering away from the junction with the other arm. The fragment is broken across a circular hole at either end; both holes are in the thinner, narrower part of the frame. The convex outer face of the chunkier arm is decorated with very worn engraving which would originally probably have been filled with niello; the design is of repeating double-strand saltires. Two saltires survive complete, with part of a third. There is a slight curve along the fragment's length, which is approximately 40mm. The wider D-shaped half of the L-shaped cross-section is 6mm wide, and the depth of the narrower half measured with the thickness of the D-shaped half makes the frame 7mm thick. It weighs 6.22g. Compare SWYOR-D0547D, which has similar decoration; and SUR-5CD912, which is also shown in Williams 2018, fig 3.

NMS-2C2D8A: BUCKLE
Gilded copper-alloy buckle plate of medieval date. It is rectangular and small, just 15mm wide. It is broken at two hinge loops (worn breaks) and the surviving length is 20mm. It weighs 1.2g. There is a rivet hole at each corner, all now empty. Gilding survives around the rivet holes, suggesting that the surface here was once protected by large rivet heads. There is also gilding on the more complete stub of hinge loop. A groove divides the hinge loops from the rest of the plate, but there is no other engraved decoration that survives. The reverse is undecorated. It is likely to be broadly 13th century in date.

NMS-1449C2: BROOCH
Incomplete Colchester derivative hinged brooch with enamelled decoration, missing its foot and parts of the head. The bow is rectangular when viewed from the front, and decorated with a pattern of criss-cross ribs which divide it up into two lozenges and eight triangular fields, all originally filled with enamel. The central column of two lozenges with a triangle above and below retain some pale enamel, and the triangles to either side retain some green or blue enamel. At the base of this panel there are three curved ridges protruding at right angles to the rest of the bow, the central one higher than the other two (these could also be described as a knop consisting of cross-mouldings only). The reverse is markedly hollow behind these mouldings. Below this the brooch is broken. The head consists of a tube on the reverse of the bow, and currently no wider than the top of the bow. The tube is open at the reverse; it was originally divided into two with a slot in the centre for the pin, but one half is now missing. Above this is a rounded projection, flat on the reverse and about 5mm long; it is not immediately clear if this is broken or complete, but comparison with parallels (below) suggests that it is the base from a headloop. Surviving length 29mm, maximum surviving width 12mm, weight 4.95g. Parallels such as BERK-BC47EE and particularly NMS-81C556 show that this is a fragment of a bow brooch of Colchester derivative type, often also called T-shaped. It is similar to Mackreth 2011, pl. 68, no. 2143, which is allocated to Mackreth's type 1.b2. They date to the late 1st or 2nd century.

NMS-51E974: UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT
Chunky cast copper-alloy object of unknown date and function. It is largely rectangular, 35mm long and 24mm wide at the best-preserved short end. One long edge is 9mm thick, neatly right-angled and appears original. One face curves slightly from this long edge to the other, and the other curves much more strongly so that the whole object tapers in side view to a thin edge along the other long side. This may also be an original edge, or may be broken but worn; one corner is certainly damaged but very worn. Across the centre of the object, between the long edges, runs a 9mm wide band which emerges from the thicker long edge to maintain the thickness as the rest of the object tapers. In side view it then turns a right angle to merge with the thinner long edge; the object is 13mm wide here. The two short sides are both original, one neatly right-angled and the other slightly faceted along a central longitudinal angle. The entire object has scuffs and scratches. It weighs 49.21g.

NMS-65AB83: BROOCH
Description: Tiny partly gilded silver insect brooch of Roman date. The brooch is flat and sub-triangular, and represents an insect (perhaps a fly or cicada) seen from above. The apex is shaped into a three-dimensional head, globular with a slightly raised large circular eye to either side. The triangular space between the eyes is gilded but the eyes are apparently not. Behind the head is a ridged collar, and then the wings and body form the rest of the triangle. Each wing is flat and triangular, the apex towards the head; the wings are gilded and covered with rows of dots which follow the lines of the edges of each wing. In between is a triangular ungilded undecorated area, apex away from the head, which represents the body. On the flat reverse are two lumps of green copper corrosion, one behind the head and one behind the apex of the body. These are the remains of the pin fixings; that behind the head is more rounded and is probably a catchplate, that behind the end of the body is thinner and may be a pin lug. Both are likely to be cast in one with the rest of the brooch, but now obscured by corrosion from a copper-alloy pin. Dimensions: 13.5mm long, 14mm wide, 1.67g. Date: Roman, late 2nd or early 3rd century. Discussion: The outstretched but swept-back wings probably indicate that this brooch should be seen as depicting a cicada. There are other insect brooches recorded on the PAS database; the closest parallels are probably NMS-07DCB4 (from Ashill) and IOW-ADDE32. Another example is known from Pulham St Mary, Norfolk (Marsden 2014, fig. 7, no.57), and Hattatt no. 1638 is also a close parallel. On all these brooches, as on this example, the catchplate is behind the head.

NMS-8ED2C6: HOOKED TAG
Copper-alloy hooked tag of early post-medieval date. The plate is circular, 14.2mm in diameter and slightly convex. It has relief decoration of a rose, made up of a central boss in the shape of a flower, and two concentric rings of small relief C-shapes representing five double petals in each ring; all is within a finely beaded border. The loop above is trapezoidal; the hook below is now straightened and has lost its tip (worn break). Both loop and hook are trapezoidal in cross-section. Total length 33.7mm, width of loop 13.1mm, thickness of plate 3.1mm, weight 2.5g. Similar to, but better made than, Read 2008 no. 342. A better parallel on the PAS database is SF-225764.

NMS-8F0426: BUCKLE
Incomplete medieval copper-alloy buckle frame with ornate outside edge. The oval frame is small, thin and flimsy, and missing most of its offset bar (fresh breaks). The outside edge is extended into a flattish rectangular area, convex on the upper face and decorated with transverse ribbing consisting of seven grooves and eight ridges. It measures 19.8mm in surviving width and 16.8mm in length, and the outside edge is 5.5mm wide and 2.7mm thick. It weighs 1.7g. It is fairly close to an example found in a context of 1270-1350 in London (Egan and Pritchard 1991, no. 294) and to WILT-834636.

NMS-8F6178: BUCKLE
One loop from a tiny little late medieval or early post-medieval copper-alloy double-loop buckle, with constriction for the pin and a separate sheet roller. The second loop survives only as short stubs but the copper-alloy pin is still in place on the bar, between expanded stops that prevent the sideways movement of the pin. The pin is 11mm long, D-shaped in cross-section and neatly but simply made with an unclosed loop. The surviving loop is rectangular at the outside edge, but curves in to a shorter bar. The outside edge is 16.6mm wide and accommodates a sheet roller 8.6mm long, now corroded firmly in place. Surviving length 12.7mm, thickness at roller 3.4mm, weight 1.3g. Double-loop buckles with sheet rollers and constrictions to hold the pin in place are found in both medieval and post-medieval contexts (e.g. Egan and Pritchard 1991, no. 467; Margeson 1993, no. 218, but neither of these have frame shapes close to the current example). Compare a good parallel on the PAS database at NLM-4BA7A2, and a slightly more distant one at IOW-2E3CF6.

NMS-8F767D: BUCKLE
Copper-alloy double-loop buckle frame of late medieval or early post-medieval date. Both loops are oval. The pin is missing but there is iron staining on the bar, suggesting that the pin was of iron. The buckle is 22mm long, 17mm wide, 2.2mm thick at most and weighs 1.8g. Similar to SUR-7A0783.

NMS-91735C: BOOK FITTING
Small book clasp of Howsam type A.8.1. It is made from a single piece of undecorated copper-alloy sheet folded in half. The open end is 13.6mm wide, and it then tapers to 12.4mm wide before the corners at the fold are trimmed to form a rectangular projection. This has a wide gap at the fold taking the thickness to 4mm and providing the side-to-side perforation common to type A book clasps. The attachment end is secured by a single rather clumsy copper-alloy rivet, and between this and the fold is a central circular perforation 2.8mm in diameter. The total length is 21.3mm and it weighs 1.8g. This is a small example, similar in size to SUR-FCC344 and NMS-25B550. Book clasps are difficult to date and this type may have been in use from the 12th to 14th centuries if not longer.

NMS-91D1FD: STRAP END
Unidentified form of strap-fitting, perhaps a strap-end or possibly a buckle plate. It is rectangular, made from an undecorated piece of copper-alloy sheet folded in half, with a wide gap at the fold taking the maximum width to 4.2mm. It is 21mm long and 8.8mm wide, and the open end has a relatively neat copper-alloy rivet which travels through both sheets and then ends in a separate sub-square rove. In the centre of the object is a second copper-alloy rivet, less neat and with no rove. At the folded end there is some iron corrosion which may come from a third rivet, or which may come from a bar threaded through the gap at the fold. It is possible that this is a buckle plate with an iron frame and hole for an iron pin, but if so it is very small; it weighs just 1.5g. The style of rivet with rove points to a date in the 14th century.

NMS-9244DE: STRAP FITTING
Fragment of post-medieval copper-alloy sword-belt fitting, a relief-decorated mount with suspension loop. The mount is flat and sub-rectangular, with the complete end shaped into a double incurve and the object then tapering and flaring to a wide rounded area after which it is broken (unworn break). On one side, the narrowest part accommodates a rounded lug which is pierced by a circular suspension hole 6.5mm in diameter. This lug flares in thickness away from the plate to a maximum of 3.3mm. It is decorated with a narrow reserved border around a slightly sunken central panel filled with relief plant ornament. This consists of a series of V-shaped foliage motifs, all springing from towards the broken end and with sprays of leaves towards the complete end. There is iron staining from a rivet hole in the centre of the complete end, and from a second which is now incomplete, across the break. Surviving length 25.3mm, width including loop 27mm, thickness of plate 1.3mm, weight 4.8g. Parallels including LANCUM-957D55 show that about half of the mount survives. PUBLIC-6C15E2 and HESH-106570 show the kind of fittings that would have hooked into the loop.

NMS-932C79: BULLA
Lead papal bulla, now worn, damaged and distorted. It is circular, c. 38mm in diameter, and 5.2mm thick. It weighs 54.1g. There is no obvious cord hole and the die-axis is about 1o'clock (see below for Tim Pestell's comment on the die-axis). The obverse has relief lettering that is now very difficult to read. The letters GRE can just be seen at the top, then GOR on the second line, then PP on the third. The issuing pope was therefore one of the Gregorys. The reverse is much clearer. It has a beaded border, and within are the letters SPA SPE at the top; the S has a crossbar and the A has an angled bar. Below these are the faces of St Paul on the left (with goatee beard indicated by two concentric drop-shaped ridges) and St Peter on the right (with hair and beard made up of pellets). Each saint is within an inner beaded border made up of a single curving line of dots branching off the outer border. Between them is a staff, but only the base of this can be seen due to damage. The damage consists of an oval dent, c. 6 x 9mm, just off centre (on the edge of St Paul's head) and driven into the reverse with such force that the whole bulla is creased along an axis running along the tops of the saints' heads. The reverse is thus slightly concave, preserving the detail of the design, but the obverse is convex and has suffered more. The issuing pope is likely to have been Gregory IX (ruled 1227-1241), who used similar letter forms (see SUR-A1C1A2, BUC-CB15D4, SF-FFAECA, etc) and whose bullae are relatively common. Of the alternatives, Gregory X used a straight-barred A (see ESS-416838 and GLO-885645) as did Gregory XI (see HAMP-00D11E). No bullae of Gregory VIII or Gregory XII have yet been recorded on the PAS database. Tim Pestell comments: This bulla is of Gregory IX. The dent has distorted the entire bulla, as if it has been shot at. If deliberate, the blow seems to have been aimed at the bulla generally rather than one of the two apostles, as the dent is largely between the two (although St Paul has come off slightly worse). The tightly curled form of the Gs, the curved E and the vesica-shaped O mark it out as being of Gregory IX. The only visible die flaws are the common lines emanating from the final E (of SPE) at top right on the reverse. This is the 22nd bulla of Gregory IX to be recorded from the Diocese of Norwich, making it one of the most commonly found types. The sealing orientation of the bulla obverse to its reverse is impossible to measure accurately given the distortion to the object, but it is clear that it is very loose, perhaps as much as 330° to the reverse. A similar looseness in orientation has been noted on another bulla of Gregory IX, from Dereham (NMS-AE6DB7), this time of 340°, which was at the time one of the widest alignments I had seen; this example is even sloppier!

NMS-9408B9: SLEEVE CLASP
Part of a copper-alloy wrist-clasp of early Anglo-Saxon date, probably of Hines Form B19. It consists of a cast rectangular plate, one face undecorated but with a thick white-metal coating, and the other face with relief decoration. One short edge is broken (worn break) and the other has a circular sewing hole 2.5mm in diameter. No hook or catch survives. The decorated face has a bold flat-topped ridge running down its long axis, about a third of the way in; there are faint traces of fine grooves across the ridge. The narrower space to one side (the front edge) is undecorated. The wider space has low-relief decoration. There appears to be a narrow border on both long and short edges; irregularly spaced short lines running perpendicular to the edge on the long (rear) edge, and beading between ridges on the surviving short edge. Within this border is a full-face human mask in Style I, which is the right way up when the clasp is held with the undecorated area downwards. The mask consists of brows which merge with a flat flaring nose; to either side a curved groove marks off a pointed-oval eye, and further parallel grooves form cheeks. The border grooves above look a little like hair. To one side of this mask is the break; to the other side is a curly beak from a predatory bird's head seen in profile, looking left towards the human. Some of the head may have been removed by the sewing hole, but there never appears to have been much to it apart perhaps from a square block at the base of the beak; where the eye should have been are the ridges and beading of the border. Surviving length 30.2mm, width 17.0mm, maximum thickness 2.8mm, weight 7.4g. Although the design of this object conforms to the general principle for Form B19 wrist-clasps (rectangular, plate and bar cast in one piece) it has proved very difficult to parallel. As no hook or catch survives, the fragment is presumably less than half of the original length, which should have been over 60mm. This is longer than any other wrist-clasp currently on the database. The full-face human mask is also an unusual feature on wrist-clasps, particularly of Hines's Class B. The use of Salin's Style I dates this object to c. 480-580 AD.

NMS-E7BBAE: BODKIN
Description: Incomplete post-medieval silver head-dress pin, often called a bodkin. The shaft survives, a flattened hexagon in cross-section, tapering gently to a point; it is now bent. The pin is broken across the rectangular perforation, of which only a little survives (unworn break). The pin is decorated with engraving on its two main faces. Each has a pair of transverse grooves across the end of the perforation, then below this a star or sun made up of a reserved circular area in the centre with four bold grooves radiating to form a cross, and slimmer shorter radial grooves filling the angles between. There is then another pair of transverse grooves, then a row of seven longitudinal grooves, that in the centre the longest (about 8mm long) and the others decreasing in length towards the edges. One face then has the letters IB engraved sideways, the right way up when held with the perforation to the left and the pointed tip to the right. The letters are seriffed and the I has a small crossbar. Dimensions: The pin is a maximum of 4.5mm wide and 2.5mm thick, and the surviving length is c. 88mm. It weighs 5.72g. Discussion and Date: This pin fits well into a group of copper-alloy and silver pins thought to have been in use in the early 17th century (Margeson 1993, 8-9). CAM-3728C6 and LANCUM-BB6172 have similar decoration.

NMS-F7B35C: BROOCH
Incomplete copper-alloy brooch of late early-medieval date, of Kershaw's East Anglian Series. It was originally flat and circular, but now all of the edges are missing and the brooch is corroded. The relief decoration is unworn, and consists of a central double-strand concave-sided lozenge, with a central sunken circle; each corner is extended to form double-strand interlace of loose knots which wrap underneath the lozenge's corners. On the reverse is an incomplete transverse pin lug, broken across the perforation, and a stub of catchplate. The surviving diameter parallel to these, along the line of the missing pin, is 24.5mm. The disc is flat and 1.6mm in thickness; the object's maximum surviving thickness, at the catchplate, is 4.3mm. It weighs 2.8g.

NMS-F7EE4A: BUCKLE
Fragment of copper-alloy composite buckle, of 14th- or early 15th-century date. Cast in one piece, part of the frame and most of the forked spacer survive, together with the loop of a copper-alloy pin still in place on the bar. Not enough of the frame survives to reconstruct its shape; the breaks are worn, and the stubs bring the maximum width of the object up to 18.7mm. The bar is relatively chunky, and this area of the buckle is 15.7mm wide and 3.4mm thick. There is a central constriction around which the pin loop is wrapped. The spacer is slightly flatter and there are traces of solder on at least one side. One fork is largely missing (worn break) and the other is bent, but may be complete. Total surviving length 25mm; weight 2.7g.

NMS-F81CE5: RING
Copper-alloy ring of late medieval or early post-medieval date. It has a hexagonal cross-section, with flat faces on the front and back, and angles (in some places rounded off) on the inside and outside. On two places on the outside edge there are slightly raised marks from where a series of these rings was cast together and then broken apart. Each of these scars is c. 9mm long. As filemarks survive in many places elsewhere on the ring, it is odd that the casting marks have not been cleaned off. The ring measures 36.8mm in diameter between the casting scars, and 36.5mm perpendicular to this. It is 3.5mm thick and the cross-section is 4mm wide. It weighs 8.9g.

NMS-F974C9: BUTTON
Solid copper-alloy button of early post-medieval date. Cast in one piece, the front is circular, 13.5mm in diameter, and plano-convex. It is decorated with a beaded border around a relief design of a central pellet and eight radial ridges, each curving left (anti-clockwise) to a rounded end. The flat back has a projecting lug which flares slightly away from the head of the button, and has a rounded end; there is a circular hole through the centre rather than the end of this lug, 2.2mm in diameter. It is a total of 14.7mm thick and weighs 3.7g. Similar to BH-B5BE24.

NMS-FA5517: PURSE
Fragment of late medieval or early post-medieval copper-alloy purse bar, of Williams type A. The central block survives together with part of one arm, cast in one piece. The central block is rectangular, about 19.5mm long and 17mm high, with the lower corners slightly rounded; any decoration is difficult to see, but there is a small shiny raised patch on one face which looks like decomposed niello. It has a circular-section hole running from top to bottom, now blocked with iron corrosion. There is a rectangular strip of iron staining on one face, with a thin ridge of iron down the centre, parallel to the hole. This face is very slightly faceted about the centre, but the other is flat. The surviving arm is oval in cross-section, and after a short plain area (c. 10mm long) it is shaped into a stylised animal head, with a notch between a brow and an angled muzzle. A slightly narrower oval-section area (7.7 x 5.4mm) projects from the front of the muzzle before ending in a worn break. Total surviving length of block and arm, 51.7mm. Width at block, 17mm; thickness of block including iron ridge, 12.2mm; weight 28.9g. Several other Class A purse bars have iron through their central hole, such as HAMP-4AEB94 and NMS-0744F8.

NMS-0F9219: STRAP FITTING
Copper-alloy strap-slide, now bent. It is nearly rectangular, with the bar measuring 20.5mm wide and other long edge 23mm, and shorter sides 16mm long externally. There is a pair of internal projections close to the bar; the other long edge has a small knop at each corner and a larger central knop, which is oval or sub-rectangular and which brings the overall length to 18mm and the thickness to 4mm. Otherwise the object is quite thin, in most places less than a millimetre thick. Strap-slides were used for holding down the free end of a strap. This one is similar to several found in contexts of c. 1200-1400 in London (Egan and Pritchard 1991, fig. 149, nos. 1256, 1257, 1259-61). Compare WAW-D40154, PUBLIC-FF5E73, etc.

NMS-0FC221: BUCKLE
Unusual form of late 17th-century copper-alloy buckle, probably from a shoe. The frame is rectangular with incurved outside edges and slightly outcurved top and bottom edges. At the centre of each top and bottom edge (the long edges) there is a low ridged ring around a flat-topped circular boss. There is a separate iron bar, which retains a small triangular plate which has lost its apex, and a pin which tapers strongly to a point. The entire object is strongly curved to fit around the foot. It is 24mm long and 20mm wide at the bar., and the curve takes the overall thickness to 6mm. It weighs 4.94g.

NMS-0FF802: BUCKLE
Copper-alloy buckle frame of 'locking' type, originally used with a pin and swivelling arm, both now missing. These buckles date to the late 15th and 16th century. The frame is rectangular, with tall top and bottom edges curved over a large circular perforation which would originally have held the swivelling arm. Each of these curves is notched just in front of the perforation, which is set towards the inside edge of the frame, where the strap would have been fixed. . The outside edge is L-shaped in cross-section, with a flat outer flange; it has a grooved pin rest on its thicker part and is sloped on the reverse. It is 29mm long, 16.5mm wide, 5mm thick at most, and weighs 3.96g. There are two stratified examples of ‘locking’ buckles from 16th-century contexts in London (Egan 2005, nos. 116-117) and one from a context of c. 1485-1600 at Sandal Castle, Wakefield (Mayes and Butler 1983, 231-3, fig. 1, no. 6). There is also an example on a statue of St Roch in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, which dates to c. 1500 AD (https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/collection/BK-NM-24).

NMS-1090EB: BUCKLE
Fragment of outside edge from a copper-alloy rectangular double-loop buckle frame of late-medieval or early post-medieval date. It is flat and rectangular, broken at both ends; it is 47mm in surviving length and 7mm wide. It is decorated on one face with an engraved border, within which is an engraved zig-zag with two short dashes (like an equals sign) in each angle. One cut-off corner survives. The fragment weighs 5.11g. The whole buckle can be reconstructed as WILT-A428F6.

NMS-10B386: BUCKLE
Copper-alloy double-loop buckle frame of late medieval or early post-medieval date. Both loops are oval internally, and the top and bottom edges are almost straight; one is neatly perpendicular to the bar, but the other is at an angle and is very square in cross-section, suggesting that here another casting has been cut off. The outside edges are curved and bevelled on the front, and the entire buckle is flat on the reverse. It is 36mm long and a maximum of 30mm wide; it weighs 7.79g. Similar to Whitehead 2005, no. 317; Whitehead comments that the straight edges are due to cutting multiple castings apart. On the database, compare BUC-9EA1EE.

NMS-10D7DC: STRAP FITTING
Copper-alloy strap-slide of medieval date. It consists of a D-shaped frame which is also D-shaped in cross-section, with a flat interior and bevelled edges externally. There is a small circular rivet hole in the centre of the straighter edge, which is in fact slightly bent about the centre. This bar is 15mm long and the whole object is a maximum of 16mm wide; it is 15mm long and 3mm thick, and weighs 1.43g. Similar to HAMP-6DA702 and BH-FDCB55.

NMS-127DF6: WEIGHT
Standing weight made from lead, probably of medieval or early post-medieval date. It has a circular base, roughly made and concave, 17-18mm in diameter. Straight sides then rise to a step about halfway up, above which the weight has a flattened rectangular cross-section 14mm wide at the top. This is pierced with a circular hole 4.5mm in diameter. Total height 28mm. Weight 40.55g. Similar to DEV-929808, NARC-B33227, SUSS-3E99D3 and IOW-85E6A2.

NMS-12AB41: MOUNT
Copper-alloy medieval mount in the form of a crowned head. The crown is very schematic, consisting of a large central lobe with a pair of flanking projections on each side. The face is equally stylised, with oval eyes with a groove across each, a three-dimensional pointed nose, and a horizontal groove for the mouth. There is a clear rivet hole in the centre of the forehead, across the junction between face and crown, blocked with hard corrosion; it is difficult to see on the concave reverse. 16mm long, 12mm wide, 4mm thick, 1.53g. Similar to NMS-971F06.

NMS-25C9FB: WEIGHT
Standing conical lead weight, probably of medieval or early post-medieval date. The base is circular, 16-16.5mm in diameter, and flat but slightly slanting so that the weight does not stand perfectly upright. The sides taper to a rectangular cross-section, approximately 12 x 5mm where there is a circular perforation 3.5mm in diameter. This runs between the larger faces; the sides each have a small groove at the level of the bottom of the perforation. The top of the weight has rounded corners. It is 36mm tall and weighs 47.1g. Similar in shape and proportion to KENT-453AC2 and SUSS-A2EE55.

NMS-261BB2: VESSEL
Solid cast copper-alloy leg from a vessel. It is D-shaped in cross-section with a flat reverse, and has a ridge across it a little over halfway down. Above the ridge the leg has a central ridge flanked by two grooves and two further ridges, making three parallel ribs; below, the foot flares and thickens, and consists of five ribs. The top of the leg is broken straight across and the break is fairly worn. The base of the foot is slightly rounded and slanted, so that the leg would flare out from the vessel, and the reverse is flat. It is 48mm long, 18.6mm wide and 8.6mm thick at the top and a maximum of 24.3mm wide and 17.6mm thick at the bottom. It weighs 48.0g. Butler et al date this form to the 16th or 17th century (2009, 4, fig. 4). DEV-ABCC8B is similar.

NMS-264D75: BUCKLE
Fragment of copper-alloy composite buckle of 14th- or early 15th-century date. A tiny stub of one side of the frame survives, of slender proportions. The bar is constricted to take the pin, and the fragment is broken across this constriction, so about half the width (or a little more) survives. The constriction steps out in two steps to the forked spacer, one arm of which survives. This has traces of a shiny solder on both faces, and the very tip of the arm has broken off (unworn break). The surviving length is 40.5mm, and from the far side of the bar to the end of the spacer is 36mm. The surviving width is 16mm, and from the break to the other side of the spacer (about half the width of the plate) is 12mm. The bar is 4.7mm thick and it weighs 3.6g.

Cast copper-alloy ring of medieval or early post-medieval date. It is hexagonal in cross-section, with the angle surviving sharp on the exterior but rubbed smooth in places on the interior. It is 26.5mm in diameter around most of its circumference, but in two places (not quite opposite each other) the exterior is flattened as if the casting of several rings was done together and they were broken or cut apart here. Thickness 3.0mm, weight 5.6g.

NMS-26ADB5: BUCKLE
Fragment of late medieval or early post-medieval copper-alloy double-loop buckle frame. Part of one loop and a tiny stub of the other loop and the bar survive; breaks are unworn. The surviving loop is oval, with slender side surviving which is just 2mm wide and 3mm thick. The side curves to the shorter bar, which does not project beyond the frame. The centre of the outside edge is expanded to a point, but wear makes it hard to reconstruct the details. There appears to be a groove between the line of the frame and the projecting point, retaining traces of gilding. Beyond this there may be some relief decoration, perhaps two sunken dots with raised areas around; with the central projecting point, it is likely that this area was originally in the shape of a low fleur-de-lis. Surviving length 27.5mm, surviving width 19mm, weight 2.7g. The available parallels (e.g. BH-465855) tend to be far more robust and have the fleur interrupting the line of the frame rather than being separated from it with a groove.

NMS-26E97D: UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT
Copper-alloy unidentified object. It is flat and basically triangular, with two original edges joining at a right angle. The third edge is irregular and most of it is probably broken. The right angle is rounded, and decorated on one face with a stamped circle right at the tip flanked by two others; all three circles are off the object to some extent. Behind and between is a groove which runs to the centre of the irregular edge; its base is polished, as if by wear. There is a hint of a low ridge along both the original edges, and this extends a little beyond the broken edge at one corner. The object measures 13mm along one edge and 13.6mm along the other, and 17mm along the broken edge. It is 1.5mm thick at most and weighs 1.0g. The decoration could be of almost any date from Roman to post-medieval.

NMS-275F3D: BUCKLE
Gilded copper-alloy object which could be an unusual buckle plate. It consists of an oval frame, 14.5mm wide and longer than it is wide. It has a circular rivet hole at the outside edge; the frame is shaped around this hole both internally and externally. At the opposite edge of the frame is another hole, and again the interior of the frame is shaped around it. On the exterior here there are two projections which form small round-ended lugs, bringing the total length of the object to 25.3mm and the thickness to 4.5mm. The lugs are both pierced from side to side but the holes are now blocked with iron corrosion. These presumably held an iron bar, and the width between the lugs is 6.7mm. The object is thickly gilded on the front around the rivet holes. Found with a separate copper-alloy rivet with plano-convex rounded head, diameter 3.5mm, and shaft slightly bent at the end; total length 8mm. This can go in either hole, but is a very tight fit in the central hole and seems to fit better in the hole in the outside edge. Total weight 2.1g. This object looks at first sight like a buckle frame with pin hole, but the rivet hole at the outside edge has no place on a buckle frame (unless for a dummy rivet, in which case the other hole would have to accommodate a pin, and the surviving rivet would have nowhere to go). Alternatively it is more likely to be an unusual type of buckle plate, with hinge loops for an iron frame with bar on which the pin could hinge. No precise parallel has been found, but the dome-headed rivet and gilding suggest a date in the late 12th to 14th century (compare NMS-FC08C1 and NMS-F66853). It seems too small to be a suspension mount for a horse-harness pendant.

NMS-278D72: CASTING WASTE
Two pieces of copper-alloy casting waste. Both are blobby droplets; one weighs 7.3g and is green with a smooth surface, the other weighs 10.6g and is grey-green, shiny in places and with a wrinkled surface implying shrinkage on cooling. Total weight 18.0g; undatable.

NMS-27A3DD: RING
Copper-alloy ring of medieval or early post-medieval date. It is oval, 24.4 x 27.6mm, probably originally hexagonal in cross-section but is now worn. It is bent slightly about its narrower axis. Maximum thickness 3.3mm, weight 4.8g.

NMS-27C878: BUCKLE
Copper-alloy double-loop buckle frame of late medieval or early post-medieval date, now incomplete (worn breaks), together with the copper-alloy pin. One loop and a stub of the other survives. Both were oval with a white-metal coating on all sides. The surviving loop is D-shaped in cross-section, flaring slightly to the outside edge which is 4.3mm wide and 2.6mm thick. The whole frame is 22.5mm wide and 19.2mm long including the bar. The pin survives in place on the bar. It is D-shaped in cross-section and 17.8mm long, with a large loop bringing its thickness to 6.3mm. Surviving total length of frame 26mm, weight 3.4g. Compare Whitehead 2005, nos. 291 and 293.

NMS-65113A: PURSE
Copper-alloy purse bar and loop, with fragment of frame, of late medieval or early post-medieval date. The loop is an inverted drop shape, D-shaped in cross-section with flat interior and curved exterior. It is cast in one with a circular-section shank which is narrowed to pass through the block, and then has a thick circular-section rove attached to the base. The rove has traces of a black coating, but the rest of the loop and shank are a mid green colour. Length of loop and shank 49.1mm, width of loop 16.9mm, thickness at base of loop 5.5mm. The bar has a rounded central block, pierced from top to bottom with a circular hole. To either side is a circular-section arm, each with two steps to a short narrowed area. One arm is broken here (patinated but not worn break) but the other holds the fragment of frame, and ends in a separate biconical rove. The bar is a grey colour but the rove is the same mid green as the loop. There are traces of a black coating, particularly on the underside. Length of bar 30.1mm, depth from top to bottom 7.4mm, thickness of block 11.2mm. The frame fragment is rectangular in cross-section. At one end it is rounded, with a circular perforation which is threaded onto the bar. It then turns an angle outwards and is broken at a second circular perforation, perhaps a sewing hole. The frame also has traces of a black coating. Total weight 17.8g. The short bar with rounded block puts this purse bar into Williams's Class C2, which dates to c. 1450-1550 AD.

NMS-65A688: SPINDLE WHORL
Small lead spindle whorl, sub-circular and plano-convex. It has been damaged on one side, but the original diameter must have been c. 20mm and the base flat, with sloping sides rising to an overall thickness of up to 7.5mm. The central circular perforation tapers from c. 10mm diameter at the base, to c. 7mm diameter at the top. It weighs 10.7g. Lead spindle whorls seem to have been in use from the 10th to 14th centuries, c. 900-1400 AD.

NMS-65B84B: SPINDLE WHORL
Small lead spindle-whorl of early-medieval or medieval date. It is circular, 21mm in diameter and plano-convex with a flat base and sides sloping to a maximum height of 8mm. It has been damaged on one side. The central perforation tapers from 9.6 x 10.7mm at the base to 9mm diameter at the top. It weighs 14.9g. Lead spindle whorls seem to have been in use from the 10th to 14th centuries, c. 900-1400 AD.

NMS-6605D9: BUCKLE
Copper-alloy trapezoidal buckle frame with surviving pin, dating to the 15th or early 16th century. The frame is 24.6mm wide at the bar, flaring to 29.9mm wide at the outside edge. The corners are rounded here and 5.2mm thick; the outside edge in between is pushed in and slightly twisted back to flatten the outside edge and give an elegant incurve. Here the frame is polished smooth, although there are hints of transverse groove decoration in the centre. The top and bottom edges are decorated with curved grooves made up of punchmarks. The frame is 24.2mm long and the metal is a dark grey. The copper-alloy pin is made from a greener metal, and is D-shaped in cross-section, wrapped around the bar. The pin is 22.9mm long and the total weight is 7.3g. In shape it is like LIN-8253DB, but it also has affinities with BUC-02B375.

NMS-66196F: BUCKLE
Copper-alloy double-loop buckle frame, both loops oval and with pin rests expanded to accommodate a relief rosette. The bar and one rosette are iron-stained; the bar projects beyond the frame. It is 40mm long and 23mm wide, and weighs 5.4g. Similar to Whitehead (2003) nos. 407 and 408, which Whitehead dates to the late 16th or early 17th century.

NMS-6644DF: BUCKLE
Copper-alloy buckle frame, oval with partly missing central bar, late 17th or early 18th century. The frame is decorated with six raised rectangular panels, with D-section ribbed areas in between. There is a rectangular panel at either end of the bar, and the other four are spaced evenly between. The frame is very slightly curved on the underside. The bar appears to be a slender iron rod passing through drilled holes. It retains a copper-alloy tube on part of this, probably one hinge loop from a small plate. Just over half the bar is now missing. 22mm long and 19.8mm wide, 3.8mm thick at the ends of the bar, 3.3g.

NMS-665E0C: SPUR
Copper-alloy rowel from a medieval or post-medieval spur. It has six well separated oval-section points, and an off-centre circular perforation at the centre containing a little iron corrosion. It measures between 29.7mm and 31.6mm in diameter between points, and is 3.4mm thick. It weighs 4.6g. Detached rowels are difficult to date. Rowel spurs are common from the 14th century onwards.

NMS-66B72E: HARNESS PENDANT
Very corroded copper-alloy 13th- or 14th-century horse-harness pendant. It has a circular centre with six rounded knops around the circumference. The upper one ends in a long projection which is pierced from side to side, but now broken; half of the loop is missing. The lower knop is perforated from front to back. Gilding survives between the knops. There was clearly some relief decoration on the front of the pendant, but little survives to help identify it. Surviving length 31.0mm, width 18.0mm, thickness in centre 3.7mm, weight 5.7g. The length of the loop suggests that this pendant might originally have swung in an outer frame (compare PUBLIC-04D07B, SUSS-20B697, etc). The lower hole probably held a rivet, perhaps not functional (compare Ashley 2002, 40, fig. 23, no. 236; also LEIC-1B2172). WILT-567479 is a similar pendant, in similar condition.

NMS-66EF91: STAPLE
Small copper-alloy staple, perhaps of medieval date, made from sheet 1.1mm thick. It is 24.6mm long, one edge slightly outcurving and the other angled out near one end. It is 6.4mm wide at most. Either pointed end is bent down at right angles, and the maximum thickness is 6mm. It weighs 0.9g. Two similar examples were found in contexts of 1100-1400 in Norwich, but they are so simple in design that they may also have been used later. Compare NMS-0402C2, NLM-74496B, etc.

NMS-673677: KEY (LOCKING)
Fragment of copper-alloy bow from a key. Half of an oval frame survives, circular in cross-section at one break (5mm diameter) and oval at the other (5.5 x 6.1mm) where the stem of the key is likely to have joined. Both breaks are worn. About halfway between the breaks there are two mouldings, perhaps representing an animal's head; one that swells out gently before ending in a sharp brow, the other angling steeply upwards to form a pointed muzzle or beak. The circular-section frame continues on the line of a lower jaw. It measures 25mm across the breaks, which may be the original length of the bow, and 17mm perpendicular to this, which may be half the original width of the bow. The maximum thickness is 7mm and it weighs 7.9g. Compare SWYOR-BAAD16, NMS-252FC2, SF9087, and Ashley 2016. Dating evidence for these is sparse; they may be 13th or 14th century.

NMS-677D7C: CASTING WASTE
Four pieces of casting waste, all solid, green and smoothly rounded droplets. All approximately the same size, at 15.7g, 14.5g, 9.3g and 7.3g. Total weight 46.8g.

NMS-67C498: SCABBARD
Incomplete medieval copper-alloy scabbard chape, originally with two similar halves which meet at a fold. It was probably cast in this shape, as the metal at the fold is c. 3mm thick, compared to about 1.8mm thick elsewhere. The best-surviving half is trapezoidal, flaring from 17.3mm wide at the fold to a maximum of 20.1mm at the broken top. Both faces have a ridge up either side, and this face is decorated with horizontal ridges within this border. There is a U-shaped cut-out in the upper edge. The other face is less complete, but there are traces of a diagonal groove across from top right to bottom left. This face also has the remains of a single arm extending upwards from the top right corner. The object is a maximum of 18.8mm in surviving length, 20mm in total width, 7.5mm in total thickness, and weighs 4.7g. Parallels on the PAS database, and from 13th-century contexts in Winchester (Biddle 1990, nos. 4030 and 4031), show that there would originally have been two arms extending upwards to fix this chape to the scabbard. Compare NMS-908413, WILT-C48BDC and NMS-EF4B39.

NMS-68D48B: BUCKLE
Fragment of medieval copper-alloy buckle frame and integral plate. The plate flares from the break, and the incomplete frame continues this line before turning a right angle to form a basically rectangular shape. Less than half of the outside edge now survives. The internal length is 9mm and the original external width was probably about 22mm. The plate has a large circular pin hole, 4.9mm in diameter. There is a groove made up of punchmarks or zig-zags, perhaps rocker-arm, running parallel to the edge about halfway between the pin hole and the edge. Just behind the pin hole is a small rivet hole now blocked with iron corrosion. The plate then ends, apparently broken across at a worn break with a slight central incurve. Alternatively it is possible that this is an original edge. Total length 26.6mm, maximum surviving width 21.2mm. The entire object is thin and flimsy, no more than 2.0mm in thickness anywhere and less than this in many places. It weighs 2.8g. This buckle probably originally resembled SF-62B9C1 or CORN-ABE931. Excavated parallels from London, Winchester and Norfolk suggest a 13th- or 14th-century date (Egan and Pritchard 1991, no. 608; Hinton in Biddle 1990, no. 1122; Margeson 1993, no. 141).

NMS-747ACC: WEIGHT
Copper-alloy object, possibly an early Anglo-Saxon weight. It is an irregular oval, 15.2mm long and 10.0mm wide, and flat, tapering very slightly from 3.8mm thick at one end to 3.3mm at the other. One face is decorated with seven dots set in a cross, again slightly irregular. The other face is smoothly polished and undecorated. It weighs 2.85g. It is similar in size to an object from the early Anglo-Saxon cemetery site of Ozengell but now lost, thought to be a weight; another from the same site has five dots perhaps corresponding to a weight-standard of 2 tremisses (Scull 1990, fig. 3, nos. 6 and 7). The cruciform arrangement of dots is also found on a weight with 15 dots from Sarre grave 26 (Scull 1990, fig. 4, no. 9) but here the dots do not appear to correspond to any weight-standard. Scull cites two different tremissis weights, the Byzantine standard of eight siliquae (1.52g) and the Merovingian standard of seven siliquae (1.33g). This weight would appear to fall between these two, and in any case it is hard to see why a weight with seven dots should weigh the equivalent of two tremisses.

NMS-76E0E5: UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT
Copper-alloy and iron unidentified object. It is irregular in shape, sub-square or sub-oval; it measures about 20 x 21mm between edges, or 24 x 20mm between angles. It is a maximum of 15mm thick and weighs 28.40g. One face appears to have a copper-alloy border around square hollow in the centre filled with iron corrosion; the other face has iron corrosion all over it but with a strip of copper alloy running from one edge into the centre, and two corners of copper alloy. The sides appear to be largely copper alloy with a surface spread of iron corrosion. There cannot be much of an iron component surviving, as the object is not attracted to a magnet. Date and function unknown, but the surfaces are rough and abraded and it does not look modern.

NMS-76F6BE: BUCKLE
Incomplete copper-alloy double-loop buckle of 15th- or 16th-century date. A copper-alloy pin survives on the bar; this is D-shaped in cross-section and neatly made, with a loop wrapped around the bar. Width 25mm, length of pin 20mm, surviving length of buckle 24mm, weight 3.96g.

NMS-773D34: BUCKLE
Copper-alloy double-loop buckle frame of late medieval or post-medieval date, both loops D-shaped and relatively long for their width. Both outside edges have rounded upper surfaces and flat reverses, but one has a projecting square grooved pin rest. The bar extends out onto the frame as a moulding, clear at one end and barely perceptible at the other. A copper-alloy pin survives on the bar, D-shaped in cross-section and 18mm long. The buckle is 37mm long and 20mm wide, and weighs 5.37g.

NMS-775AAE: SOCKETED AXEHEAD
Incomplete late Bronze Age socketed axehead. About half survives, now squashed flat. There is a crack down both sides, and the axe has apparently been deliberately hammered flat, although there are no visible hammer marks. The break across the centre is old and worn. It measures 30.5mm across the broken edge, and 45mm wide at most. The fragment is 49mm long and a maximum of 11mm thick, and weighs 72.37g.

NMS-77C603: SPINDLE WHORL
Lead spindle-whorl of early-medieval or medieval date, circular and plano-convex, 25mm in diameter. The base is flat and the sides curve; the whorl is low, just 7mm thick. The central hole is large, a neat circle 12mm in diameter at the base tapering to a more irregular hole 11mm at most at the top. It weighs 24.22g. Lead spindle whorls seem to have been in use from the 10th to 14th centuries, c. 900-1400 AD.

NMS-8C4C7D: BROOCH
Large and heavy cast copper-alloy Roman brooch, of Hod Hill type. It is missing the head (patinated but not worn break) and some of the catchplate but is otherwise complete. The surviving part of the bow consists of a rectangular panel 23mm long, which tapers slightly downwards from 14mm wide at the top to 10.5mm wide at the bottom. It is decorated with a central vertical line and at least five horizontal or slightly sloping lines to either side (the slope is in a variety of directions). These lines are inlaid in places with a shiny grey material, either decomposed niello or silver wires. The panel is surrounded by grooves, and in the centre of either long side is a D-section side knob. The rounded upper face of these knobs has a vertical groove down the centre. One is now bent round to the back of the brooch. Below the bow, the brooch tapers and is decorated with two transverse mouldings, then there is a short flat panel which is apparently undecorated. Below this are three transverse mouldings, the central one wider and decorated with dots. Another flat panel below is broken and the end of the foot is missing. On the reverse of the foot, the entire length below the bow is filled with the catchplate which has now lost its return (worn breaks). It is broken across a circular perforation. Surviving length 55.5mm, width as bent 27.0mm, thickness of catchplate 8mm, weight 13.5g. This is a good example of Mackreth's 'late' Hod Hills (2011, 144, type 13, pls. 98-99). White-metal or niello inlay and a circular perforation in the catchplate are found on several of these, although there is no particularly close parallel illustrated; only one has side knobs. Mackreth dates those with white-metal inlay to after c. 125 AD. There are no really good parallels on the PAS database, although the motif of a central vertical line between sloping lines is found on SF-D52463 and NMS-CD5FB4. The general proportions and the detail of the foot is matched on SWYOR-0E32E3.

NMS-8CCFAE: BROOCH
Copper-alloy relief-decorated fragment cast in one piece, probably from an early Anglo-Saxon florid cruciform brooch. One end is narrower and thicker, circular in shape (13mm diameter) and D-shaped in cross-section with a flat reverse. The object then flares and flattens to an oval area 3.6mm thick, with relief Style I decoration, now very worn, depicting a human face. Two pellet eyes can be seen within grooved rings. Above them is a ridged brow which continues between the eyes as a narrow ridge, then flares out into a wide rectangular nose. To either end of the nose is an upward-curling ridge; these ridges were probably intended as both the curly beaks of predatory bird-heads, and the curling ends of a moustache. Below is a narrow flat area (1.5mm thick), probably broken. All breaks are worn. It measures 20.5mm wide and 22.5mm long, maximum thickness 6.3mm, weight 7.9g. This has the standard form for part of a knob from a florid cruciform brooch (compare, for example, YORYM-17C4D1), although it is thicker and heavier than these tend to be. The solid domed circular element is particularly difficult to parallel, although compare the distorted SF-08F114.

NMS-8D38FA: BUTTON
Copper-alloy hollow openwork biconical button of early post-medieval date, cast in one piece. When viewed from the front it is hexagonal, with a pellet at the centre and six triangular perforations. There is a groove between each of the perforations, all radiating from the centre. The back has six triangular depressions, three perforated but three not. In the centre is a flaring round-ended lug with a circular perforation at the wider end. 17.1mm long, 16.4mm wide between straight sides and 16.8mm between angles, 2.2g. Similar to SF-B423BC and BH-FB8D50, and Read (2005) no. 93. Excavated parallels include Baart et al. (1977) no. 235, from a 16th-century context. An example from Norwich was residual in an 18th- or 19th-century context (Margeson 1993, 21, fig.11, no.102).

NMS-8D6673: BROOCH
Fragment of copper-alloy flat disc brooch of Kershaw's East Anglian Series, late 9th or 10th century. A little less than half of the brooch survives, with half of the central recessed circle, within a double-strand lozenge whose corners are extended into loose double-strand knots. The decoration is corroded and worn. On the reverse is a lug parallel to the edge (perpendicular to the line of the pin); this is shaped like a thorn, with one edge vertical and the other sloping, then both curling over to a point. It is probably the catchplate rather than the pin lug. This is a small example, with width at the break 25.2mm; the original diameter must have been only a little bigger than this. It measures 18.8mm perpendicular to this. The disc is c. 1.5mm thick at the break, but with the catchplate on the reverse the thickness is 8.4mm. It weighs 2.6g.

NMS-8DE94A: BUCKLE
Incomplete medieval buckle plate consisting of a single copper-alloy sheet. Originally rectangular, with five rivets arranged in a quincunx (one at each corner and one in the centre), it is now broken on all sides but one. Stubs of both of the hinge loops survive, with a line of interrupted rocker-arm engraving (a double line of triangular punchmarks) dividing the hinge loops from the rest of the plate. Traces of gilding can be seen here. There also seems to be a row of similar punchmarks or engraving along the best-preserved edge, at the bottom when held with the hinge loops to the left. The other edges are all broken, and one edge goes through a rivet hole where the rivet is lost. The surviving four rivets are all of copper-alloy, and the best-preserved has a rounded domed or knob head, 4.1mm in diameter. The rivets are placed in an irregular fashion, some closer to the corners than others. Surviving width 25.6mm, surviving length 27.6mm, weight 5.0g. The longest rivet shaft is 5.5mm long. Rectangular gilded copper-alloy buckle plates with rocker-arm decoration and large rivets are a well-known type; compare SF-941694, NMS-A65042, NMS-D9C9B4. They are probably 13th-century.

NMS-8E069B: HOOKED TAG
Incomplete copper-alloy post-medieval hooked tag of Read's class E, type 5. The lower part of the plate and the hook are missing (worn breaks). The hook is of openwork trefoil type, cast in one piece but in the form of a knot with a beaded surface to the strands. Above there are two pellets and a bar, forming an attachment loop. Width 17.6mm, surviving length 16.3mm, maximum thickness 2mm, weight 1.1g. Similar to Read 2008, no. 436.

NMS-8E3680: SPUR
Openwork terminal and part of side from a 17th-century spur. The end of the terminal is shell-shaped, semi-circular with short radial grooves running in from the edge. It has two side-by-side circular perforations, one blocked with iron corrosion and the other worn to an oval. Next to this terminal is a pair of round-ended projections, then the apex of an openwork triangle which flares to the maximum width of the object, 16.0mm. The next element is a pair of circular perforations with a dot in between and small knops at the corners. A narrow D-section (5 x 2.5mm) spur side then projects from here, and runs c. 9mm to the worn break. The fragment is bent at the apex of the triangular perforation and its total length as bent is 37mm, straightened out c. 44.5mm. It weighs 5.7g. Similar to LANCUM-D569A3 and GLO-B47026.

NMS-8EC929: BUCKLE
Copper-alloy double-loop 17th-century buckle, both loops the same. Each one is trapezoidal, flaring towards the outside edge, which is wider and decoratively shaped with a knop at each corner and a point at the pin rest. There is a grooved pin rest and a longitudinal groove on each outside edge. The bar projects slightly beyond the frame. The whole buckle is flat, just 2mm thick, and has a black coating on both front and reverse. It is slightly slanted, so when held with the bar vertical, the right-hand loop slants upwards and the left-hand loop slants downwards. 34.0mm long, maximum width 24.0mm, weight 4.8g. Similar to Whitehead 2003, nos. 523 and 524.

NMS-8F06BF: THIMBLE
Copper-alloy ring-type post-medieval thimble. It is thin and lightweight. 0.9mm thick at the base and 0.7mm thick at the top. The base has a straight lower rim without decoration, and there is a right-hand spiral of small oval indentations running up to and then off the top. It is a maximum of 17.5mm in diameter and 8.6mm tall; it weighs 1.9g. Right-hand spirals were used in the second half of the 16th century. It is similar to IOW-1DEFBC, IOW-F4934B, WMID-085505, BH-97327D, etc.

NMS-8F2253: PURSE
Fragment of copper-alloy purse frame of late 15th- or 16th-century date. One rounded end survives, with a broken circular loop (worn breaks) for attachment to the bar. It is rectangular in cross-section here, but then turns an angle and gains in thickness with a groove on one side that broadens out to result in an L-shaped cross-section which runs to a fresh break. 6.4 x 5.5mm in cross-section at the break; the fragment is c. 45mm long and weighs 5.6g.

NMS-8F5A6D: PURSE
One arm from a purse bar of Williams class J. The arm is slender, 4mm in diameter, and is bent close to the fresh break. The terminal is globular, 11mm in diameter, and decorated with oblique grooves. It is 34mm long and weighs 6.8g. Class J purses appear to date from the 16th century; three were found in the Mary Rose, which sank in 1545.

NMS-8F8707: MOUNT
Flat copper-alloy post-medieval mount, square with rounded corners and a little projection in the centre of each edge. White-metal coating on the front, stubs of two attachment spikes on the reverse. 16mm square, 1.7mm thick without spikes, 4.5mm with spikes. It weighs 2.0g. Similar to LANCUM-C15926 and DOR-6FD65E.

NMS-8FAD4B: PURSE
Part of bar and part of loop from a late medieval or early post-medieval purse, of Williams class C. The loop has lost its upper half (fresh break) and the sides converge to a narrow base. Projecting from this is a shank with moulded collar above the part that passes through the block; at the bottom of the shank is s separate conical rove. The block is rectangular, with a thick rectangular cross-section; it is decorated on one face with an eight-pointed star made from four crossing lines, each inlaid with niello. The other face may have been decorated, but is now too corroded to tell. From either side of the block, a stub of arm projects; these each consist of an oval moulding, then a moulding that points upwards at its far end, forming in turn the brow and muzzle of a very stylised animal head. Both arms are broken as they leave the animal heads; the breaks are patinated but not worn. Total surviving length of loop and shank, 38.3mm. Total width of bar, 44.9mm. Thickness of block, 12.2mm. Weight 37.8g.

NMS-8FEAA7: STRAP FITTING
Copper-alloy 17th-century trefoil junction-attachment from a sword-belt fitting. The object is complete, cast in one piece, with two circular lobes with circular perforations and a longer drop-shaped lobe with a circular perforation at its end. Between the two circular lobes is a small pointed projection with traces of a black coating on its edges. In the centre of the object, both faces have decoration of two grooves which cross saltire-wise between the two circular lobes. 23.2mm long between longer lobe and pointed projection; 21.6mm wide between circular lobes; 3.8mm thick; 5.0g. Examples still attached to hook-attachments are known; see Read 2008, no. 816, and SUR-B26D61. Others on the PAS database include NMS-F00B45, SUR-695434, HAMP-7B3A81.

NMS-90822E: STIRRUP
Flat trilobate form of 11th-century stirrup terminal. Cast in one piece from copper alloy, it has a rectangular-section top, open at the back and U-shaped internally to take the iron stirrup. There is a ridge across each side close to the top, but the front is flat. The front flares out from 9.6mm wide at the top, downwards to the three lobes, the central one semi-circular and the two sides lobes more pointed; the maximum width at the bottom is 20.3mm. There is no decoration on the flat front. On the reverse, two ridges run down defining the channel in which the iron stirrup would have fitted; these end in a projecting ledge. The channel flares very slightly, from 6mm internal width at the top to 8mm at the bottom. The ledge projects to a maximum thickness of 9.6mm. Total length 31.3mm, weight 12.3g. Similar to BERK-4F5DEF, SF-48E30C, NMS-C73FB5, BERK-8D7AE8, etc.

NMS-910152: STRAP END
Fragment of copper-alloy openwork strap-end of late Anglo-Saxon date and Thomas class E, type 1. The attachment end is missing and some of the other edges have also gone; the breaks are old and worn. There is relief decoration on both faces, around a symmetrical pattern of rounded perforations. At the top are the remains of four perforations, two larger in the centre and two smaller, one at each side. Below this is a central larger perforation flanked by two pairs of smaller holes. There are two larger perforations below this row of five, then a row of three, all incomplete. Between the perforations are flowing ridges; the strap-end is so incomplete that it is hard to reconstruct the design. The pattern of holes is the same as on NMS-592975, which is thought to depict a pair of birds or animals enmeshed in plant stems; and NMS-EA3F21, NMS-C3918F and NMS-CDA11B. Ultimately these designs are based on Winchester style. Surviving length 25mm, width 23mm, thickness 2mm, weight 3.3g.

NMS-B7BF2A: MOUNT
Description: Silver medieval bar-mount. It consists of a D-section bar which flares towards a central circular lobe with large circular perforation. The narrower ends of the bar each have a small circular lobe pierced to take a rivet; both rivets are missing. Each half of the bar is divided from the central and terminal lobes by transverse ridges. The reverse of the bar is flat, but each lobe has a hollowed reverse. Dimensions: It is 22mm long, and 6mm wide and 1mm thick at the central lobe. It weighs 0.53g. Discussion: Bar-mounts of this type are very common in the medieval world, but normally of copper alloy. Silver examples are known, with several on the PAS database; compare KENT-967F99 (2016T7), HAMP-2F6F29 (2015T198), KENT-E19F14 (2010T787), YORYM-7BBD12 (2008T733) and especially SUR-320483 (2013T561) and PUBLIC-752C82 (2012T584) which have the same transverse ridges. Date: Several examples have been excavated from contexts of 1150-1350 in London (Egan and Pritchard 1991, nos. 1154, 1157, 1158).

NMS-B835EC: VESSEL
Oval lead pot mend, both faces of similar size and relatively smooth. One face is 26 x 22mm, thicker with rounded edges; the other is 25x 22mm and thinner. The space in between is narrow but may have been flattened. No obvious pottery survives. It is c. 8mm thick at most, and weighs 25.96g. Probably medieval, possibly Roman.

NMS-B8CF14: VESSEL
Lead pot mend, one face larger, flatter and sub-triangular, the other smaller, lumpier and D-shaped. The larger face measures 21 x 23mm and has concentric wrinkles, probably caused by shrinkage on cooling. The smaller face measures 17 x 13mm. The total thickness is 8mm and the object weighs 15.72g. Probably medieval, possibly Roman.

NMS-B8F4F2: BUCKLE
Well-preserved copper-alloy double-loop buckle of 17th-century date. Both loops are identically shaped. The frame is flat with bevelled edges. The outside edges are outcurved externally and curve internally to a central point. The top and bottom edges are both incurved externally, the curves extended to form knops at the corners with small grooves or notches dividing them from the outside edge. The bar is narrower than the frame, and its line is continued onto the frame by a pair of grooves at either end that run the full width of the frame. 41mm long, 27.5mm wide, weight 8.60g. Similar to Whitehead 2003, no. 441.

NMS-B94127: STRAP END
Gilded copper-alloy strap-end made from a piece of tapering rectangular strip, 12mm wide at one end and 8.5mm wide at the other. The strip is folded in half widthways just off centre, and secured by a single large rivet, c. 3mm in diameter. The rivet is apparently made in one piece with the wider end of the strip (presumably the front of the object), but clearly passes through the narrower end (presumably the reverse). At the rivet the strap-end is 6mm thick, at the fold it is 3mm thick. There is a patch of gilding towards the narrower end, so on the reverse. Length on the front 24.5mm, length on the reverse 26.5mm. Weight 4.15g. Similar to decorated examples such as Ashley 2002, 14, nos. 119-120, and SOM-E77325; and decoratively shaped examples such as SUSS-B7CF78. Undecorated rectangular examples with integral rivets are recorded at HAMP-056E08, SUSS-262AB1 and SUSS-8C2F60. The style of large rivet and gilding suggests a date in the 13th century.

NMS-B95829: RING
Copper-alloy ring, hexagonal in cross-section, 26mm in diameter and 2.5mm thick. Neatly made, it weighs 4.58g. Rings such as these are very common and date to the medieval or possibly early post-medieval period; they may have been used in harness, or on curtains, etc.

NMS-B96BCC: BUCKLE
Small copper-alloy double-loop buckle, both loops oval. The frame is convex on the front and concave on the reverse, and is angled slightly downwards about the bar. It is 22mm long and 18mm wide, and weighs 1.93g. 15th or 16th century.

NMS-B9986F: VESSEL
Large cast copper-alloy leg from a post-medieval cooking vessel, rounded on the front and hollowed on the reverse. The front is decorated below the break with three ribs (little of this area survives) then it has a transverse ridge with oblique grooves on it giving the impression of a twisted cable. Below this the leg flares and is decorated with five longitudinal ribs. All surfaces except for the break are sooted. It measures 49mm long, 36mm wide and 18mm thick at the base, 25mm wide and 11mm thick at the break, and weighs 116.47g.

NMS-F6980E: FLANGED AXEHEAD
Copper-alloy flanged axehead of early Bronze Age date, Needham 1983, class 5db. It has low flanges, with a very smoothly polished green surface between. Most of the edges (butt, cutting edge, much of the flanges) are fragmentary. It is smaller than usual, with a length of 65mm, width at corroded cutting edge of 32mm, maximum thickness 13mm. Weight 77.40g. This type of flanged axehead is uncommon. Compare a larger example found in a hoard and recorded at NMGW-0B9997.

NMS-24A18A: BUCKLE
Copper-alloy double-loop buckle frame of 14th- to 16th-century date, both loops oval, with white-metal coating. The loops are almost rectangular in cross-section, with rounded corners, and flare slightly to their outside edges where the cross-section measures 4.5mm wide and 4mm thick. One outside edge is cracked across, probably as a result of recent stress and bending which has also exposed bare metal on the bar and other outside edge. The bar is narrower than the rest of the frame, and shorter than the two loops are wide. The total length is 44.5mm and the width is 34.5mm; the buckle weighs 12.6g.

NMS-24FA33: KEY (LOCKING)
Small medieval cast copper-alloy casket key, now missing part of the bow (old breaks). The stem is oval in cross-section and tapers to a rectangular bit which is uncut apart from a possible groove in the forward edge. The stem projects as a little tip beyond the bit. Surviving length 34.5mm, top of stem to base of bow 11.6mm, surviving diameter of bow 11.4mm, total width (one side of bow to base of bit) c. 15mm, thickness at most 2.8mm, weight 3.3g. Casket keys appear to have been in use throughout the medieval period.

NMS-340E02: BROOCH
Headplate, top knob and fragment of bow from a small early Anglo-Saxon cruciform brooch. The headplate consists of a central rectangular panel which is raised slightly above the wings; the panel is 10.3mm wide at the top and 10.9mm wide at the bottom. The wings are incomplete, missing three of the four corners and most of their long edges. The surviving corner suggests that the wings may have flared outwards, with a concave curve; the surviving area of edge suggests that the wings were 7mm wide and the side knobs were made separately. There is no decoration on either central panel or wings. The top knob has been cast in one with the headplate, is half-round, and is hollowed slightly on the reverse. The front has a rounded base, a waist and a dome; the base and dome were originally decorated, with a single groove around the top of the base and a double groove around the bottom of the dome, but these are now largely worn away, particularly in the centre. The dome is the thickest part of the knob, at 4.7mm thick; the top is corroded and the surface has been lost here. On the opposite side of the headplate is a fragment of bow. This continues the line of the central panel, and measures 9mm wide and 3.3mm thick at the fresh break. It is convex on the front and very slightly concave on the reverse, so C-shaped in cross-section. On the reverse of the headplate is a D-shaped pin bar lug with off-centre circular perforation; the lug is broken through the perforation. The fragment is 27mm long and 26mm wide, and 13mm from front of bow to back of lug. It weighs 7.5g. Although the foot (the defining feature of a cruciform brooch) does not survive, the details of the head (such as the knob and the central panel) strongly suggest that this is a cruciform and not a small-long brooch. It is probably of Martin's type 2, dating from c. 475 to c. 550 AD.

NMS-35DE1F: BUCKLE
Copper-alloy double-loop buckle frame of post-medieval date. Both loops are identical, with outside edges incurved to a point internally and flaring to a pointed pin rest externally. The pin rests are decorated with three grooves each flanked by a pair of ridges. The bar is narrower and circular-section, with a similar moulding at each end consisting of two grooves alternating with three ridges and projecting beyond the line of the frame to bring the maximum width to 31.6mm. 49mm long, 8.5g. Similar to Whitehead 2003, nos. 397 and 398, which are dated by Whitehead to c. 1550-c. 1650. On the PAS database, similar examples include YORYM-5E581C and CORN-793E58.

NMS-361204: SEAL MATRIX
Medieval copper-alloy seal matrix, now incomplete. It has a central conical handle rising to a patinated but not particularly worn break. The handle is corroded and much of the surface has been lost; it also has a very pronounced concave curve. It may have been circular in cross-section or slightly faceted. The die is circular and appears to have lost much of its edge; its maximum diameter is now nearly 22mm. It is engraved with a central motif of a bird in profile looking left (on the impression) perched on a horizontal line; the bird's legs and folded wing are clear. Also springing from the horizontal line, behind the bird, is a vertical stem with two branching leaves and a central flower. Between the flower and the back of the bird's head is an unclear motif, perhaps shield-shaped. The motif is set within a circular line and outside this is an inscription, now illegible. Surviving height 15.0mm, weight 8.3g. Probably 14th century.

NMS-4F2EC6: MOUNT
Copper-alloy mount of post-medieval date. it is flat and shield-shaped, with sides curving to a broken point. The top is straight from the corners inwards, but then curves up to form a large central projection which begins to flare but which is then broken. It is corroded and so the decoration is hard to decipher, but there appear to be relief curvilinear elements and patches of gilding. On the reverse are two attachment spikes, one bent outwards and the other broken off short. Surviving length 27mm, width 15mm, weight 2.62g. Similar to BH-E6FDB6. 17th century.

NMS-B81F81: THIMBLE
Description: Silver thimble with no obvious seams, so presumably made in one piece. The rim is straight with no thickening, and there are two circumferential grooves above it defining an undecorated zone. Above this is a zone of very regularly grid-set square indentations, which is bordered at the top by another circumferential groove. The indentations respect a 'strapwork' design, a zig-zag band free of indentations and outlined by a groove to either side. Four points of the zig-zag touch the groove forming the lower border to the zone of indentations, four points touch the groove forming the upper border; the decoration is very neatly made. Above the upper border is another undecorated zone similar to that by the rim, ending in another circumferential groove. The domed cap of the thimble is above this, covered with neat rows of similar but rectangular indentations. The thimble is now squashed flat at the rim. Dimensions: 27.1mm tall, 21.8mm wide in its current crushed state. Weight, including some retained soil, 6.6g. Discussion: There are many similar silver thimbles recorded on the PAS database, but they tend to be made in two pieces, with a longitudinal seam joining the sides and a second seam around the top. Examples include NMS-D9DA56 (2014T933) and WILT-15C4B5 (2010T469). Date: 17th century, probably c. 1620-1700.

NMS-BBABD0: SPOON
Description: Top of a gilded silver spoon of seal top type. It swells gently from a break into a rounded drop-shaped element which is decorated with engraving. As it tapers around the top of the drop-shaped element it flares and tapers again to form an undecorated concave waist or 'reel'. Above this is a flattened rounded element, decorated with eight vertical grooves. A narrowed area separates this from the flat circular top, which has two steps up to it. The flat top is decorated with punched dots forming an inscription reading HN 1637 MB. More dots are placed in groups of four to either side of each letter, and forming fleur-de-lis motifs at top and probably also at the bottom, although wear makes it hard to be certain. No gilding survives on the top. Dimensions: 21.4mm long, 14.3mm in maximum diameter. weight 8.8g. Discussion: This spoon top is similar to others found in Norfolk; NMS-6F67D2 (2005T354) with a date of 1630, and NMS-BBBB84, with a hexagonal top and a date of 1607 (2004T333). Other spoons (e.g. SF-70A8F9, 2016T171; NMS-EC8C4A, 2018T128) are very similar, but with no date. PAS-8E8757 and GLO-FE7D79 show the kind of spoons that these tops would have come from. Date: The inscription gives the date of manufacture or sale as 1637.

NMS-C8363C: PENDANT
Description: Silver pendant set with jet, probably a pilgrim souvenir. It is broadly drop-shaped, but with a wider lower rounded part and a longer narrower upper part. The silver backplate is flat, with a pinked edge with many small V-shaped cuts separated by short lengths of straight edge. Just inside this edge is a tall silver collar or wall, probably soldered to the backplate, which also has a pinked top, although here the pinking cuts are closer together forming a zig-zag edge. This collar encloses the jet setting. A circular silver suspension loop appears to be made from wire soldered to the collar or wall of the pendant, curled round and forward, and soldered to the top of the collar. The jet setting echoes the shape of the backplate, with a rounded base and long rectangular top half. It has a convex outer surface which is carved into a thicker central rounded rectangle which runs down the entire length of the pendant, and a flatter extension to either side of the lower part. The lower half of the central rectangle has two wide longitudinal grooves with pointed ends. Above these, the midpoint is marked by two oblique grooves forming a V shape (point downwards), then above this is a transverse groove forming a triangle, which contains two or three finer oblique grooves. The jet is V-shaped in cross-section above this, running up to a blunt-pointed end. Below this is a transverse groove to either side of the central arris. The two flatter side areas of the lower wider part of the jet are both carved into three radial grooves. When viewed from the side there is a small circular hole, c. 1mm in diameter, passing through the jet from side to side, just at the top of the shell-like rounded base. The entire object is very worn, with all edges (notably the pinked edge of the backplate, the top of the jet and the sides) very smooth. The loop is worn evenly thin. Dimensions: 26.2mm long, 14.2mm wide, 6.7mm thick. It weighs 2.7g. Discussion: Although it is not particularly easy to decipher (or describe) the appearance of the jet setting, comparison with other pendants shows that it was intended as a shell with the figure of St James the Great superimposed. The clearest examples recorded on the PAS database are SUR-5DBDA8 (2012T594), now in the British Museum (2013,8025.1), and the detached setting or jet pendant YORYM-7CE642. These show that the blunt-pointed top is likely to be St James's hat, the transverse grooves below are perhaps his eyes or the brim of the hat, the oblique grooves perhaps a beard and the longitudinal grooves with pointed ends the drapery of his robe. The flatter areas with radiating grooves represent the scallop shell which is the symbol of St James. Other pendants on the PAS database have the same sort of crude carving, including BH-DC5F0D (2014T608) and WAW-CFDD74 (2009T723), A slightly different example, larger, rectangular and with no shell element, is in the Victoria and Albert Museum collection There are good sources of jet in Asturias, on the northern Spanish coast, near to the shrine of St James at Santiago de Compostela, and so it is likely that the pendant was made in Spain. It is likely to have come to England as a souvenir of pilgrimage. Date: The example from the Victoria and Albert Museum is thought to be of 17th-century date, but the examples on the PAS database are likely to be earlier. They can be compared with heart-shaped pendants with cusped edges engraved with symbols of Christ's wounds (e.g. NMGW-221F3A, NMS-B4485E) which are dated by comparison with 16th-century hooked tags with similar indented edges. Both the heart-shaped pendants and the St James pendants are overtly Catholic, and could have been worn with freedom before c. 1540, or in the period of Mary's revival of Catholicism from 1553-1558. Pilgrimage to the shrine at Compostela from England would have been interrupted by the English Reformation. Field WE1

NMS-C8D60B: CUFF LINK
Description: Post-medieval silver cufflink made from two circular hollow sheet elements joined by an oval silver wire link. Each element has a slightly domed front made from pressed sheet, with a beaded border of short radial ridges and a central facing bust with long curly hair, prominent facial features and a large crown. One of the fronts is dented. Each element also retains a separate flat sheet backplate, with an integral central loop flanked by a pair of small circular perforations. The two loops are linked by an oval silver wire link which is almost long enough to allow them to lie flat side by side. Dimensions: Each element is 16mm in diameter and 5mm thick from front to back.The oval link is 15mm long and the total weight is 2.4g.. Discussion and Date: The bust is almost certainly that of Charles II, dating the cufflink to 1660-1685. A similar complete cufflink on the PAS database is WMID-C68903 (2011T587), and there are single elements too, some marked CR; see NMS-A4BFD9, NCL-9211A5 and ESS-516347.

NMS-3E5C7E: HOARD
Iron Age hoard of four copper-alloy objects, comprising a pair of strap-mounts, a binding strip and a ring. 1. First of a pair of cast copper-alloy strap mounts. Description: The mount takes the form of a looped drop-shaped openwork frame, of D-shaped cross-section (flat on the reverse),with the ends of the loop cast as if butted together before curling outward to form supports for two conjoined roundels at the terminal. A third roundel is contained within the loop, attached to the inner sides where they narrow towards the terminal. Each of these roundels has a slightly offset circular groove, the offset giving the outer part the suggestion of a crescentic form. The grooves contain a reddish-brown deposit, probably iron staining. The central roundel has, on the reverse, a series of nicks on the edge which projects into the interior. In the centre, the nicks are radial, but to either side they stay parallel with each other and so become oblique to the edge. At the opposite, rounded, edge, a stud projects forward from the face, comprising a circular-sectioned shaft with a discoidal head decorated with a low central dome within a groove. This stud is similar to those seen on baldric rings. To each side of this stud there is a slightly depressed circle, the end of a peg or rivet inserted from the reverse. A fine incised curved line crosses the convex face of the mount on either side of the springing of the stud, and runs along each side bordering the lower edge before the flat reverse. On the reverse of the frame are three integrally cast, conical spikes or possible rivets (one on either side and one at the pointed end of the loop), one complete rectangular loop and the remains of a second loop. The complete rectangular loop is integrally cast on the reverse of the conjoined roundels, just 7mm from the third rivet, and is decorated on its main face with four narrow longitudinal grooves; internal dimensions 14 x 3mm, externally 19.6 x 5.9mm. Where the ends spring from the roundels, the cross-section measures roughly 6 x 3mm. At the other, rounded end, there are two stubs of posts, pegs or rivets for attaching a second, separately cast loop; one is oval and 2.3 x 3.1mm, the other is circular and c. 2.3mm in diameter. The mount has dark brown patination. Dimensions: Length 77mm. Width 43.5mm, thickness of frame 6mm. Length of projecting disc-headed stud 7mm. Length of spikes or rivets 13.5mm, 14.5mm and 15mm. Diameter of spikes or rivets 7mm (at base), each tapering (with a convex profile) to a point. Weight 74.9g. 2. Second of a pair of cast copper-alloy strap mounts: Description: The mount takes the same form as no. 1, but on the reverse the two rectangular loops are complete. That at the rounded end is decorated on its exterior with two longitudinal grooves (internal dimensions 13.5 x 4mm, externally 4.1 x 18.7mm), and that at the opposite end on the back of the terminal is decorated with three longitudinal grooves (internal dimensions 11 x 3mm, externally 5.9 x 18.4mm), the latter loop lying just 7mm from the third spike or rivet. The ends of the pegs or rivets used to attach the smaller loop can again just be seen on the front of the mount. This mount has dark green patination with some slight corrosion, and there is a little iron corrosion on the reverse. Dimensions: Length 77mm. Width 45mm, thickness of frame 6mm. Length of projecting disc-headed stud 7.5mm. Length of spikes or rivets 13.5mm, 14.5mm and 15mm. Diameter of spikes or rivets 7mm (at base), each tapering (with a convex profile) to a point. Weight 77.3g. Discussion of 1 and 2: The form of these mounts is sometimes known as ‘lyre-shaped’. They are paralleled by at least four very similar examples, all found singly. One is recorded on the PAS database, from a location known as Barnby-in-the-Willows, Nottinghamshire (DENO-B67153). Another, from Pegsdon Common Farm, Shillington, Bedfordshire, comes from a site thought to be a religious sanctuary (Burleigh 2018, 6). A third was found at Dragonby, Lincs (May 1970; May 1996, 278, no.83, fig. 11.26) and a fourth at the late Iron Age hillfort at Rainsborough, Northants (Fox 1958; Jope 2000, pl. 271, nos. d, e, f). Three have been dated to c. 50 BC to c. 100 AD, but the Rainsborough example appears to be earlier on stylistic grounds. The disc-headed stud which projects from the front is presumably to take a strap, perhaps passing through a slit or a loop. The loops on the reverse are presumably for straps; these would have been a little smaller than width c.11mm and thickness c.3mm. The straps would have had to double back over the loop, to avoid the spike or rivet next to it at the narrow end, and would presumably have done the same at the broad end. The spikes or rivets themselves are thick and and of unusual, perhaps somewhat impractical, conical profile for a rivet; they would have had little purchase on leather, and whatever they fixed the mount into would have to be so narrow that its edges would probably be visible within the openwork. Burleigh (2018, 6) has suggested instead that the spikes on the Pegsdon example could have held the mount proud of the strap, rather than fixing it to a base. It has also been suggested by Pauline Norris (pers.comm.) that the spikes on the inside of the mount can be paralleled with similar spikes on Ancient Egyptian bridles (with a good parallel in the Ashmolean Museum) which were designed to keep the horse's head and prevent it turning. For other similar pieces with 'spikes' on the reverse of probable harness fittings, see PAS records for LON-93E5A3, SWYOR-0FF679 and LANCUM-DC3370. 3. Copper-alloy binding strip Description: Copper-alloy binding strip from an unknown object, possibly harness. Incomplete and probably originally U-shaped, it is now broken across the rounded base with one vertical arm surviving. The arm is of shallow U-shaped cross-section. There is a crack from a rivet hole in the base of the object to one edge, and the rivet is missing, a further rivet hole towards the end of the curve before the upright arm retains its pointed copper-alloy rivet (length 7.5mm). The strip tapers from the base to the remains of the upper end of the arm and has two engraved bordering lines on the outer face. The upper end of the arm bifurcates to form what appears to have been an openwork lozengiform terminal with one surviving flat-backed roundel (of probably an original two) with a concentric groove in its face, offset from the upper edge of the lozengiform frame. The metal has dark brown patination. Dimensions: Extant length/height 138mm. Extant width c.50mm (estimated width if symmetrical and U-shaped c.95-100mm). Width at the base 11mm, tapering to 6.5mm before the elaborate broken terminal. 2mm thick at the base, 3mm thick at the upper end. The decorative roundel is 3-5mm thick and has a diameter of 11.5mm (estimated width if symmetrical and lozengiform 26mm). Weight 24.2g. Discussion: This item is superficially similar to a scabbard chape, but is too deep and broad; see estimated dimensions above. 4. Copper-alloy ring Description: Copper alloy ring, of sub-triangular section with a rounded median arris on the outer face, flanked by two fine incised lines. The inner face has a median casting flash with two opposed slight knops, possibly the stumps of very small casting jets. The metal has dark brown patination. Dimensions: External diameter 25mm. Internal diameter 19.5mm. Width 5mm. Weight 5.7g. Discussion: Similar rings with sub-triangular cross-sections and external decoration are known from Iron Age sites and contexts; they are often called ‘harness rings’ or ‘scabbard rings’. Examples include one from Camerton (Jackson 1990, no. 141; BM 1982,0103.141 ) and several recorded on the PAS database, including LANCUM-5BFE21, IOW-9204A2, SF-15D4AE, WILT-FD19E0 and WILT-A2FFF0. Discussion of group The two matching decorative mounts are the most important element of the assemblage from Wood Dalling, suggesting that these ‘lyre-shaped’ mounts could have been used in pairs. The Wood Dalling pair fit well into the distribution, which is broadly focused on the east Midlands. Their function is still uncertain, and must have been very specific, using both the spikes and the loops. The spikes would work well as irritants to keep a horse's head straight, if the mounts were used on either side of a bridle. The incomplete piece of decorative binding strip, which has design affinities with the mounts, would also be at home on horse-harness, or even on a vehicle. Hoards containing harness and strap fittings of Late Iron Age date have been found from right across the country, including Polden Hill, Somerset (Brailsford 1975) and Stanwick, North Yorkshire (MacGregor 1962), as well as from East Anglia. They tend to be mixed-object hoards, combining horse-related objects together with other, often fragmented, items which are unrelated by function. Hoards which contain mainly horse-related objects are well-known from Norfolk. They have been found predominantly in west-central/south Norfolk. Four are from Breckland, at Ovington (HER 15050), Quidney Farm, Saham Toney (Bates 2000), Whinburgh (HER 55521), and Santon (Spratling 2009). One comes from South Norfolk, at Carleton Rode (HER 39434), and one from West Norfolk, at Ringstead (Clarke 1951). Wood Dalling, from Broadland, can now be added and fits into the main area of distribution. Ringstead is a geographical outlier, coming from the north-west of the county. A Boudican context has been suggested for the assemblage from Santon (Spratling 2009), as well as for many of Norfolk’s Iron Age coin hoards (Talbot 2017) but other metalwork hoards from the county might also have had that association. Date of hoard Material of this type has long been dated to the late Iron Age, but is now being given a date-range extending beyond the traditional date of the Roman conquest in 43 AD. The Wood Dalling hoard is likely to date from 50 BC to 100 AD.

NMS-3FF8BF: FINGER RING
Description: Gold finger-ring with posy inscription. The hoop is now bent slightly out of shape but was originally circular; there are a couple of nicks on the edge. It is a low D-shape in cross-section, with a slightly curved outer face and a flat inner face. There is no decoration on the outside. The inscription takes up just over half of the inner face, and reads in seriffed Roman capitals, FEARE x GOD x Dimensions: The hoop measures c. 20 x 22mm and was probably 21mm in original diameter (around 18mm internal diameter). It is 4.5mm wide and 1.3mm thick, and weighs 4.6g. Discussion: The inscription, or slightly longer variants, is well known from similar plain gold finger-rings such as KENT-DCCAC4 (2009T39) and NMS-77149D (2019T366). Date: 17th century.

NMS-AB3A70: DRESS FASTENER (DRESS)
Description: Post-medieval gilded silver dress fastener made in two parts soldered together. The plate is circular, slightly convex on the front, with the edge 'pinked' or cut into several small convex rounded scallops. This edge is interrupted in three places, each a quarter-way round the circle, for projecting lugs pierced with circular sewing holes; two have broken away and one is complete. Within this edge is a circular filigree border made from twisted wire; within this is a ring of 15 pellets, each one surrounded by a tiny collar of twisted wire. Next comes another circle of twisted wire, then six small annulets of wire and a central, slightly larger, pellet. The front has a dark yellow coating. The reverse is undecorated, slightly concave and has a pale yellow coating. In the centre is a slightly raised area as if the central pellet on the front has been pressed down on. The final space around the circumference is occupied by a wire loop which has been soldered on. The wire is circular in cross-section except at the ends, where it has been flattened to make a better joint. The loop has been gilded on all faces. Dimensions: surviving length with loop 19.7mm, surviving width at right angles to this 17.4mm, diameter of plate without lugs 15.5mm, thickness 4.0mm, weight 2.0g. Discussion: Composite hooks and eyes made from plates with soldered-on wire elements are well known 16th-century finds, with examples catalogued in Read (2008, nos. 597-605) and recorded on the PAS database. This one conforms to Read's class B, type 2 (circular plate) but has more complex decoration than any of Read's examples. It is perhaps closest to SWYOR-2AAC8D (2016T219), which also appears to have had integral lugs; and KENT-3F6696 (2014T423) which also has pellet and annulet decoration. Date: The use of filigree and pellets dates it to the 16th century.

NMS-3A5AC6: MOUNT
Copper-alloy object, probably a mount and probably of 11th-century date. It is square or lozengiform, all edges slightly outcurved, and with a projecting pierced lug at each corner. The lugs have straight sides and a pointed top and the perforation is circular and 1.8mm in diameter. The body of the mount is thick and slightly convex; it is pierced by a small circular central hole (diameter 1.9mm) which is surrounded by four larger circular holes, one in the centre of each side of the square or lozenge. Three are 2.9mm in diameter and the fourth is 3.1mm in diameter. Each of the larger circular holes is set within a C-shaped curve, which is probably better described as a horseshoe shape, as it seems to consist of two curving lines which meet at a slight point by the central hole. These lines are made from grooves filled with a pale grey substance in which short lengths of very fine silvery zig-zag or wavy lines survive, probably very fine silver wires. There is no decoration on the slightly concave reverse. The object measures 27.8mm from one lug to the other, measured lozenge-wise, and is more irregular when seen as a square (with sides varying from 21 to 22mm). It is made from metal generally about 2.5mm thick, but the curve gives an overall maximum thickness of 3.3mm. It weighs 5.6g. In its overall form, the object can perhaps be compared with the much larger mounts NMS-669DB7 and YORYM-4F88D5. There may also be some relationship to the small flat cruciform mounts WMID-FEE836 and SF-0DC0A2. The decoration of a zig-zag or undulating line set within niello can be found on stirrup fittings, such as a stirrup terminal from Lincolnshire now in the British Museum (Williams 1997, Datasheet 24, fig. 3; BM acc. no. 1994,1010.1) or several stirrup-strap mounts, fourteen of which have been catalogued by Williams (Williams 1997, CBA Res Rep 111, 24). On the database, compare BUC-DC8057, SF-3F8005, CORN-C57246 and HAMP2610. These are all dated broadly to the 11th century.

NMS-4069FB: HARNESS PENDANT
Medieval copper-alloy horse-harness pendant with enamel inlay. The pendant is in the shape of a sexfoil with each foil having an outcurved edge. There is a worn relief design within a reserved border, of two lions in profile looking left, each with a paw raised, one above the other, with a bend (a diagonal strip) over the top of both. The background has traces of red enamel, and the bend has a minute speck of silvery metal in one place, raising the possibility that it might have had a white-metal coating. In heraldic language this can be described as Gules two lions passant gardant or a bend argent over all. The uppermost foil has a short neck projecting from it which ends in a rounded lug which is pierced from side to side to form a suspension loop. The whole object tapers in thickness from the loop, which is 6.5mm thick, to the top of the sexfoil (2.2mm thick), to the bottom of the object (1.5mm thick). It is 35.9mm long, 25.8mm wide, and weighs 7.8g. (For the overall shape, compare NMS-21CF50 and HAMP-45CD0B - I will probably remove these comparisons once there is a photo).

NMS-7B5EC2: CUFF LINK
Description: Circular silver object, probably a cufflink element but possibly a button. It is flat with a slightly down-turned edge. The front has a repoussé profile bust of Queen Anne looking left, wearing drapery around the shoulders fastened by a six-lobed brooch. The hair is gathered up but the details are unclear; she may be wearing an ear-ring and perhaps a comb with a circular loop. An inscription around the edge reads (in front of the head) ANNA.DE and (behind the head) GRA. (Anne by the Grace of God). The bust and inscription are contained within a plain ridged border with worn beading outside. On the reverse, a concave impression of the design on the front can be seen; in the centre there is a circular loop set transversely across the design, now slightly bent. Dimensions: diameter 14.5mm, surviving thickness as bent 5.0mm, weight 0.7g. Discussion: There are now several buttons or cufflink elements bearing the image of Queen Anne recorded on the PAS database. Some are solid with flat backs and are perhaps equally likely to be buttons; others have down-turned edges and concave reverses and are more definitely cufflink elements (such as HAMP-BD5ED1, 2014T44). Date: Queen Anne reigned from 1702 to 1714, giving the likely date for this object.

NMS-46CB36: BUTTON
Description: Incomplete silver cast hollow plano-convex circular button. The front would have been domed and perhaps decorated, but most of it is missing. The back is flat and has two circular blow holes, one either side of the incomplete attachment loop. Dimensions: 4.9mm high; 13mm in diameter Discussion and Date: Broadly similar examples abound on the Portable Antiquities Scheme database (e.g. 2012 T950, NMS-313FF1) and are dated to the 17th century. In London, such buttons seem not have been produced after this time (Egan 2005, 50).

NMS-54D4F7: RING
Small ring made from plaited silver wire. The wire is circular in cross-section, 0.4mm in diameter. What appears to be a single piece of wire is wrapped around to produce a simple loose three-strand plait, each strand consisting of two parallel wires. The ring thus produced is oval, 14.5 x 12.7mm, and about 1.5mm wide and 0.9mm thick. It weighs 0.3g. Rings such as these are fairly common detector finds and have not yet been satisfactorily explained. They vary from very small, such as this one, to wide cylinders made up of many multiple strands (e.g. DENO-F7EC2C and KENT-A512A4). The wire can be circular or square in cross-section, and is often tightly twisted (e.g. HAMP1397 and BUC-5C624A). The best parallels to this one on the PAS database include SF-64D062 and LANCUM-D87896. They bear some resemblance to Viking dome-shaped mounts formed of interwoven silver wire, and also to a ring from the 'scourge' in the ninth-century Trewhiddle hoard. but the most likely function is as decorative rings of plaited silver wire around the hilts of swords and rapiers. There are several in the collection of the Royal Armouries, placed at the top of wire-wrapped grips. They appear on English swords from at least the early 17th to late 18th century (Dufty 1974, pls. 28 a, b and d, 39c, 46, 47a, 48a, 50b, 63 and 97c). Examples include the sword reputed to have been used by Cromwell at Drogheda, and a sword used by Napoleon, illustrating the potential date-range (Dufty 1974, pls. 46 and 85). It has also been suggested that they may have been decorative ferrules from 19th-century walking sticks, but with no sources cited.

NMS-D4FA0A: MOUNT
Incomplete copper-alloy mount of Roman date, probably originally circular but with much of the edge now missing (worn breaks). It is flat, with a raised ring about halfway between the edge and the centre. Within this the front of the object is slightly concave, or dished, and the surface is very smooth and polished here. There is a small raised circle in the centre, with a sunken central dot. The reverse has two sturdy circular-section stumps, representing the remains of integral rivets. Maximum surviving diameter 25.5mm. Thickness including rivets 6mm. Weight 7.1g. The closest parallel on the PAS database is SF-2C4A07.

NMS-E5A3F4: SEAL MATRIX
Small copper-alloy seal matrix with circular die and hexagonally faceted handle rising to a simple rounded pierced end. The die is difficult to read. The central motif is a swan-like bird or dragon, in profile looking right (on the cast), with a long S-shaped curved neck above, and possible feet below the body. The inscription is very worn, but appears to start behind the animal's rump with a star and to read * IE SV S...ISE, perhaps a variant of the common 'ie su pris' (I am taken) motto. 14th century. Height 17.6mm, diameter 17.0mm, weight 5.4g.

NMS-E83F16: BROOCH
Copper-alloy brooch of 'cogwheel' type. It is circular and openwork, 30.2mm in diameter, and has a central convex lozenge surrounded by a groove. Beyond the groove are four slightly curved relief lines, one along each side of the lozenge, with each line ending in a flat disc. There are thus two flat discs at either corner of the lozenge, forming a cross shape. The ends of the cross are joined by a ring of copper alloy, leaving four roughly D-shaped holes in the brooch. A groove runs around the centre of the outer ring, and the exterior is shaped into 18 teeth, small rectangular projections, one of which is missing (worn break). On the reverse, two opposing ends of the cross have integral semi-circular lugs, bringing the maximum thickness to 7.0mm. Both lugs are parallel to the edge of the brooch, and both have circular perforations. One is the pin lug; the other has a slot cut through between the edge and the perforation, and is therefore the catchplate. Between the two, the reverse of the lozenge is hollow, and has the remains of a casting seam running parallel to the line of the missing pin. It weighs 7.0g. Weetch dates this type to the 9th century. The distribution is strongly concentrated in Norfolk and Suffolk (Weetch 2014, 216-17).

NMS-E9FD7E: UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT
Copper-alloy unidentified object, probably of late Iron Age or early Roman date. It is cast in one piece, sub-triangular and in the shape of an animal head, broken at both ends. The nose has a squared-off break which appears relatively unworn; it is oval in cross-section. A fine engraved line runs up the centre of the top of the muzzle from the break to where the eyes meet. The large eyes are two raised flat circular discs, each one around 10mm in diameter, and the head flares out to accommodate them. Behind the eyes, the other break is also not very worn. It cuts across a flat-topped circular boss on top of the head, which perhaps has a fine line outlining it and may originally have been inlaid with enamel. The reverse is curiously shaped, with a circular indentation behind the possibly enamelled roundel which is then surrounded by an inward-sloping circle around 7-8mm wide, not all of which survives due to the break at the neck. Surviving length 34.8mm, maximum width 22.3mm, maximum thickness 9.6mm, weight 18.8g. Perhaps the base of a handle, with the nose of the animal developing from the narrow body of the handle; compare Tassinari 1975, nos. 192, 195 and 200, although these are all human heads and all with the handle springing from the top of the head.

NMS-EA2D3C: UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT
Pointed object or fragment of object of cast copper alloy. The broken end is concave and although now worn, looks as if it was broken at a time when the metal was not brittle. It is pentagonal in cross-section at the break, with rounded angles; these facets run to the point, tapering gently and first and then more sharply, although with no obvious break of curve. There are longitudinal grooves on the more steeply tapering area which are irregular and appear more due to wear than to deliberate manufacture. Length 38.5mm, maximum cross-section c. 10mm across, weight 12.6g.

NMS-E49F9B: PENDANT
Description: Gold pendant set with cabochon-cut gem, probably a garnet. The gem is smoothly polished, but is now cracked across its lower right-hand edge. It is placed on a gold backplate and surrounded with a gold strip collar, slightly curved transversely to fit around the stone; this is now cracked in places. The join between backplate and collar is covered with two layers of beaded gold wire filigree, now very worn, especially to either side of the suspension loop. The suspension loop is formed out of a projection integral to the backplate, which is now broken just above the body of the pendant. The loop remains complete but is flattened out into a long projecting strip. It is corrugated into two longitudinal grooves and three ridges, which run right along its length down to a rounded end at the back where it is soldered to the backplate. Dimensions: Total length with bent-out suspension loop 26.2mm, length of pendant without loop 18mm, width 12.3mm, thickness 5.1mm, weight 2.8g. Discussion: This is a very typical example of a well-made Anglo-Saxon gold and garnet cabochon pendant. Similar examples can be found on the PAS database at LIN-9FF479 (2016T838), LEIC-437467 (2006T568), LIN-18EEC1 (2011T691), SF-CD3B63 (2010T348) and SWYOR-70F9A6 (2015T609). They were worn by women throughout the 7th century, at first singly or on necklaces of mixed items, but after the middle of the century on impressive necklaces of gold spacers and suites of pendants, such as those from the famous graves of Desborough in Northamptonshire or Galley Low in Derbyshire. Date: Gold and garnet cabochon pendants appear to have been in use for the whole of the 7th century AD (Geake 1997, 39-40).

Small and crudely made double-loop buckle frame with white-metal coating. One loop is almost rectangular, flaring slightly to the outside edge; the other is D-shaped, with outside edge incurved internally. The cross-section is trapezoidal or D-shaped, with a slightly hollowed reverse. Length 21.9mm, width 17mm, thickness 2mm, weight 1.9mm. Almost identical to Whitehead 2003, no. 570, which Whitehead dates to c. 1575-1700 AD.

NMS-0C15D5: BUCKLE
Fragment of copper-alloy buckle frame consisting of the outside edge only. One break is worn, the other fresh. Both are across the frame where it is narrow, at top and bottom edges; the fragment then flares in width and thickness to two oval lobes at the centre. These lobes are decorated with oblique grooves which, although now worn, look as if they were designed to mimic a cord wound around the buckle. It is difficult to see if they continue to either side of the lobes, but there is a very faint transverse groove further along the more complete side which probably formed a border to the decoration. The reverse is flatter but still rounded, and the decoration does not continue onto the reverse. Surviving width 22.3mm, surviving length 17.5mm, maximum thickness 4.0mm, weight 1.9g. It should perhaps be compared with 13th- or 14th-century buckles such as NMS-34FF72 and PUBLIC-C7D4F2.

NMS-11712B: BROOCH
Small and slender copper-alloy Roman brooch of Colchester derivative hinged type. The wings are cylindrical, tapering very gently to 4mm in diameter at the ends; they are bent over an iron axis bar with a slot in the centre for a missing pin. The wings are decorated on the front with three narrow transverse grooves on the outer halves. The slender D-section bow has a flattened area down its highest point, with a central longitudinal ridge; these elements peter out at the top, just below the slot, and about halfway down the bow. On the reverse, the lowest part of the bow has the remains of a catchplate. The bow tapers to a pointed and corroded end, and may be incomplete. Surviving length 28.8mm, 26.8mm wide across wings, weight 4.0g. There does not seem to be any very close parallel in Mackreth 2011; the best one is probably no. 2437. First or early second century AD.

NMS-11D5B8: HOOKED TAG
Tiny copper-alloy hooked tag of early-medieval date, Read's Class A, Type 2. The thin plate was probably originally circular, as part of a compass-drawn border circle can be seen at the junction of hook and plate, but now quite a bit of the edge has worn or been broken away to make it oval or sub-triangular. It has a central circular hole (c. 1.1mm in diameter) outlined with a similar groove, and a very faint second circle outside this. There are two similarly sized circular sewing holes above, one of which has broken through to the edge; they are separated by a ring-and-dot motif. There are five similar ring-and-dot motifs around the rest of the edge of the plate. One dot has broken through to the edge and to the reverse. The tapering hook below is cut out of the same sheet as the plate, and turned under; it is complete except for its very tip. The plate measures 9.8mm in width and may originally have been c. 10mm in diameter; it is 0.5mm thick. The entire hooked tag is 17.9mm long, and it weighs 0.3g. Hooked tags were in use from the mid 7th century until the 11th century, but it is most likely that this one is of middle Anglo-Saxon date (8th or 9th century). Compare Read 2008, 15, nos. 60 and 63; and on the PAS database, SF-B065F8, SF-F1ED31, SF-27DD0B and NMS-648AFC. They seem to have a Norfolk and Suffolk distribution.

NMS-1FD07A: SEAL MATRIX
Cast copper-alloy suspension loop, probably from a medieval seal matrix. The broken shaft is hexagonally faceted and slightly flattened, measuring 3.5mm between the two larger faces and 4.3mm perpendicular to this close to the fresh break. This faceted area ends in a triple collar with bold central ridge flanked by a pair of slimmer ridges. Beyond this is a worn suspension loop formed from two arms rising out of the collar to form a V shape, then curving with an external step to a slimmer curved top. Surviving length 14.4mm, width of suspension loop 7.2mm, maximum thickness (at collar) 5.3mm, weight 1.3g. The flattened shape of the faceted area suggests that if this did come from a seal matrix, it is likely to have had an oval die; the shape of the loop, although very worn, suggests that it may originally have been quatrefoil. It is most likely to be 14th century or perhaps slightly later. Compare YORYM-83E2D7, YORYM-A667B8, SWYOR-6C4CA7, HAMP-0A27BD, LIN-25B6DE.

NMS-207158: MIRROR CASE
Part of a medieval copper-alloy mirror case. About a third of one half is missing and the surviving area has a large dent and crack. It was originally flat and circular with a small right-angled edge to hold the glass of the mirror, which is now missing. A pair of lugs survives on one side, pierced to hold a copper-alloy hinge bar.From this extends a line of double punched opposed triangles (interrupted rocker-arm) which runs to the break and probably originally went right across the object. To either side of this line are two curved lines of similar double triangles, three of which survive more or less complete out of an original four. These four lines form a cross shape, but there is no trace of a second central line crossing the other straight line. The fragment measures 35mm parallel to the line of the lugs and straight line of punched ornament. It measures 30.95mm perpendicular to this, which probably represents the original diameter without lugs. The lugs take the total thickness up to 4.6mm, and it weighs 3.9g. The breaks are neither particularly worn nor particularly fresh, and there is no trace of cement on the interior. In London, similar mirror cases are found in contexts of the late 13th to mid 14th century (Egan and Pritchard 1991, 361-2, nos. 1714-16.

NMS-64CE6D: PADLOCK
Part of a small late medieval padlock case made from copper alloy. It consists of an originally broadly circular sheet, now missing part of the edge on one side; there is an apparently original rectangular cut-out along the opposite side. There are two small rounded projecting lugs at the top, one of which is pierced with a circular hole. Roughly in the centre is a keyhole, with rectangular base and expanded circular top. It is decorated on one face with four double rows of punched opposed triangles or interrupted rocker-arm, forming curves or oblique lines, similar to those found on medieval copper-alloy mirror cases; these form a concave-sided lozenge which surrounds the keyhole. It tapers in thickness from 1.3mm thick at the top to 0.6mm thick at the bottom. Length 19.6mm, width 17.6mm, weight 1.5g. A good comparison is the more complete HAMP-581C68, which has similar decoration, and a rectangular indentation on both edges. Post-medieval padlocks such as LON-D95F33 also occasionally have the single pierced lug, perhaps to hold a hinged hasp. Padlocks made from sheet-metal components are known from the late medieval period onwards; the decoration on this one suggests a 14th-century date.

NMS-6553F3: BROOCH
Incomplete copper-alloy disc brooch of Kershaw's East Anglian series, of late early-medieval date. It is flat and was originally circular, now 28.9mm in diameter but very worn. An area is missing from the edge, with a worn right-angled break. The brooch is decorated with the characteristic ornament of a central sunken circle surrounded by a raised double-strand concave-sided lozenge, the corners of which are extended into double-strand ribbons which are loosely knotted. The ends of each strand curl to give a clockwise feel to the ornament. On the reverse is a broken pin lug, parallel to the edge, and an incomplete catchplate perpendicular to the edge. When viewed from the reverse with the pin lug uppermost, the catchplate curls to the left. It weighs 5.5g and dates to c. 850-1000 AD.

NMS-65B566: PIN
Copper-alloy pin with spherical head 6mm in diameter, with faint traces of horizontal lines suggesting that it has been made by winding and hammering wire. The narrow shaft is 1.6mm in diameter for most of its length until it tapers to a sharp point. The shaft is now bent up sharply to form an angle of about 60 degrees. There is no trace of a collar. Original length c. 60mm, weight 1.7g. Now rather corroded. The style of manufacture and the neat precision with which it is made suggests a post-medieval date; compare a very similar one with a wound wire head from a late 16th- to early 17th-century context in Winchester (Biddle 1990, no. 1455). On the PAS database, compare SF-DB5CAD (which is similarly bent) and OXON-D34750.

NMS-65F5C3: BROOCH
Copper-alloy Colchester one-piece brooch of late Iron Age or early Roman date, now worn, bent and incomplete. One wing survives apparently intact; it is short, and rectangular in cross-section. The other is missing (worn break). The right-hand side of the spring survives (viewed from the reverse) with three coils before the chord, which passes under the forward-facing hook. The other side of the spring is missing along with any axis bar. The bow starts at the top with a wide oval cross-section (6mm wide and 3mm thick); it appears to be undecorated. It tapers smoothly to a circular cross-section and then continues to taper to a pointed foot. It is bent just above the remains of a catchplate on the reverse. Surviving length as bent, 39mm; possible original length 58-60mm. Surviving width 12mm, possible original width c. 14mm. Weight 4.6g.

NMS-784F33: COSMETIC MORTAR
Late Iron Age or early Roman copper-alloy cosmetic mortar of end-looped type, missing part of its loop (worn breaks). It is U-shaped in cross-section, with a smoothly polished concave interior and a slightly more angled exterior. It has a very grey patina that is now corroded and flaking, especially on the exterior, over a greener inner metal, so it may originally have had a tinned or silvered surface. There is no other decoration. One end of the mortar is worn and rounded; it is difficult to tell if it is complete. The object then flares in width and thickness to the centre, after which it tapers in width (front to back) but continues at the same thickness (top to bottom) with a loop pierced through from front to back. This loop was probably originally half-oval or pentagonal internally, with a well-preserved straight edge at its junction with the rest of the mortar. Nearly half of the loop is now missing, but enough survives to be able to recreate its internal dimensions as just over 6mm long and just over 5mm wide. The lower side of the mortar continues smoothly into the lower edge of the loop. The surviving length is 52.4mm, the width across the centre from front to back is 9.0mm, and from top to bottom in the centre it measures 6.4mm. It then continues to increase in thickness to 8.1mm at the junction with the loop; the surviving maximum thickness at the loop is 9.5mm It weighs 12.8g. This form, with the loop made within the thickness of the mortar rather than in an expanded projection, is relatively unusual. The closest parallel is probably WMID-7B8027; other parallels include SF-4D1BA1, IOW-2C45B4, KENT-ECCBE0, HESH-52A934 and SF-B433F1. Cosmetic mortars were used with pestles to grind small quantities of cosmetic pastes and powders, and date to the 1st century BC to the early 2nd century AD.

NMS-78A5FE: BROOCH
Small medieval copper-alloy annular brooch with copper-alloy pin surviving. The frame is circular, 17.5mm in diameter and 2.6mm wide, and broadly triangular in cross-section, with a slightly angled reverse and faceted front. It has a pin constriction, and a grooved pin rest opposite. The two facets on the front are interrupted by six sub-square mouldings, two flanking the pin constriction and therefore close together, and the other four evenly spaced to either side of the pin. Each one has raised decoration of a six-pointed star made from three lines crossing. There is a silvery white-metal coating on all faces of the frame. The pin is a piece of plain undecorated slim copper-alloy strip, 1.3mm wide at most, curled around the pin constriction; it has traces of a white-metal coating on the reverse by the loop. The brooch is 1.9mm thick at most and weighs 0.9g. Small annular brooches were fashionable in the 13th and 14th centuries, and many have six bosses around a circular frame.

NMS-794915: CLOTH SEAL
Complete two-disc lead cloth seal, a privy seal of a clothier, weaver or searcher. Disc 1 is stamped with the incuse initials LA side by side. Disc 2 has relief initials IS, with scrolly knotwork around, within a circular border of a narrow ridge within a broader one. 24.8mm long including connecting strip, 21.4mm wide, weighs 6.6g. This is a common combination on 18th-century cloth seals; compare SUR-DEAE12, WILT-9FFF41, SUR-8E5E7D, etc.

NMS-F9589D: UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT
Incomplete cruciform or cross-shaped object made from copper alloy and now corroded. Three arms survive, all tapering from the centre both in width and thickness, and with D-shaped cross-sections. Two opposing arms are longer, giving a total length of 33.3mm. They appear to be broken at their ends (worn breaks. The shorter arm is definitely incomplete although the break is again worn; the missing arm has an unworn break. The upper face of the object is slightly convex, the underside slightly concave, with an equal curve to all the arms. There is no decoration, but there is an off-centre bump or corrosion bubble on the convex upper face. Surviving width 20mm, thickness at centre 3.25mm, overall thickness perhaps 4.3mm, weight 3.4g. Close parallels are difficult to find. It does not appear to be a medieval horse-harness pendant or suspension mount.

NMS-4C320F: SLEEVE CLASP
Description: Five fragments from an early Anglo-Saxon silver wire wrist-clasp of Hines Class A, together with a sixth silver fragment, probably from a different object. Fragment 1: One spiral terminal survives complete, with two full turns of the spiral, The inner tip is pointed and coiled more tightly; this tight loop or coil is on the inner side, close to the hook or catch. Just beyond the tip, the wire is beaded, or ribbed, for a short distance (about a quarter of a turn). This beading is crisp on one face and worn on the other, suggesting that the unworn face was next to the sleeve and the worn face was the display face. The broken end of Fragment 1 is mis-shapen, bent up and then round into a wide curve, and worn to a point. The bends here may be a result of breakage and it is unclear whether the bend up should suggest a hook-piece, or the wide bend should suggest a catch-piece. The wire is 2.0mm in diameter for most of its length. The terminal is 19mm in diameter, and weighs 3.1g. Fragment 2: This is from another spiral terminal, with the same tightly coiled, pointed tip and ribbed decoration, but there seems to be no wear on the ribbing. This has a fresh break after just one turn. It measures 1.3mm in diameter at the tight coil, and 2.0mm in diameter at the break. The coil is 12mm in diameter, and weighs 0.8g. Fragment 3: This is an evenly curved piece of wire 2.0mm in diameter, with a fresh break at each end. It measures about 17.7mm in diameter and weighs 1.0g. It could be part of the same spiral terminal as Fragment 2. Fragment 4: A piece of wire with diameter flaring from 1.6mm to 1.9mm in diameter. It is bent into a slightly irregular curve and weighs 0.6g. Fresh breaks at either end. Fragment 5: A short piece of curved wire 1.9mm in diameter and weighing 0.3g. Fragment 6: A small piece of silver sheet, C-shaped in cross-section, with a dull interior and a polished exterior. All edges are broken. There appears to be part of a stamped annulet on the exterior at one edge. Although the fragment is small, there are hints that it comes from a curved or circular object. It is 11.5mm long, 5.8mm wide, 0.4mm thick and it weighs 0.2g. Dimensions: Total weight of fragments 1-5, 5.9g. Together with fragment 6, total weight 6.0g. Discussion: The beaded or ribbed areas, made by adding closely spaced transverse grooves, are paralleled on a clasp from Beeby in Lincolnshire (Hines 1993, fig. 5b). The tightly coiled tip is paralleled on a clasp from Holywell Row in Suffolk, as well as an example on the PAS database (SF-BC7072); on both of these, the loop is on the other side of the spiral. Hines coments that this loop is a particularly English feature (Hines 1993, fig. 13). Class A clasps are not common, and this is only the second one to be recorded on the PAS database. Fragment 6 seems not to belong to the same object, but there is not enough surviving to suggest what it came from. Date: In general, Class A clasps date from c. 470 to c. 550 AD. John Hines has suggested that the larger the spiral-diameter, the later the clasp, and at 19mm, the most complete fragment is a little larger than the average of 18.2mm (Hines 1993, 10). It can therefore be given a probable date-range of c. 500-550 AD.

NMS-8D314E: FINGER RING
Description: Gold finger-ring with posy inscription, now bent but still complete. The hoop is D-shaped in cross-section throughout with no bezel. The exterior is convex and the interior is flat, with the inscription I LIKE MY CHOYS in seriffed capitals. The first I is very lightly engraved compared to the rest of the inscription. There are small crosses between the words LIKE and MY (a diagonal cross) and MY and CHOYS (a more upright cross). There is a space-filling branching curved line after the end of the inscription, but still a gap between this and the start. The bends have distorted the hoop inwards, but it still lies flat on a table with no sideways bends. Dimensions: Now squashed to an oval hoop measuring 19.7 x 12.3mm externally. Width of hoop 2.8mm, thickness of hoop 0.7mm, weight 1.20g. Discussion: The different style of the first I, and the lack of a cross stop between it and the next word, suggest that it may have been an afterthought. This finger-ring type is quite common, and variations on the inscription "I like my choice" are known on many post-medieval precious-metal finger-rings (Evans,1931, 54). Examples on the PAS database include HAMP-E10890 and WILT-1203F1, both of which are close parallels to this ring. Date: The style of the lettering suggests a 17th-century date.

NMS-B32D47: BROOCH
Description: Tiny gold annular brooch with circular frame. Most of the frame is circular in cross-section, but it is interrupted by a pin constriction and by four equally spaced collars which encircle the frame and which are decorated all around with relief pellets made using an annulet punch; these are usually known as 'brambled' bosses. Pin missing. Dimensions: Maximum diameter of brooch (with bosses) 16.0mm. Diameter of frame without bosses,14.0mm. Thickness of brooch (across bosses) 2.9mm. Diameter of cross-section of frame, 1.2mm. weight 1.12g. Discussion: Brooches of this type are fairly common finds, but tend to be larger and made from silver, often gilded. Comparable objects on the PAS database include IOW-FCC801 (a small plain gold brooch with brambled boss on the pin) and LVPL-2A23B2 (a larger gold brooch with flower and brambled bosses on the frame). Date: 13th or 14th century.

NMS-DCC1ED: BUCKLE
Description: Fragment of gilded silver buckle, probably of 11th- or 12th-century date. The bar survives complete, with some casting flaws producing cavities. It is oval in cross-section, 3mm thick and 4mm wide in the centre but 5mm wide at either end. Two stubs of the relief-decorated frame survive, both curving, implying that the frame was oval. They are also wider and a little flatter than the bar. The decoration seems to show animal heads biting the ends of the bar. What appears to be the upper jaw, on the exterior of the buckle frame, has a squared-off end decorated with a pair of transverse grooves; on one head these are joined at the base by a single groove at right angles, which retains a niello inlay. The upper curve of the upper jaw is emphasised by another groove filled with niello. The lower jaw (on the interior of the buckle) is simpler, and the mouth is widely open. Behind the upper jaw is a curved recess (the back of the mouth), and within this a long, slim D-shaped element, perhaps a tongue, curves backwards and downwards towards the interior of the frame, apparently crossing the lower jaw. This element has a central groove inlaid with niello. Behind where the two jaws join is a curved ridge, although this only survives on one head; behind this the frame is broken. The breaks are unworn. There is gilding surviving in the grooves and recesses; the bar and the reverse are apparently ungilded. On the reverse of the object, one of the animal heads (with better-surviving niello) is flat and the other is slightly hollowed. The object was clearly one-sided and not meant to be seen from the reverse. Dimensions: Total surviving length of the fragment (across the width of the buckle) 44mm; maximum width of the fragment 11mm; thickness at most 4mm; weight 6.61g. Discussion: It is difficult to find a comparable buckle frame in silver, or to find an exact.parallel to the decoration. Copper-alloy buckle frames with animal heads biting the bar are a well-known type. Griffiths, when discussing the group from Meols, calls them 'late Anglo-Saxon or Anglo-Norman' and dates them to the 10th to 12th centuries (Griffiths in Griffiths et al. 2007, 62). Most are very stylised, of chunky proportions, and decorated on both faces giving a three-dimensional effect; they do not have the element within the mouth that the Seething buckle has. A few examples can be singled out as relatively close to the Seething buckle. A similarly proportioned, but overall much bigger, copper-alloy buckle frame with relatively animal heads biting the bar was found in a metal-detecting survey at Bromholm Priory, Norfolk (Ashley 2006, 106, fig. 1, no. 5; Ashley 2016, 288, fig. 18.6, no. 32). A more single-sided, similarly sized and proportioned example comes from Fincham (Ashley 2016, 288, fig. 18.6, no. 29) but neither of these has the decorative element within the mouth, here interpreted as a lolling tongue. Another comparable example in copper alloy comes from Riseley, Bedfordshire (NMS-8EA264); while this has chunkier proportions, it is of comparable size to the Seething buckle and unusually also has an element within the mouth, this time interpreted as a fang. Date: The Bromholm and Riseley buckles have been dated to the 12th century on the basis of their animal decoration, which includes relief scrolls on the frame reminiscent of the manes on 12th-century depictions of lions. The use of gilded silver and niello, on the other hand, might suggest an earlier date, perhaps in the 11th century.

NMS-5B90BF: CUFF LINK
Description: One half of a silver cufflink. It is circular, flat and has a ridged and then down-turned edge with a crack at one point. The front is decorated with a crown over two hearts, in relief on a speckled background. The crown is neatly made with a cross visible at either end, then an arched element, and in the centre a flaring element topped with an engraved saltire. There is a row of dots along the band of the crown The reverse has a squarish loop which looks worn. The whole object is slightly bent. Dimensions: Maximum diameter 15.8mm, thickness including loop 4.25mm, weight 0.7g. Discussion: These cufflink elements are common finds, although the style of the crown varies and they appear to have been individually made. A good parallel on the PAS database is NMS-1B4EBA (2018T58). The crowned hearts motif is often thought to have celebrated the marriage of Charles II and Catherine of Braganza in 1662, but it was probably longer-lived than this. It certainly seems to have had royalist or Catholic connotations, and may also have been used as a symbol for marriage (Lewis 2013, 4-5). Date: Lewis (2013, 4-5) argues that these cufflinks are likely to date to the 17th century, but may have continued in use as late as the reign of Queen Anne (1702-1714). They were probably most popular from c. 1660 to c. 1700.

NMS-EF4376: BROOCH
Description: Brooch made from a coin, gilded on both faces. The coin is a gros tournois of Louis IX of France, issued 1266-70, and the edge is now bent backwards in two places. Obverse: Cross pattee in the centre surrounded by the legend in two rows. Outer row reads: + BNDICTV: SIT: NOME: DHI: nRI: DEI: IhV [:] XPI (the capital Ns are horizontally barred, and the stops are a vertical line of three pellets). Inner row reads + LVDOVICVS. REX. Reverse: At centre the Chatel Tournois, surrounded by the legend + TVRONVS . [CI]VIS, which is in turn surrounded by twelve fleurs-de-lis, each within a double-strand roundel. A double-lugged hinge has been attached to the reverse of the coin. Both lugs have a circular-section shaft which must pass through holes in the coin and be hammered down on the obverse, but are very well concealed; the beaded line between the two rings of inscription are obscured, perhaps by hammering. Above these shafts, the lugs widen into circular plates that are pierced to take a silver bar on which a silver pin hinges. The pin has a closed loop, and a moulded ridge all the way round at the top of a tapering D-section shaft. Any catchplate is now lost; there is no clear scar, but the brooch is bent and distorted where one would be expected. Dimensions: Measured across the least bent areas, the diameter is 25.6mm and the coin is 1.0mm thick. The pin is 22mm long and the brooch weighs 4.7g. Discussion and Date: Brooches made from silver coins were in use from the late tenth century to the very end of the 13th century. The gros tournois was particularly popular as a brooch, with at least 17 others recorded on the PAS database. Such a well-preserved and well-nade pin, however, is unusual. Date: This example was minted in 1266-70 and the modification probably dates from soon after, as the fashion was dying out by the early 14th century.

NMS-F0CE0A: STRAP END
Copper-alloy strap-end of Thomas class A, type 1, with outcurved long sides, now bent slightly convex from one end to the other. It has relatively crude decoration, described with the attachment end uppermost. The attachment end is split to take the strap, and is shaped around two circular rivet holes. Below is the vestige of a 'fan-shaped' motif, comprising an inverted V-shaped groove above a curved groove; the curved line extends beyond the V on one side, but not the other. The main panel of decoration is roughly rectangular, with both long edges straight. The uppermost short edge is incurved parallel to the curved groove of the 'fan-shaped' motif, and the lower edge is outcurved. The panel is filled with V-section grooves with transverse ribbing, as if they have been made by engraving using a hammer to provide pressure. The grooves combine to form an animal in profile, which can be seen if the strap-end is held with the attachment end to the right. The animal has a head with a rounded brow and slightly upturned snout, turned to look away from the attachment end. There is a line for a closed mouth, and a triangle for an ear. Underneath the turn of the neck there may be a slender foreleg ending in a foot. The body has some lines which hint at interlace; perhaps the tail wraps around the body. There may be a second leg, or more of the tail, filling in the upper corner of the panel at the terminal end. Outside the main panel of decoration there is an undecorated border, then a groove down each long edge of the strap-end from the very top (by the rivet holes) to the start of the animal-head terminal. The animal-head terminal is extremely sketchy, consisting of grooves forming two D-shaped ears with a tall off-centre V shape in the centre, above an engraved diagonal cross which presumably indicates eyes and nose. The end of the terminal is blunt, presumably due to the object having been made by folding a piece of sheet in half at this end and hammering the two halves together. The reverse is undecorated. The strap-end is corroded but stable, with many patches of the surface missing. It is 35.6mm long, 11.7mm wide and generally 1.3-1.5mm thick except at the attachment end, where the total thickness is 3.7mm. It weighs 3.2g. The attempt at naturalistic animal ornament within a panel suggests that the strap-end should be allocated to Class A, Type 1. Class A strap-ends date broadly to the ninth century.

NMS-02D733: HOOKED TAG
Copper-alloy hooked tag, now bent and cracked, and with the hook largely missing. The plate is openwork, with a central solid roundel bordered by a ridge. This is surrounded by oval and circular indentations, some pierced through to the back and all probably intended as holes. The upper part of the plate has five projecting trefoils, the spaces between them forming the circular holes; bars extend from two trefoils and turn a right angle to form a rectangular attachment loop. The lower part of the plate has a pair of longer relief elements curling around the oval holes. Between these is a forward-facing animal head looking like a deer, forming the top of the hook; the rest of the hook is missing (old break). The reverse is flat and undecorated. The metal is corroded to a brownish red colour. Surviving length as bent 33mm, width 18.75mm, maximum thickness 2mm, weight 3.5g. Similar to, but not exactly the same as, Read 2008, nos. 389 and 390. On the PAS database, SWYOR-A0729D is a fairly close parallel.

NMS-02FF08: BUCKLE
Just over half of a double-loop buckle frame (worn breaks). The surviving loop is a long D shape internally, with a narrowed bar slightly bent towards the outside edge. The rest of the frame is wider and D-shaped in cross-section, and runs straight across the junction with the bar. The centre of the outside edge has a projection, delineated on the frame by a V-shaped groove to give the effect of a lozenge shape at the pin rest. Length 29.5mm, width 21.5mm, maximum thickness 3mm, weight 4.3g. Whitehead dates buckles of this approximate shape to c. 1550-1650 (2003, nos. 369, 373, etc.)

NMS-033377: BUCKLE
One half of a double-loop buckle frame made from copper alloy with a white-metal coating. The remaining loop is rectangular, a quarter-circle in cross-section, with a slightly outcurved outside edge and slightly incurved top and bottom edges, to give a trapezoidal effect. The bar is narrowed and now bent outwards, and there is a knop at either end of the bar. One break is fresh and the other slightly worn. Length 17.9mm, width 27.6mm, thickness 2.3mm, weight 2.0g. The missing loop may have been D-shaped or trapezoidal.Compare Whitehead 2003, nos. 506-7 or no. 564. Both are dated by Whitehead to the late 16th or 17th centuries.

NMS-03681E: BUCKLE
Small double-loop buckle frame with one loop rectangular and one D-shaped, with outside edge incurved internally. Both have grooves bordering their outside edges. The buckle is bent up about the bar. Length as bent, 20.7mm, width 15mm, thickness at curved end 2.3mm, weight 1.9g. Similar to Whitehead 2003, no. 566, which Whitehead dates to c. 1575-1700 AD.

NMS-03AEC3: THIMBLE
Copper-alloy ring thimble. The lower rim is thickened, and the straight sides are covered with a right-hand spiral of triangular indentations. Most of the thimble has four rows of indentations. The upper rim is not marked or thickened. There is a vertical crack visible on the interior, which may indicate the position of a neat soldered seam. The lower rim is around 19mm in diameter and the upper rim is around 15mm in diameter; the thimble is 11.3mm tall and weighs 3.0g. The metal is fairly thin, measuring 0.8mm thick at the lower rim and 0.6-0.7mm thick at the upper rim. The use of the right-hand spiral suggests a date in the 16th century (Read 2018, 30).

NMS-042E13: BUCKLE
Fragment of copper-alloy buckle frame, both breaks fairly fresh. It was originally oval, with an offset narrowed bar and a flattened, expanded outside edge which is decorated with a slightly raised triangular moulding within its width. There was probably a second identical moulding at the other side, but the buckle is broken across what is probably the centre. The apex of the triangle points inwards. The bar is missing almost completely, with just a tiny stub on the other side of the offset lobe. The internal space is quite short and the curve at the side is tight; there is an internal bevel here. The overall surviving length is only 16.1mm. Surviving width 18mm, thickness 2.2mm, weight 1.5g. There is a close parallel on the PAS database at NMS-28C14A, and other similar examples at LON-D467E5 and NMS-7A2474. 13th or 14th century.

NMS-045583: MOUNT
Small copper-alloy rectangular bar-mount measuring 13.9 x 7.8mm, made from sheet 1.75mm thick. The mount is undecorated, but the front is very slightly convex and highly polished. It has two separate copper-alloy rivets, one at either end. One is incomplete and the other is bent over, bringing the thickness up to 2.7mm. It weighs 0.4g. Most of the simple bar-mounts from London are from late 13th- and early 14th-century contexts, such as Egan and Pritchard 1991, nos. 1132-1142.

NMS-04E2E1: BROOCH
Fragment of a chunky cast copper-alloy annular brooch (worn breaks). A bit less than a quarter of the circular frame survives, with two tall collets that occupy the whole width of the frame. Between the collets, the frame is slightly domed, a maximum of 3.5mm thick and 5.5mm wide; there is a relatively groove around the outside edge of the frame. The collets are rectangular in cross-section, and taper upwards to a top with a hollow oval cell with traces of white adhesive or cement; there were probably about eight of them originally. The collets are 8.0 and 8.5mm tall including the thickness of the frame, and the original diameter of the brooch must have been at least 45mm; the surviving length of the fragment is 32mm. It weighs 5.5g and dates to the 13th or 14th century.

NMS-143054: VESSEL
Fragment of rim from a cast copper alloy cooking vessel. Using a rim diameter chart the overall diameter of the rim appears to be c. 25cm. In cross-section the rim is thickened to 5.6mm, and out-turned with a slightly concave exterior; it then tapers to a sharp edge. A short length of the body or side wall of the vessel survives, 4.0mm thick at the break. The interior is concave in cross-section below the thickened rim. The interior is polished smooth, with a grey patina which is worn away on the thickest part of the rim. The exterior is rougher, and sooted. Length 94mm, width of fragment 31.4mm, weight 64.25g. 1300-1700 AD.

NMS-1493F5: MOUNT
Rectangular bar-mount measuring 17.5 x 5.6mm. It is pentagonal in cross-section,with a flat reverse and bevelled edges on all four edges of the front. There are two copper-alloy rivets, well-concealed on the front and in countersunk holes on the reverse; the rivets each have neatly expanded ends and one is now bent. The mount is 2.8mm thick and the rivets bring the total thickness up to 5.5mm. It weighs 1.7g. Similar to Egan and Pritchard 1991, no. 1138, which comes from a context of c. 1270-1350.

NMS-14FDBB: BROOCH
About half of a flat circular frame, decorated on one face, probably an incomplete annular brooch. It is made from thin sheet, 0.6mm thick and 26.5mm in diameter, with a 12.5mm circular hole in the centre. The external edge is fragmentary, but appears to have had a series of small projections spaced about 2mm apart. The frame is decorated with a neat compass-drawn double-strand border around a series of oblique grooves forming a zig-zag (or triangles with the apexes outwards). The lines do not quite meet at the apexes of the triangles. Four of the triangles survive of a probable original eight. It weighs 0.7g. Both ends are bent and broken, one straight across but the other with an angled or curved break. There is no clear evidence for a pin hole or constriction, so the identification as an annular brooch is tentative. A similar but smaller example from London was found in a context of c. 1270-1350 (Egan and Pritchard 1991, no. 1316).

NMS-163D74: BROOCH
Copper-alloy full-round side knob from a cruciform brooch, with full-length iron pin bar passing through it. The dome is slightly more than hemispherical, with the widest point just above a pair of neat fine grooves around the base of the dome. A concave narrowed waist is below, with a minimum diameter of 5.5mm. Below this is a base 3mm deep, decorated around its circumference with three slightly wider and more carelessly applied grooves, which here appear lathe-turned. A tab projects from the base; this is curved in cross-section and has an incomplete lower edge. Behind the tab are the remains of the iron pin bar, probably circular in cross-section; a bump of iron also emerges from the top of the dome. The grey-green surface is polished, and occasionally missing due to corrosion. There is no obvious wear on the knob. Total length 19.5mm, diameter generally 9.8mm, weight 5.8g. Full-round separately-made knobs are characteristic of Martin's type 1, which dates to c. 420 to c. 475 AD.

NMS-17A94F: BUCKLE
Incomplete copper-alloy buckle in the shape of a five-petalled flower, often thought of as a Tudor rose. Two petals survive complete, with parts of two others. The two complete petals are flat, incurved externally, and are decorated with radiating grooves within a reserved border. The circular-section bar is slightly bent towards the missing part of the frame. The buckle is worn, and bent at the worn breaks. It is relatively large for a buckle of this shape, measuring 37mm wide parallel to the bar; the surviving length perpendicular to this is c. 33mm. It is a maximum of 2.3mm thick and weighs 6.6g. As Whitehead (2003) nos. 272 and 273; Whitehead dates these to c. 1450-1550 AD.

NMS-1846B2: BUCKLE
White-metal coated copper-alloy double-loop buckle frame, both loops trapezoidal, flaring from 17.5mm wide by the bar to c. 20mm wide at the outside edges. The bar projects slightly beyond the frame, and has iron staining. The frame is bent up about the bar. It has bevelled edges and is of slender proportions, 2.5mm wide and 2mm thick. It is 25.5mm long and weighs 2.5g. Similar to Whitehead 2003, no. 506, which Whitehead dates to c. 1570-1700.

NMS-186ACE: BUCKLE
Incomplete copper-alloy double-loop buckle, with most of one loop missing. The bar extends a little beyond the frame on either side as a flat rounded knop. The loop flares slightly towards the outside edge, which is a solid triangle. The edges have a slight bevel and a copper-alloy pin survives on the bar. This has a slight moulding at the junction of the shaft and the open loop. The breaks are worn. Surviving length 32.5mm, width at bar 23.3mm, thickness at outside edge 1.3mm, pin length c. 19mm, weight 3.5g. Almost identical to, but thinner and lighter than, NMS-188A5D, a buckle found in the same field. Similar to Whitehead 2003 no. 513, which Whitehead dates to 1620-1680.

NMS-188A5D: BUCKLE
White-metal coated copper-alloy double-loop buckle, the loops angled up a little about the bar. The bar extends beyond the frame on either side as a flat rounded knop. The loop flares slightly towards the outside edge, which is a solid triangle. The external edges are bevelled. Length 39.9mm, width at bar 22.8mm, thickness 2.6mm,weight 6.7g. Almost identical to NMS-186ACE, an incomplete buckle found in the same field. Similar to Whitehead 2003 no. 513, which Whitehead dates to 1620-1680.

NMS-18AA4E: BUCKLE
Incomplete white metal coated copper-alloy double-loop buckle, with almost all of one loop missing. The bar extends a little beyond the frame on either side as a flat rounded knop. The loop flares slightly towards the outside edge, which has a solid triangle projecting from the centre and a rounded knop to either side. There is a slight groove along the outside edge, crossing another at the pin rest, both of which retain traces of a white-metal coating. Part of a copper-alloy pin survives on the bar, with an open loop. The tip of the shaft is missing. All of the breaks are slightly worn. Maximum width (at outside edge) 25.1mm. Surviving length 24.0mm. Thickness 2.0mm. Weight 4.0g. Similar to Whitehead 2003 nos. 523 and 524, which Whitehead dates to 1620-1680.

NMS-191400: BUCKLE
Tiny medieval annular buckle frame with fragment of wire pin. It is 18.5mm in diameter, and largely circular in cross-section with a diameter of 3.0mm. One area on the exterior is flattened, perhaps suggesting that it was cast with others in a multiple mould. It weighs 2,8g. The pin fragment is c. 15.5mm long, with one pointed end and the other broken as it seems to bend into a loop. It is also bent about halfway down as if crushed into the frame. It is a maximum of 0.9mm in diameter and does not register on the scales, suggesting it weighs less than 0.1g. Compare HAMP-D73B57, WILT-6F3AF6, etc., and an example from a late 13th- or early 14th-century context in London (Egan and Pritchard 1991, no. 28). It has been suggested that these small annular buckles are from shoes, but the pin from this one appears too flimsy for such a use.

NMS-2B52F4: UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT
Incomplete unidentified object. It is a short length of copper-alloy rod, broken at one end where the rectangular cross-section measures 5.4mm wide and 3.0mm thick. It then tapers in width and thickness to 4.4mm wide and 1.4mm thick, and is gently curved along its length, although this may not be original. Close to the broken end it is decorated on both larger faces with transverse grooves; one face (the convex face) has at least three neatly parallel grooves, and perhaps more now obscured by corrosion. The other (concave) face has perhaps two grooves, and they look worn Surviving length 27.4mm, weight 2.17g. Although this object appears ancient, its date or function is not immediately obvious. It may be early Anglo-Saxon, and possibly a toilet implement such as the items called by MacGregor and Bolick 'scrapers' (1993, 225-6).

NMS-3CDCC4: BROOCH
Rectangular gilded copper-alloy object, probably a brooch, with relief decoration of a Mammen-style bird. It is flat and slightly bent, with much of one edge missing. The front of the object has a lot of well-preserved gilding. The edge has a double-ridged frame, both ridges retaining some beading in places. Within this border is a single bird in profile, the body made from an outer beaded border filled with fine transverse ribbing, the leg similar but without the beaded border, and the tendril-like wings and tail made from grooves outlined with beading. The bird has its head towards one corner, and is described with this corner held at the top right. It has a pointed ear-like element which runs right into the corner. Below is a large oval groove forming the eye, surrounded by a beaded border. In front of this, the tapering muzzle ends in a corroded and indistinct beak, the upper part turning sharply upwards. Behind the ear, the ribbed neck curves up to touch the outer border, then curves down again to run under a tendril which emerges from the head below the ear, and may be called a lappet (described more fully below). The neck then flares into a wide body which extends right to the lower border. Halfway down there is a shoulder joint, indicated by a slight outward extension of the body; from this extend to tendril-like wings which fuse at the joint into a U shape. The wings extend out and down to the lower left-hand corner, where they have out-turned or 'hooked' ends; they are made from grooves with a beaded border that runs right round the ends. At the lower forward curve of the body, a ribbed leg emerges which turns a right angle in the lower right corner, then ends in an unribbed, possibly two-toed, foot which is bent back next to the lower part of the leg. The leg does not have a beaded border, and the beaded border of the body runs right across the joint. After this joint, the body narrows and turns (so that, with the neck, it is S-shaped) and passes again under the lappet. It then ends, with the beaded border running right round the ribbing. Two straight grooves bordered by beading emerge from the end of the body to form a tail, again with out-turned ends, this time at the top left corner of the object. The final element is the lappet, a long curving grooved tendril with a beaded border to either side. It emerges from the underside of the head at its junction with the neck, below the ear; it runs over the neck, over both strands of the tail, under the tips of the wings, over the end of the body and finally over itself before ending in a tighter curve or hooked end, with beading closing the end of the groove. The reverse is flat, ungilded and undecorated.with no hint of any fixings; the metal is brown, but largely covered with dark green corrosion. It measures 25.0mm between the more complete edges and 25.3mm perpendicular to this, so is nearly square. It is 2.3mm thick and weighs 6.1g. The ribbed, S-shaped body and profile head of this animal, together with its very neat execution, asymmetry and hooked or out-turned ends to the tendrils suggest that it is in the Mammen style. This style was in use in the mid to late 10th century, but was never common (Kershaw 2010, Finds Research Group Datasheet 43). There are several very similar items with designs of identical single Mammen-style animals, but with fixings on the reverse which show their use as brooches. There are three examples now recorded on the PAS database: NMS-ED240D, LEIC-0BFA74 and LEIC-6AF276 (Kershaw and Scott 2012), with two pre-PAS finds in the Ashmolean Museum; one from West Stow, Suffolk (Hinton 1974, 62-3, no. 35), and one from Bergh Apton, Norfolk (illustrated by Hattatt 1987, no. 1426; both described in Kershaw 2013, 116-118). The lack of any brooch fixings on this object is peculiar, especially given that there are no obvious scars or solder where separately made fixings may have been applied. Parts of one edge are missing, with a larger area in the middle of this side; the break may have removed a suspension loop, if the object were instead a pendant, but is not large enough to have carried away a lug or catchplate.

NMS-3D0CDA: PALSTAVE
Palstave axe of Middle Bronze Age date (c. 1,600 to 1,400 BC), of typical non side-looped form with a "shield" shaped moulding immediately below the stop ridge. The H shaped hafting channels at the butt are well developed with high side flanges to support the split wood handle, the end of the butt terminates in an oblique angle, this is most likely due to a casting flaw at the top of the mould, it looks unlikely that this is post-depositional damage. The axe is complete, though there are small losses to the thin cutting edge. Most of the surfaces are patinated dark brown, indicative of being deposited in a watery location, there are some slight green patches to one side of the hafting channel, the other face has some small recent scrapes revealing the original colour of the metal. MBA material is frequently found in very good condition with this brown patination around the Fen edge and other similar landscapes. It is very likely this piece represents intentional votive deposition.

NMS-2D5A23: BROOCH
Abraded and worn frame from a copper-alloy medieval annular brooch. It is made from flat sheet, square externally, perhaps originally with rounded corners, and circular internally; all edges are worn. A circular pin hole in the centre of one side (at the frame's narrowest point) has broken through to the external edge. There is decoration on the upper face, with a shallow groove surrounding the internal edge. Each corner is marked off by a similar curving groove, and filled inside with a series of neat dots. No pin survives. Surviving width 17.25mm, length (parallel to line of pin, with more fragmentary edges) 16.5mm. Thickness of sheet, 0.8mm. Weight 0.9g. It is unusual to have a square brooch with a pin hinged in the centre of one side rather than at a corner, but compare SOM-479FFD, SOM-D151B6 and NMS-1A4B12. They are normally dated to the 13th or 14th centuries.

NMS-3EDFC3: PIN
Copper-alloy object with ring-and-dot decoration, probably a fragment of pin. It consists of part of the flat head, of uncertain shape, with four very worn small ring-and-dot motifs on one face set in a lozenge shape. Above this the object is creased and broken. The two sides appear to possibly each have a rounded projection just below the break (more complete on the left side than the right) and then to taper in towards a gradual junction with the circular-section shaft. A short length of this survives and ends in a worn break; it measures 1.5mm in diameter just above the break. Surviving length 22.8mm, surviving width 13.1mm, thickness of head 0.8mm, weight 0.6g. The original shape of the head is now hard to reconstruct, and similar decoration is known from 8th- or 9th-century copper-alloy pins with flat heads of various shapes, such as GLO-A6EA11, YORYM-546D89, YORYM-5435D7, SWYOR-B3B544, LVPL-A6C291, etc.

NMS-421951: BROOCH
Copper-alloy side knob from a late Roman crossbow brooch. It is globular, with a flattened area on the end with a small projecting boss which appears to be incomplete. When viewed from the end the knob is oval in section,10.4 x 9.5mm, and 7.6mm long without the boss. There is a groove at the junction of the knob and the rectangular-section wing, then there is a slight moulding; beyond this is a small stub of surviving wing which measures 5.3 x 3.8mm at the broken end. Much more of one wider face is missing than the other, showing that the rest of the wing was hollow; it is possible that some decoration on the front (e.g. further mouldings) is now lost. The overall length is 20.4mm and it weighs 4.5g. The shape of the knob and wing is similar to WILT-E20915, HAMP-5CDDB3 and NMS-C12D22, but too little remains to assign a Mackreth type. It probably dates to the 4th century AD.

NMS-425D8C: KEY (LOCKING)
Unusually well made cast copper-alloy casket key with projecting stem-tip. The bow is lozenge-shaped externally and circular internally. There is a moulding at the junction of the bow and the stem; the stem is oval in cross-section and is thicker than the bow. At the far end of the stem is a bit with a two horizontal clefts or cuts, one in the top of the front edge and the other in the lower end of the rear edge. A narrow spike projects from the end of the stem, beyond the bit. There is an abraded black coating over the whole surface. Overall length 39.4mm, width from upper corner of bow to base of bit 16.7mm, thickness of stem 4.2mm. Weight 5.2g. Casket keys are found during the whole of the medieval period, but the black coating on this one may suggest a 15th-century date.

NMS-43B392: KNIFE
Two flat copper-alloy plates from the end of the handle of a scale-tang knife, with part of the iron tang in place in between. Each plate flares towards the end, which is slightly outcurved. Each has a grooved border with engraved decoration within; the decoration is slightly different on each plate. The sandwich is held together by a circular copper-alloy rivet, 3.1mm in diameter, that passes through the centre, near of the narrower end. The decoration has been carried across the surface of the rivet, which has now become sunken below the level of the plates as they have been pushed outwards by the force of the corroding iron. The decoration is different on each face, but neither can be satisfactorily deciphered. One face appears to have a wide ribbon curved into a partial S-shape, with very fine borders to the ribbon and very fine hatched grooves on the background. The other face may be a very poorly drawn human bust, with shoulders below an oval head with central groove to form hair on one side and eyes on the other. In general the decoration on this type of object is the right way up when the wider, curved end is at the top (and the blade of the knife downwards). Each plate is c. 26.5mm long, and a maximum of 14.2mm wide at the wider end (c. 11.5mm wide at the narrower end). The plates project a little way beyond the end of the tang at their wider ends, allowing their thickness to be measured at 0.8-1.0mm. The entire object is 4.7mm thick at the rivet, but has expanded away from this due to the iron corrosion, to a maximum of 5.8mm at either end. The object has similar proportions to, but is smaller than, NLM-9CB648 and SF-30F3E3. There are parallels to the S-shaped ribbon or scroll on LON-C88977 and NMGW-1B1DCE, with figures on the other side of both. They are found in Amsterdam in late 15th or early 16th century contexts (Baart 1977, nos. 627-9).

NMS-823EA1: UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT
Copper-alloy unidentified object, of unknown date. It has one broken or possibly cut end, which is a flat hexagon or oval in cross-section. The other end is bifurcated, with each arm D-shaped in cross-section and tapering. The end of each arm is slightly expanded into an oval, rounded on the outside and flat on the inner face. Both ovals are pierced, and the holes are now blocked with hard soil, probably with some iron corrosion. The arms are not precisely symmetrical and at least one might have been bent outwards a little. Each arm is c. 16mm long and the total surviving length is 25.0mm; it is 8.5mm wide at the break and 13.7mm wide at the ends of the arms. The thickness at the break is 4.8mm, and at the ends of the arms is 4.4mm. It weighs 4.4g. The iron corrosion suggests that the perforations may have held a hinge bar, with a second element swivelling on this through the slot made by the pair of arms. It is rather small for a pastry jigger (any wheel must have been only 20mm in diameter at most). In addition, these tend to have flat, flared ends to the arms, and either a clear angle or a moulding at the junction of the arms, both of which this one lacks. Another possibility is that this is a rowel box from a spur, but the proportions seem wrong; the two arms are both too small for this function.

NMS-1E7785: MOUNT
Gilded copper-alloy relief-decorated mount of late16th- or 17th-century date. It is flat, with a trefoil or fleur-de-lis at each end and drop-shaped in between. In the centre is a raised lozenge or pointed-oval, with a scroll to either side curling to fill the rounded sides of the drop shape. Above (at the wider end of the drop shape) is a transverse band with three dimples, resembling the base of a crown. Above this is a large fleur-de-lis. At the other end, two more scrolls turn outwards to fill the side lobes of a trefoil; the lobe in between has a central dimple or hollow. The flat reverse has one complete bent-over attachment spike and the stub of a second, both slender and circular in cross-section; the complete one is bent towards the centre. There is a lot of gilding surviving on the front, and some tiny specks on the complete spike. It measures 32.9mm long and 15.4mm wide; the plate is 2.4 to 2.8mm thick, and the total thickness with the spike is 6.4mm. It weighs 4.8g. Compare a similar mount at NMS-F2396F, and more distant parallels including KENT-292F04, NMS-7596D1, NMS-78FAE9, LON-378897, etc.

NMS-1FA131: WEIGHT
Conical lead weight. The base is flat and circular, diameter 23mm, with a lump of iron projecting from the centre and then extending to one side. The sides of the weight are straight but slope unevenly, one side being steeper than the other; the total height is 40mm. The apex has a thin projection of lead, suggesting a broken suspension loop, but there is a little iron visible here as well; a magnet is strongly attracted to this part of the object, suggesting that there is more iron inside the weight than can now be seen. It weighs 95.0g (3.35 oz). The proportions and general appearance of this weight are similar to PUBLIC-11E14C, SWYOR-BD281B and PUBLIC-460230. These weights are hard to date but were probably in use in the medieval or post-medieval periods.

NMS-201612: WEIGHT
Part of a large flat circular lead weight. Originally c. 58mm in diameter, just under half now survives with a maximum dimension of 55.2mm. It measures 26mm perpendicular to this and varies between c. 10 and 11mm thick. The break is worn, but appears to have been neatly cut, with oblique grooves on one arris. There are no markings. It now weighs 107.2g (3.78oz) so may be part of an 8oz weight of medieval or early post-medieval date. Compare NMGW-81D466 (which has decoration suggesting a medieval date), SWYOR-FF1D87 and CORN-F1C5D6. There are also several similar lead weights listed by Egan, including a very similar (but thinner) part-disc from a context of 1350-1400 (Egan 1998, no. 1002).

NMS-C86C6F: WHISTLE
Description: Tubular whistle made from sheet silver. The silver is bent into a tube, with a longitudinal seam; it flares slightly from one end to the other. The narrower end was about 5mm in diameter and is now squashed flat and broken across; the wider end, about 6mm in diameter, has been cut into four lobes which are pushed slightly inwards to form a complete end to the whistle. It is decorated and reinforced by two encircling silver collars decorated with two grooves and three ridges, both probably soldered on. One of these triple-strand collars is off centre towards the wider end with a butt-joint coinciding with the seam along the tube; the other is close to the narrower end with no visible seam or joint. Between the two collars, close to the one with no seam, is a ring or loop made from circular-section silver wire which also seems to be soldered on; some of the solder has filled the seam in the tube. This loop is now twisted, with one end having broken away from the soldered joint. The wider end, with its folded-in petal shapes, has a scar which looks as if a soldered-on encircling element has broken away. There is a maker's mark opposite the seam (so in the centre of the sheet before it was bent to form the tube) which reads probably TC (perhaps TG) within an elaborate shield. The whistle retains a small rattling item (not attracted to a magnet) which might be thought to be a pea (but see below); this is probably a small stone. Dimensions: Surviving length 47.1mm; maximum diameter (including collar) 7.5mm; weight 4.1g. Diameter of wire loop c. 6mm; diameter of wire 1.4mm. Discussion: Compare the complete whistle NMS-C5DCDC; it also has the wider end shaped into several lobes. The narrower end has a mouthpiece with lip to produce the sound, which is likely to have been the case on the present example too. Other similar but incomplete whistles include SUR-0AE48C and SUSS-FB43A2 which have the ring near one of two triple collars retaining a suspension loop. These are all thought to be huntsmen's or hawking whistles. The maker has not been identified. The rattling item is probably not a pea, as the pea whistle (giving a louder trilling effect) was apparently not invented until the late 19th century, with Joseph Hudson's Acme whistles. Date: The parallels have all been dated to the 16th or 17th centuries; the style of the maker's mark probably suggests a date in the 17th century.

NMS-3E5DB7: MACE
Medieval copper-alloy mace head, now incomplete. It is a hollow cylinder, open at both ends; the complete end appears to be the top and the bottom end is missing. The circular hole in the top is c. 16mm in diameter, slightly smaller than the rest of the cylinder which is c. 22mm in diameter internally. The outside has three rows of four spikes or knops each, which take up the upper 22mm or so of the macehead. Each row is offset by ninety degrees from the adjacent row. As is usual for these mace heads (compare SF-167579, LIN-9570B5 and NARC-56B401) the upper and lower rows have spikes that are sub-triangular in cross-section and very slightly curved in towards the line of the central row, while the central row has more pyramidal spikes (with lozenge-shaped cross-sections). There are remains of uncleaned casting debris in the grooves around several spikes, but the top of the object is smoothly polished flat. Below these three rows of spikes is a plain cylindrical area c. 26mm in external diameter which is now partly torn away, but which where complete is 16.5mm long. A small circular groove here seems likely to be a casting flaw rather than a scar of attachment to a shaft. Below, part of a further row of smaller spikes partly survives; this consists of smaller triangular or D-shaped spikes (base, or straight side, upwards) alternating with low bumps. Five of these survive of perhaps an original eight. A small area of socket survives below, suggesting that there was only one row of spikes here. The rest of the socket is missing. Total surviving length 48.8mm, maximum diameter including spikes (across top row) 43.1mm, weight 93.5g. The upper part of this object is similar to SF-167579, LIN-871975, CORN-3455DB, LVPL-D0CAE3, DENO-B5929D, YORYM-980270, etc, but the second row of smaller knops is more unusual, and paralleled best by SOM-D98903. These items may have been used for ceremonial purposes more than military (Daubney 2010, 201). They are thought to date from the later 12th to 14th centuries (Daubney 2010, 205).

NMS-3F2EE3: WEIGHT
Flat circular lead 4-ounce trade weight of the Commonwealth period (1649-60), issued in Norwich. It is 49mm in diameter and a maximum of 6mm thick, and has several notches and cut marks across the decorated face (with one cut mark on the reverse). It is stamped to the (viewer's) left with the arms of the Commonwealth (two conjoined shields) within a circular border, with a stylised castle, the symbol of Norwich, on the (viewer's) right. Above are four large sunken dots for four ounces. It now weighs 108.9g (3.84 oz). The stamps are unclear in places. The Commonwealth shields may have had a date above, as on NMS-7FF442; the lion below the castle cannot be clearly seen. Compare NMS-7FF442, NMS-DCD2D1 and NMS-6B532D.

NMS-A3DE58: PENDANT
Description: Silver pendant in the shape of a cross. The centre is flat and basically lozenge-shaped. Extending from each corner is a short circular-section cross arm, three of which end in globular knobs; the fourth ends in a collar below a large circular suspension loop, pierced from side to side. The flatter lozengiform centre has engraved lines filled with niello inlay; on one face, four lines cross to make an eight-point radial star, with some niello missing. On the other face is a cross with triple-branching terminals. The lowest cross arm is now bent upwards a little, which has caused some stress and cracking to the metal. Dimensions: 19.7mm wide by 24.8mm long, the centre is 1.9mm thick and the knobs are 2.6mm thick. The suspension loop brings the maximum thickness up to 5.6mm. It weighs 2.1g. Discussion: This type of cross pendant is a well known medieval find, with many examples recorded on the PAS database, all of silver. Normally the centre is circular or occasionally square; a lozengiform centre is unusual, but can be paralleled at BERK-C364F3. The decoration in the centre is normally engraved lettering, but geometric lines and shapes such as crosses, stars and saltires occur on several, such as BERK-C364F3, SOMDOR-2469B6, DOR-DE5AC2, WILT-180E4D, WILT-189DD8, YORYM-865B47 and LIN-D23796. Many are inlaid with niello. Date: These pendants date to the 13th or 14th centuries.

NMS-A481F1: BODKIN
Description: Silver object, probably a bodkin. It has a rectangular cross-section and tapers from a rounded wider end with drop-shaped perforation to a narrower end with an acorn-shaped knop. The knop is circular in cross-section, and has a collar at the junction with the shaft, then a zone of criss-cross engraving representing the cup, then a rounded end; it appears worn. The lower pointed end of the drop-shaped perforation ends in a short groove. The object has a bend about a third of the way from the knop which has caused stress and cracking to the metal. Dimensions: The bodkin is relatively short at c. 59mm unbent length. The maximum width, at the perforated end, is 4.5mm and the maximum thickness, at the acorn knop, is c. 2.9mm. It weighs 2.6g. Discussion: This object is closely paralleled by two other bodkins with drop-shaped perforations and acorn knops on the PAS database, IOW-E45DAF (2017T315) and LON-859896 (2008T431), and another with a more abstract terminal, NMS-AE0D46 (2013T377). Three more have twisted shafts (CAM-913D03, NMS-DDD5E5, NMS-481693). All are notable for their difference to the more common type of head-dress pin or bodkin, which is longer and has a rectangular perforation and sharp point. Date: Acorn knops are found in both the late medieval and early post-medieval periods. The larger, commoner bodkins or head-dress pins.are well dated from portraits to the early 17th century, and the closeness of this object to them suggests a similar date.

NMS-7680BE: FINGER RING
Description: Silver finger-ring made from a single piece of silver.The narrow hoop expands in the centre to a flat lozengiform or pointed-oval bezel. This has a cross pattern engraved on it and inlaid with niello, some of which is now missing; the surviving niello has decomposed to a silvery colour. The cross is made up of two lines which run across the short axis but are not neatly central to it. They diverge at either end to make a flared shape. Further lines emerge to either side (as if from below the shorter arms) to form the longer arms of the cross, again diverging at either end, but this time with a second V-shaped line within the expansion at the end of each arm, to make forked ends. All of the lines meet a surrounding grooved pointed-oval border, made up of punchmarks. The hoop then narrows to a circular or sub-square cross-section before a granular break at each end, and one end is also bent in towards the centre of the hoop. The cross-sections of the breaks are different; the bent-in end is almost square, measuring 1.30mm wide and 1.54mm thick, but the other end is more rectangular (wider and flatter) at 1.73mm wide and 1.08mm thick. It therefore seems likely that the breaks did not originally join and that some of the hoop has been lost. The interior of the hoop has some ripples suggesting forging or hammer marks. Dimensions: The overall dimensions, as bent, are 21.3mm wide and 22.0mm from the top of the bezel to the back of the hoop. The bezel is 8.0mm wide and 0.65mm thick. It weighs 1.92g. Discussion: The oval bezel and narrow hoop are both found on finger-rings with 9th-century Trewhiddle-style decoration, such as HAMP-C25EF3, NMS-F27122, SWYOR-3BC897 and SWYOR-A67E25. Oval bezels with cross decoration are recorded at SF-4FE997, NLM-D675CA, CAM-864614 and perhaps NMS-6CC4EB and SWYOR-6A72D3; although none are quite like this one, they are all very different from each other, suggesting that a variety of individualistic designs was possible. These rings have all been dated to the 9th to 11th centuries. Date: 9th to 11th century.

NMS-771AA7: FINGER RING
Description: Gold finger-ring with narrow rectangular-section hoop, undecorated on the exterior. The ring is now bent. At one point on the hoop there appears to be a scar or crack, with a small extra strip of gold soldered on to the interior, perhaps a repair. To one side of this and perhaps slightly obscured by it is a crudely scratched inscription in hard-to-read letters that run the full width of the hoop. It may start with a cross (emerging from under the solder) and then read K M C S (the C looking like a reversed D). There is then a short gap, then two more letters, C I and perhaps another almost worn-away cross. Alternatively it could be held the other way up, reading + I D S D W [-] + (with the final letter hard to identify). Dimensions: Width of hoop 1.0 to 1.1mm, thickness of hoop 0.8mm, weight 0.7g. The diameter of the hoop is hard to measure accurately but it is now oval, c. 20 x c. 18.5mm. Discussion: Rings with inscriptions are known as 'posy' rings, and were in fashion during the late medieval and early post-medieval periods, but this one is exceptionally small and flimsy. Crosses at either end of the inscription are known from several (compare for example NARC-48DB13), but on most of these rings the inscription can be read as a phrase or saying. Date: The simple shape of the hoop, and the form of the letters, should probably date the ring to the 16th or 17th centuries.

NMS-58A9C9: PENDANT
Description: Gilded silver pendant in the form of a rounded, three-dimensional heart pierced crosswise by two fletched (feathered) arrows. Both ends of the arrows protrude from the heart, with the fletched ends projecting from the upper corners; these ends have distinct feathers on either face. One of the arrowheads has broken off (a fresh break), but the other projects from near the lower point of the heart, with a barbed head. The upper lobes of the heart are separated by a short groove, above which is a circular loop cast in one with the heart and pierced from front to back. Through this is threaded an ungilded silver wire ring; the ends of this were probably originally butted together but are now bent apart. Dimensions: The pendant measures 12.7mm from the top of the integral loop to the base of the heart, and its overall length from the top of the separate loop to the base of the surviving arrow is c. 18mm. Width 16.2mm, maximum thickness (in centre of heart) 5.2mm, weight 3.1g. Discussion and Date: The heart pierced with two crossed arrows is a long-lived motif, with examples found up to the present day. 16th-century heart-shaped pendants, such as WAW-D579A7 (2016T667) and NMS-AF2425 (2011T392), are similar but lack arrows; good parallels with arrows can be found engraved on 17th-century cufflinks of Lewis's type B. A 16th- or 17th-century date is therefore likely.

NMS-636BF3: MOUNT
Copper-alloy 9th-century Carolingian-style mount, now worn and perhaps incomplete, with a possibly secondary iron rivet. It is nearly flat, slightly convex on the front and slightly concave on the reverse, and sub-rectangular in shape, measuring 30.1mm long, 28.9mm wide in the centre and 26.5mm wide at each end. It is approximately 4.5mm thick and weighs 13.9g. It is decorated on the front with cast relief ornament. The design comprises a radiating pattern which fills most of the available space, and a distinct convex strip along one long edge which is separated from the radiating pattern by a groove. It is described with the strip held uppermost. In the centre of the radiating pattern is a small rectangular boss, set with shorter edges top and bottom, with two vertical grooves on the top. From this, ridges radiate in a repeating pattern. At the top is a pair with forked ends, flanked by a wiggly line to either side. The next element to either side is a pair of straight ridges which run to the corners, interrupted by obliquely set small rectangular bosses. A final wiggly line runs to just above the centre of either short side This fills the top half, and the bottom half is probably the same. It starts with a wiggly line running to just below the centre of either short side, then there are pairs of straight lines interrupted by rectangular bosses, then another wiggly line. The expected lines in the centre of the bottom are obscured by an iron rivet, probably originally c. 4mm square, set just below the central boss. When first found and photographed, there appears to have been a small strip of silver inlaid into the centre of one of the rectangular bosses, but on arrival with the finds recording team this was no longer present. The differently decorated strip along the top has two transversely set rectangular bosses in the centre, each probably with a central vertical groove. To either side of this is a pair of panels with alternately set triangular grooves and ridges. Mounts DENO-872273 (from the Torksey area) and BH-8F458C (from Little Munden, Herts) are also rectangular with a raised rib or convex moulding along one edge, and DENO-872273 also shares the radial motif in the main panel, Other mounts illustrated by Thomas have a moulding at both short ends with a radial pattern between (Thomas 2012, nos. 11 and 14), and it is possible that the Filby mount may have been similar but is now incomplete. The silver-inlaid rectangular bosses can be paralleled on a copper-alloy strap-end from Colby, Norfolk (NMS-5BAC02; Thomas 2012, no. 20); the decoration on the raised moulding can be paralleled on another, from Ixworth, Suffolk (SF-8724D1; Thomas 2012, no. 23). Thomas dates these objects to the 9th century (2012, 497).

NMS-328A7C: FINGER RING
Description: Gold finger-ring with decorated hoop, set with a green gemstone. The hoop is D-shaped in cross-section, with a flat interior and a curved exterior. It tapers in width very slightly from 2.2mm wide at the shoulders to 1.9mm wide at the back of the hoop, and is a consistent 1.1mm thick. The hoop is decorated on the exterior with engraved saltires alternating with overlapping punched annulets. This decoration extends from the junction of hoop and bezel to just beyond the widest point of the ring and ends with a neat transverse groove, leaving the rest of the hoop, opposite the bezel, undecorated. The shoulders spring from an oval collet-type bezel. The bezel has a gently convex reverse, and the collet above is a truncated cone which holds the gem. The gem is a neat oval cabochon (with a convex polished surface) and is a bright green. Dimensions: Length from top of gem to back of hoop, 22.9mm. External width, 20.2mm, Internal diameter 18-19mm. Weight 1.8g. Discussion: The combination of saltires (diagonal crosses) and stamped annulets (circles) is also found on the hoop of gem-set gold rings HAMP-0E2737, DOR-53B494 and NMS-CCE835, although on all of these the hoops are relatively flat, the saltires are made from longer grooves which join to form lozenges, and the gems each have small subsidiary stones next to them. A closer parallel is found in Oman (1974) pl. 14B, which is described as being decorated with chevrons. Date: The parallels cited are dated variously to the 13th century (Oman 1974, pl. 14B; DOR-53B494; NMS-CCE835) and to the 13th to 15th century (HAMP-0E2737). Given the slight differences between the parallels and this ring, a date of 1200-1500 is probably safest.

NMS-486001: FINGER RING
Description: Fragment of silver finger-ring, consisting of the bezel and both shoulders. The hoop is thin, flat and narrow at the breaks, which look fairly fresh. The shoulders flare to a pointed-oval bezel which curves around the finger, and is decorated with fairly crude engraved Trewhiddle-style decoration. The central motif is symmetrical and looks abstract, although it may have been intended as a plant or animal. It has a V-shaped element filling the point at either end, with double nicks in each arm of the V; then a transverse pointed-oval shape in the centre embellished with four double nicks. The effect is rather like a human eye. All of this is enclosed within an engraved border with short lines running between it and the edge of the bezel, forming a ladder-pattern frame; small areas of this frame are missing. Dimensions: The surviving external diameter is 22.5mm. The bezel is 11.3mm wide and the metal of the bezel is 0.7mm thick. The hoop measures 2.3mm wide and 0.7-0.8mmm thick at the breaks. The fragment weighs 0.9g. Discussion: This finger-ring can be classified as Johnson’s (2014) Class D, Type 2a (made from a single rod with an extended bezel and uniform hoop). Finger-rings with lozenge- or oval-shaped bezels decorated with Trewhiddle style ornament make up the largest group in this Class (Johnson 2014, cat. nos. 93–4, 106, 167, 175, 203). Although the corpus of finger-rings with Trewhiddle-style decoration remains quite small, there are comparable examples known in silver (NMS-F27122, HAMP-C25EF3, SWYOR-A67E25), gold (YORYM-EA5D0E) and copper alloy (NMS-A67AE8). The S shapes of the animals on YORYM-EA5D0E, SWYOR-A67E25 and HAMP-C25EF3 may have provided the inspiration for the detail of the decoration. Although finger-rings with Trewhiddle-style decoration are not common, there are comparable examples known in silver (NMS-F27122, HAMP-C25EF3, SWYOR-A67E25), gold (YORYM-EA5D0E) and copper alloy (NMS-A67AE8). The S shapes of the animals on YORYM-EA5D0E, SWYOR-A67E25 and HAMP-C25EF3 may have provided the inspiration for the detail of the decoration. Date: The Trewhiddle-style decoration dates the finger-ring broadly to the 9th century AD.

NMS-55EDFC: SEAL MATRIX
Small medieval copper-alloy seal matrix. It has a hexagonally faceted conical handle rising and tapering to a waist and then flaring again to a flat top out of which emerges a rounded suspension loop pierced with a circular hole. The total height is 18mm and the matrix weighs 6.83g. The die is circular, 16mm in diameter, and engraved with a bird in profile standing right (on the impression) and looking back over its shoulder. The beak is curving, indicating a bird of prey such as a hawk or eagle; the legs are widely spread and end in toed feet which cut across the beaded circle enclosing the central motif. Outside this circle is the inscription, reading * CREDE MIChI (Believe in Me) and neatly filling the available space. Anonymous seal matrices such as these are normally dated to the 14th century, and this inscription is a common motto.

NMS-82DF40: PILGRIM BADGE
Description: Small and incomplete gilded silver medieval pilgrim badge, with the openwork design of St George on foot, and the dragon. It has lost its upper half, and now consists only of the dragon and two legs of St George from the knees downwards. The surviving part, including both breaks, is very worn, with gilding surviving only in the recesses. The dragon is shown in profile, and its curved back and neck forms the base of the pendant. The head is to the viewer's right and the tail to the left. The head has a square snout which is now not joined to any other part of the badge. It has unclear, rather lumpy relief detailing including a possible eye and ear, and an open mouth with what looks like a tongue but which is almost certainly a broken-off stump of a very slender lance whch would originally have been held by the saint. The short wide legs of the dragon are set one either side of a rounded belly; they point upwards, each turning an angle to a foot which supports one of the slim legs of the saint. The knees of the saint are shown slightly swollen, as if wearing jointed armour. The tail tapers to a point which curves round to join the saint's leg just below his right knee (to the viewer's left). The reverse is flat and featureless, except for a small area on the reverse of the dragon's neck where there are a few faint lines characteristic of the use of a mould made from cuttlefish bone. Dimensions: Surviving length top to bottom, 10.4mm. Width 13.0mm. Maximum thickness (at dragon's rear leg) 3.0mm. Weight 1.2g. Discussion: Similar openwork badges with an armoured saint standing on a dragon and holding a lance can be found in several different metals. In silver, LANCUM-4501B2 (2011T246) and the fragment CAM-5840BC (2019T1123) can be compared with this example, but most examples on the PAS database are of copper alloy, including SOM-315A8C, DEV-8C19C3, DYFED-796314. BUC-3D43DD, WMID-FB76D0 and WMID-EE3569, and the fragment SWYOR-58F730. There are also a few beautifully preserved similar badges of lead-tin alloy, including LON-7188A5 and one in the British Museum collection (1856,0701.2126). Those in the Museum of London's collection include one with the saint on foot in similar stance to this example (Spencer 1998, fig. 206e). Date: The cult of St George as patron saint of England had begun by c. 1400, but grew in popularity at the end of the 15th century with a centre of pilgrimage in Windsor. The cult was not suppressed until the reign of Edward VI (Spencer 1990, 52-3; Spencer 1998, 186-189), giving a date-range of 1400-1550.

NMS-2DCEAB: STRAP FITTING
Almost-complete copper-alloy socketed hook of late early-medieval date. Held with the hook at the top, the base is a near-circular ring with an expanded convex oval boss at the front set so that the edge of the boss is lower than the rest of the ring. A strut rises from both back and front; the rear strut is vertical and the front strut is angled back to meet it in a solid cone which ends in the hook. The hook is now broken (very worn break) with less than half surviving. The object is worn, but there are very slight hints of a relief cross on the boss. 43mm long when held with rear strut vertical; basal ring 15 x 15mm, weight 9.85g. These items are thought to be links from strap-distributors; see LIN-F29FC4 for one found together with a strap-distributor. The decoration suggests a date in the 11th century.

NMS-2E8C78: BUCKLE
Rectangular buckle frame with central bar. The frame slopes in cross-section, with diagonal arrises at the corners, and has visible fine filemarks on the front. The central bar is circular in cross-section and has a little iron corrosion, probably from the pin. The filemarks probably suggest a medieval date, but this form of double-loop buckle continued in use into the early post-medieval period too. 31mm in width externally, 33.5mm long, 4mm thick maximum. Weight 9.43g.

NMS-2EC7C8: BUCKLE
Small, thin oval buckle frame made from copper alloy, of medieval date (12th to 14th century). The bar is offset and rectangular in cross-section, with a small hump in the centre and worn patches to either side where a plate would have hinged. The top and bottom edges curve outwards, and the outside edge has a wide but flat extension with rounded ends which is decorated on both faces. Each face is the same, with a central grooved pin rest flanked by a pair of ridges, then a pair of grooves. To either side, halfway to the end, is another slim transverse ridge. 21mm wide by 18mm long, maximum of 2mm thick. Weight 2.12g.

NMS-2EF295: BUCKLE
Circular copper-alloy buckle frame with central bar. The frame has bevelled edges internally and externally; there is an off-centre lump of corrosion on the bar, perhaps from a copper-alloy pin. Diameter 33.5mm, thickness of frame 2mm, weight 7.25g. Late medieval, or perhaps early post-medieval, c. 1400-1550.

NMS-2F3994: DRESS HOOK
Late medieval or early post-medieval double-hooked fastener consisting of a plate and a separate double hook, both made from copper alloy sheet. The plate is heart-shaped, essentially a triangle with the wide upper edge shaped into a double convex curve with a little projection at either corner; one of the corner projections is now missing. It has engraved decoration of a central vertical line running from between the two outcurved lines to the opposite point, and a similar line running down just inside either of the straight side edges. Oblique lines or nicks fill the space between these lines and the actual edge, and the whole surface has fine horizontal polishing marks. The double hook is formed from a strip of copper-alloy sheet, a long thin lozenge in shape, with each end bent over to form a sharp hook, now squashed flat. It is riveted to the plate with a single central copper-alloy rivet. The ends of the rivet are slightly proud of the surface. There are two slight grooves on the hook element, one above and one below the rivet; these do not look decorative and may be cutting-out guides, although they are not particularly close to the edge. The plate measures 33.5mm top to bottom and the hooked element is 41mm side to side, in its squashed condition. It weighs 6.75g. Compare SUR-A8E062 and WILT-0FA8B2, and Read 2008, nos. 546-549 (no. 549 is NMS-7DC651). They are generally dated to the 15th or 16th century.

NMS-2F7D55: BUCKLE
Fragment of copper-alloy buckle frame of medieval date. Part of one edge (probably the outside edge) of a rectangular frame survives, with a tiny bit of one corner. The fragment is flat and has one face decorated with engraving. There is a border line close to each edge, and inside this is a zig-zag of widely spaced oblique lines. Each of the V-shaped spaces either side of the zig-zag has a short parallel pair of oblique lines within it; all the pairs of lines run the same way. The fragment measures 38.5mm long, is 7mm wide and 1mm thick. It weighs 2.49g. Similar to Egan and Pritchard 1991, no. 447, which is from a context of c. 1350-1400.

NMS-2FA7C1: STRAP END
A medieval 'shield-shaped' strap-end. It is made from a single piece of copper-alloy sheet, with one rectilinear end which is bent up and over to form a thickened roll. The other end is cut into a rounded curve and there is a narrowed waist between the two halves. There are two copper-alloy rivets, one nearer to the rolled end and one nearer to the curved end, both of which retain square sheet copper-alloy roves. It measures 23mm long and 18mm wide,is a total of 5mm wide, and weighs 2.90g. This type of mount or strap-end dates to the late 14th century in London.

NMS-416A17: MOUNT
Rectangular mount made from two pieces of undecorated copper-alloy sheet joined by four copper-alloy rivets, one near each corner. One sheet is larger (28 x 13mm) than the other (26 x 11mm) and the rivets are hammered over untidily on the smaller sheet. Total thickness (longest rivet) 3mm. Weight 1.9g. Similar mounts but with two rivets are known from late medieval or early post-medieval contexts in Norwich (Margeson 1993, nos 267-8).

NMS-4186BE: MOUNT
Rectangular late-medieval or early post-medieval mount made from two pieces of undecorated copper-alloy sheet held together by two copper-alloy rivets, one in the centre of each end. One sheet is slightly longer (34 x 13mm) than the other (32 x 13mm). The mount is now battered and has two rounded dents in the larger plate, one of which has broken through to the shorter plate which is presumably the backplate. The maximum thickness is 4mm and the weight (with retained soil between the plates) is 3.9g. Two similar but smaller mounts came from late medieval or early post-medieval contexts in Norwich (Margeson 1993, nos. 267-8).

NMS-41B4BA: STRAP END
Trapezoidal medieval strap-end made from a single piece of copper-alloy sheet folded in half and secured by a single copper-alloy rivet. It tapers from a maximum width of 14mm at the open end to a minimum of 11 mm at the fold. At 16mm long, it is nearly square, and it is a maximum of 4mm thick. Weight 2.4g. The open end is decorated with a pair of transverse grooves, one either side of the rivet. At one side there is a short groove between them, running in from the edge, but this is not mirrored on the other side. The fold is sharp and marked with a transverse groove close to it; between the groove and the fold, the strap-end seems to have been hammered on the reverse to produce a slight curve forwards. Probably 13th or 14th century.

NMS-41CA23: MOUNT
Small copper-alloy mount of early post-medieval date. It is drop-shaped and essentially flat, with a white-metal coating on the very slightly convex front and two circular-section integral attachment spikes on the reverse, one now incomplete. Now a little bent, it is 18.5mm long, a maximum of 7.5mm wide and the surviving thickness, with best-preserved spike, is 7mm. Weight 1.1g.

NMS-421DAC: MOUNT
Medieval copper-alloy mount with separate copper-alloy rivet. It is oval and convex, with either end cut or possibly broken off straight, and decorated on the front with cross-hatched grooves, four at one oblique angle and five at the other. The circular-section rivet is in the centre and can just be seen on the front. It measures 12mm between cut or broken edges and 11mm wide, 3mm thick without rivet and 6mm along the rivet. It weighs 1.6g. It may originally have been the central lobe from a bar-mount (as LIN-BF2B3C) or part of an asymmetric mount (as BUC-70C2C8); also compare NLM-FC74E1. Probably 14th century.

NMS-426966: BOOK FITTING
Probable fragment of book clasp. A pentagonal piece of thin copper-alloy sheet, it has two short parallel sides leading from a longer broken edge to a right-angled point. An engraved ring in the point has a copper-alloy rivet surviving in a hole through the centre. The broken edge is broken across three similar rings or circles, each with a hole in the centre, forming ring-and-dot ornament; the holes in these rings do not appear to be functional. The reverse is undecorated and the break is quite fresh. The length (from broken edge to tip of point) is 16.5mm, and the width is 16mm. The rivet is 4mm long and the sheet is less than 1mm thick. It weighs 0.9g. Late medieval or early post-medieval book-clasps quite often place a rivet in the centre of a ring-and-dot motif, and particularly the catch-plates (Howsam type A.6) often taper to a point. Compare NMS-39BAE2, SUR-F0DBA4 and PUBLIC-1DABA9.

NMS-4287A2: SPINDLE WHORL
Small plano-convex lead spindle whorl. It has a flat base and sides of uneven height, with a ridge running round the base in side view taking the maximum diameter up to 17.5mm. The sides slope in a slight curve to a slanting top; maximum thickness 7mm. The central circular hole flares from 6mm in diameter at the top to 8mm in diameter at the base. It weighs 10.6g. Lead spindle whorls are difficult to date. They appear to have been in use from the 10th to the at least the 14th century.

NMS-429BF4: SEAL
Small lead bag or bale seal. Two discs 15mm in diameter pressed together; part of the edge is missing and there is no obvious joint between the two discs. One seems to be blank, and the other has a relief design within a circular ridge. The design is difficult to interpret but looks a little like a merchant's mark, with an element like a closed figure 4. Perhaps mid 17th to mid 19th century.

NMS-4323E4: BROOCH
Head and bow from a copper-alloy small-long brooch of early Anglo-Saxon date. The headplate is rectangular, with a worn notch cut out of either end of the top edge and the bottom edge. The notches were probably U-shaped, leaving a flat knob to the side and perhaps to the top, but damage has made it impossible to reconstruct the precise shape. There are traces of a single border line on all four edges of the headplate, but no other decoration. On the reverse of the headplate is the stub of a pin bar lug (very worn break). The bow has a short rectangular-section area and then is faceted or D-shaped in cross-section. The flattish centre of the bow (the top of the cross-section) has hints of a group of perhaps three grooves running down it, but it is now very worn and corroded and has lost much of its surface. The reverse of the bow is rough and not obviously cleaned after casting. The break at the base of the bow is very worn. This is a small example of the type, with the head surviving to a maximum of 21.5mm wide and about 17mm deep. The bow tapers from 9mm wide at the top to 5mm wide just above the break. The total surviving length of the brooch is 33mm. It weighs 7.3g. Small-long brooches date from c. 450-550 AD.

NMS-436A62: BROOCH
Medieval annular brooch made from copper alloy. The frame is slim and circular in cross-section, just over a millimetre in diameter. It is decorated with extremely fine transverse ribbing which runs around the front and sides of the frame, but which peters out on the reverse. The frame is interrupted by six rounded bosses, two in pairs and two single ones. These all measure 2-3mm in diameter and bring the thickness of the brooch up to 2.5mm. Between two of the bosses, a copper-alloy pin is looped. This has a D-shaped cross-section and is undecorated. Its tip rests between the other pair of bosses. The other two bosses are midway between the two pairs and are rather more oval than the paired bosses. There is a trace of gilding on one boss (by the pin rest). Diameter 23mm, weight 2.2g. Probably 13th century.

NMS-438765: BUCKLE
Cast copper-alloy pin from a large annular buckle dating to the late 14th century. The loop is incomplete (fairly fresh break) and separated from the shaft by a single slim transverse ridge. The shaft is sub-square in cross-section and survives well except close to the tip, where it is bent and distorted, perhaps hammered. The very tip is missing, again with a fairly fresh break. Surviving length 53mm, loop accounting for c. 13mm of this. Maximum width, at junction of loop and shaft, 4.5mm. Weight 6.3g.

NMS-43A4CF: BUCKLE
Small D-shaped copper-alloy buckle frame of medieval date. The bar is circular-section, offset and narrowed. The rest of the frame is wider, flaring along top and bottom edges to a maximum of 5mm wide in the centre of the outside edge. The front of the frame is gently convex and the reverse is flat. There is no decoration. A copper-alloy pin survives on the bar, a simple strip with open loop and rectangular-section shaft tapering to a sharp point. The bar is 9mm wide, the buckle is a maximum of 20mm wide, both frame and pin are 15mm long. It weighs 2.1g. This shape of buckle frame should probably be dated to the late 12th or 13th century.

NMS-54F125: STRAP END
Copper-alloy strap-end of Thomas class A, type 2 (patterned) of 9th-century date. It is worn and the split attachment end is incomplete, both halves being broken across the two rivet holes. The long edges are convex, tapering to a pointed zoomorphic terminal on which little can be discerned. A straight grooved line separates this from the main panel of decoration, which is an engraved design, probably geometric. This consists of a central lozenge, perhaps made up of two parallel lines, whose side corners meet an engraved border. The upper corner extends and bifurcates to form possible plant ornament, and the lower corner turns into a vertical stem that then bifurcates before each half turns a corner and runs down to meet the terminal. There is no trace of any motif below the rivet holes other than the main panel of decoration. The reverse is undecorated. It is 45mm in surviving length, 14mm wide, and a maximum of 2mm thick. It weighs 3.98g.

NMS-554979: STRAP END
Incomplete composite strap-end. The forked spacer survives, with one complete plate and part of a second held together with a single rivet; all elements are copper alloy. The forked spacer has two long arms which join at a large terminal. This has a bold rectangular moulding flanked on either side by a narrow ridge; beyond this is a waist and then a final globular element.The effect is that the decoration on the terminal runs round all sides. The surviving complete plate is rectangular, with one end rectilinear. The other end is shaped to fit onto the spacer. with concave shoulders leading to a point which is cut straight across. There is no obvious decoration but the plate is polished. Just under half of the other plate survives. The single rivet is in the centre of the attachment end and is well concealed. The spacer is 44mm long and the complete plate is 31mm long. The strap-end is 12mm wide and 6mm thick at the thickest point, the rectangular moulding. It weighs 7.37g. Composite strap-ends with forked spacers are known from 14th-century contexts in London (e.g.Egan and Pritchard 1991, nos. 676 and 677).

NMS-559568: STRAP END
Complete 14th-century copper-alloy composite strap-end made from two outer plates and a full-width sheet spacer. The sheet spacer runs for the full width of the strap-end and for about three-quarters of its length; the outer plates are joined at the attachment end by a pair of iron rivets. The attachment end is shaped on the front plate, with a central nick that leads into a groove which runs down to a quatrefoil cut-out just beyond the rivets; to either side of the central nick, the edge is concave. The backplate is simply cut straight across. The long sides of the strap-end are shaped on both front and back plates, with two nicks turning into long tapering bevels on each side. The terminal is rounded, with a central longer rounded projection. This is a well-made and neat strap-end of the 14th century, 44mm long, 14mm wide and 3mm thick. It weighs 8.94g.

NMS-55F17B: STRAP END
Complete strap-end of 14th-century date. It is made from two sheets of copper alloy, held together by two copper-alloy rivets, one at the terminal and one at the attachment end. The main body of the strap-end is rectangular and 38mm long, with an attachment end cut straight across. It is decorated with interlocking zig-zags of rocker-arm engraving, forming two complete and two half lozenges. The front plate is broken across the centre, but both halves survive held by their respective rivets. The rest of the strap-end is taken up with a decoratively cut-out flat terminal, which has a trefoil tip attached to a semi-circular centre by a waist, and then another waist before a pair of rectangular projections and a pair of U-shaped cut-outs. 57.5mm in total length, 11mm wide, 2mm thick maximum, weight 5.23g. Compare SF-17F834 and SWYOR-123FDD, also Margeson 1993, no. 234.

NMS-56AEF1: STRAP END
Copper-alloy strap-end of medieval date with terminal in the shape of a wyvern or dragon. The attachment end is a trapezoidal box, 8mm wide at the open end and about 6mm long. It was probably made by casting the front and sides in one piece and soldering on a backplate. Much of the backplate is now missing, but a single copper-alloy rivet remains in place. The attachment end tapers to a narrower end which is held in the wide open mouth of a cast three-dimensional wyvern, or dragon, which is seen from above. The head is large compared to the body, but little detail survives. It has a pair of short front legs bent at the elbow to point up towards the head, and the body tapers to the tail. The body is decorated with grooves indicating a stripe down the backbone and oblique stripes on the sides, perhaps wings. It tapers towards the tail, which has no stripes and is curved into a slight S shape. There are no back legs shown. The reverse of the animal is flat and it was apparently cast solid. Total length 40mm, maximum width (at attachment end) 8mm, maximum thickness (at animal head) 6mm, weight 3.69g. There is a parallel known from Reepham in Norfolk (a pre-PAS find), HER no. 35102; this has the same box-like construction of the attachment end and a more schematic zoomorphic terminal, also holding the attachment end in its mouth. Both are probably 12th or 13th century.

NMS-572295: BROOCH
Copper-alloy medieval annular brooch, probably 13th or 14th century. The frame is square or lozenge-shaped, with each side slightly angled inwards at the centre and one corner extended into a pair of lugs. The centre of each side has an oval collet, set longitudinally, with one opposing pair filled with a white material (probably an adhesive) and the other opposing pair empty. The rest of the frame is triangular in cross-section with a flat reverse. One corner has a pair of lugs projecting beyond, with the frame continuing between the lugs. Their ends are pierced to hold a copper-alloy hinge bar. When held with the lugs at the top, the left-hand corner has a circular hole in it, as if for another pin; this is 2-3mm in diameter. The other two corners are featureless. Length (lugs to opposite corner) 39mm, width across other corners 37.5mm, each side 28mm long. Maximum thickness (the collets) 5mm, weight 5.88g. Compare the very similar YORYM-8CE34C, which has a pin surviving in the circular hole. It may be that the lugs were intended to hold another element, not the pin.

NMS-5767FC: STIRRUP
Copper-alloy stirrup-strap mount of Williams's Class A, Type 11A dating to the 11th century. It is corroded, with all its surface lost, but complete and with clear decoration. The mount is basically triangular, with gently outcurving sides leading to a trefoil terminal with the central lobe pierced (now broken through). There are traces of engraved outward-facing scrolls on the other two lobes. There is a narrow reserved border down either side, within which is a sunken panel with a low-relief animal (almost certainly a lion). This is in profile facing right, with its left foreleg raised and tail bent between the hind legs and up over the body, forming an S shape. The thick neck tapers upwards, but there is no clear mane. The head is tipped back, and has a long ear touching the end of the tail. The mouth is open and it bites at a lozenge above. Below this panel of decoration is a wide reserved strip pierced with two circular holes. The base of the mount is slightly thickened in the centre into a flange. The front is convex and the reverse is concave, with deeper recesses behind the animal. 48mm long, 28.5mm wide, 5.5mm thick at flange, 19.38g.

NMS-587D9C: BROOCH
Incomplete and very worn copper-alloy early Roman Aesica brooch, lower bow and foot missing. The wings are semi-cylindrical and worn to a point at either end; no decoration survives. There is a barely perceptible stub of a rear-facing hook in the centre. The upper bow curves forward and flares to 21mm wide before tapering again, forming a lozenge shape with a broad flute down the centre. The centre of the lower edge of the wings continues down to form a U-shaped backplate which meets the lower corner of the lozenge bow. The edge of the backplate is followed by a separate three-dimensional copper-alloy element, a crescent of triangular or quarter-circle cross-section, which is riveted on with a copper-alloy rivet visible only on the reverse, at the very bottom of the backplate. There is no obvious break removing the lower bow. Total surviving length 22mm, width of wings 32mm, maximum thickness 15mm, weight 14.53g.

NMS-58D0B0: STIRRUP
Complete copper-alloy stirrup terminal, trilobate and of 'foot-like form' (Williams 1997, fig. 5). It is large and heavy, of U-shaped cross-section and with extensive traces of solder inside. One end is open, and emphasised by a pair of circumferential ridges.The terminal then flares to the closed end, which has a pentagonal base with three rounded knobs projecting. The terminal is 27mm long, 12mm wide at the top and 17mm wide at the base without the knobs; the knobs bring the full width up to 27mm. It is 10mm from front to back at the top, 14mm from front to back at the base without the knob, and 19mm including the central knob. It weighs 26.63g and dates to the 11th century. Parallels include BUC-92974C and BH-A577C4.

Almost-complete copper-alloy strap-end of Thomas class E, type 1, with openwork decoration, now very worn and corroded. It has a straight top with three small rivet holes for attachment, the side two of which are broken and incomplete. On one side there is a slight ridge between the attachment end and the openwork panel. The main panel has a symmetrical design of two profile animals or birds, with chests touching and heads at the top looking outwards. The bodies have a general S-shaped curve, but the precise arrangement of bodies, any wings and legs is hard to work out, especially as they may also be enmeshed in plant stems. The centre of the strap-end has a row of three perforations. Length 52mm, width 26mm, thickness 3.5mm, weight 19.33g. The decoration is ultimately based on Winchester style, which dates the strap-end to the 10th century.

NMS-599D31: BROOCH
Foot and fragment of bow from an early Anglo-Saxon cruciform brooch of Martin's type 3.0.2, partly covered on both faces with iron corrosion. The bow is broken just above the lower rectangular-section part (worn break). The top of the foot has a pair of lappets, which have no obvious decoration, and damaged edges; their form cannot be certainly reconstructed, but both step inwards at the lower edge. Any decoration on the flat panel between is obscured by the iron corrosion. On the reverse is a catchplate, now incomplete but clearly curled to the left (when viewed from the reverse). The upper part of the foot is divided from the terminal by two bold flat-topped ridges, each originally decorated with a groove but now very worn. Below this is the brow of the horse's head, which merges into a slim ridge running down the centre of the nose. To either side of this ridge the terminal is faceted, and just below the brow, set right at the edge of the brooch, are two pellet eyes. At the bottom of the terminal are the horse's nostrils, made of one moulding with a V-shaped upper edge decorated with tiny stamps, probably just punched dots. The lower edge of the nostrils forms the rounded lower edge of the brooch, and is very worn; a narrow projection, which might have originally been a loop, can just be seen in the centre. The fragment is 61mm long, 32mm wide at the lappets, and 16mm thick between bow and catchplate. It weighs 21.17g. dates to c. 480-550 AD

NMS-937FC9: STRAP FITTING
Complete copper-alloy swivel of medieval date. Both halves survive, each one with a D-shaped loop ending in an animal head at either end. All four animal heads are similar. A transverse ridge across the back of the head forms the ears, and is cut through by a longitudinal groove which runs up the neck and over the top of the head, stopping at the angle of the brow. The head has a concave curve from the brow towards the nose; there are no added details such as eyes or nostrils. The rest of the D-shaped loops, formed from the necks of the animals, are undecorated and semi-circular or a tall half-oval in cross-section. One loop is very slightly smaller than the other. Both have a domed base, held between the animals' mouths. The smaller loop and base have a cast post emerging from the bottom which engages with a recess in the other half. The smaller loop is 22mm wide, the larger 23mm wide, and the total length is 43mm. The larger boss is 12mm thick, the smaller 10mm. It weighs 20.99g. Compare PAS-2F7696 and NMS-DCC0C8. Without decorative detail, swivels cannot be dated precisely, as they had a long life throughout the medieval period.

NMS-93AD0F: BUCKLE
Complete but tiny gilded copper-alloy medieval buckle frame, dating to the 13th century. It is oval, with an expanded outside edge tilted at an angle and decorated with a symmetrical design either side of a central pin rest. The decoration is unclear but appears to be made up of curving lines which retain gilding; border grooves making two drop-shaped fields, filled with what may be oblique lines. The bar is centrally narrowed, with a square lobe at either end which retains a lot of gilding. Gilding also continues all over the reverse of the buckle frame and over all surfaces of the bar. 18mm wide, 12mm long, 4mm thick; it weighs 1.22g.

NMS-94685C: FIGURINE
Gilded copper-alloy medieval figure of the crucified Christ. It is well made and solidly cast, modelled in three dimensions. The hands are missing (worn breaks) and the arms are thin and straight. The head droops to the figure's right (the viewer's left) and has long hair, the grooves of which survive on the figure's right shoulder and the back of the head. The top of the head and the face are worn and no details survive, but there is a slight thickening on the brow which suggests a crown of thorns. The chest is bare. There is an inverted V at the waist and some grooving on the sides, which suggests ribs. The figure is wearing a long, flowing loincloth, thickly folded over at the waist and knotted on the left hip. The detail of the folds is particularly well preserved on the back, and extends to the folded waistband. The loincloth falls to just below the knees, and has a flap extending out to the figure's left, below the knot. The right knee is slightly bent and the right foot is placed standing on the left. A hole blocked with iron corrosion passes through both feet. The back of the head is concave, but the rest of the reverse is realistically modelled. There are some close parallels on the PAS database, including IOW-64A3DE and NMGW-2DDF30. A parallel from Carmarthen Greyfriars suggests a mid 13th-century date. The figurine is 73.5mm long and 50mm in surviving width. It is around 10mm thick, and weighs 44.37g.

NMS-94FEB5: RIVET
Incomplete rivet made from thin copper-alloy sheet, of the type known as a paper-clip rivet. Roughly rectangular, one end is folded back in on itself and then out again. This type of rivet was used as a vessel mend or patch on medieval and post-medieval metal vessels. Both outer surfaces are quite grey, as if the repair was reinforced with solder. It measures 16.5mm parallel to the folds and 11mm perpendicular to them, and is in total about 2mm thick across all three folds. It weighs 0.55g.

NMS-955F36: BUCKLE
Double-loop 17th-century buckle frame made from copper alloy with a white-metal coating on all surfaces. One loop is rectangular and the other has an outcurved outside edge. The top and bottom edges are slightly incurved. The rectangular loop has an outside edge with a groove along it, and an exterior shaped into two incurves; the D-shaped loop is incurved internally, and has a step down to a flatter strip along its exterior. 23mm long by 17mm wide, 2.5mm thick. It weighs 3.02g. Similar to SUSS-79F389, NARC-8EA352, etc.

NMS-96018D: HASP
Fragment of openwork copper-alloy hasp dating to the late early-medieval period, 10th or 11th century. The fragment is L-shaped, but the hasp was originally trapezoidal in shape, tapering from a maximum width of 31.5mm; parts of three original edges survive. It is 28mm in surviving length, 5mm thick at most and weighs 8.77g. It is decorated on both faces with a slightly thickened frame around the unbroken edges on both faces; this is embellished with small, low knobs. In between these there are more knobs down the sides; two of these, in the centre of the wider end, seem a little larger than the others. Within the frame are criss-cross bars with oval holes in between, one of which is blocked with iron corrosion. The breaks are fairly fresh. Similar to SF-54883A, NMS-C48116, NMS-89FF52, NMS-FF5294, etc.

NMS-9628A9: BUCKLE
Incomplete copper-alloy medieval buckle frame with ornate outside edge. Most of the bar and one side are missing, and the surviving side is sharply bent. There is a lobe at the surviving end of the bar. The outside edge has a large moulding, decorated on both sides with three grooves on either side of a central grooved pin rest; one face has this ribbing more worn than the other. The corners of the outside edge are extended into large rounded knobs. surviving width 23mm, surviving length 13.5mm, thickness 5mm, weight 4.20g. 13th or 14th century.

Medieval copper-alloy buckle plate, 12th or 13th century. One end is narrow and folded round, with a pin slot in the centre; there are no rivet holes here. The centre of the plate is wider, and has aridge in front of a slightly lower area which is decorated with an uneven zig-zag of interrupted rocker-arm. A second ridge divides this from two arms which project rearwards and have bevelled edges. Each one ends in a circular terminal which is pierced with a small rivet hole; a copper-alloy rivet survives in each. 28.5 long, 21mm wide. 5mm thick at the fold. Weight 5.11g. Compare SOM-802172, BUC-10B1A0, WILT-5CD032, KENT-851CC5, SF-03BE03. Most of the parallels have three rather than two arms.

NMS-96BDFD: BUCKLE
Small copper-alloy medieval buckle frame and integral plate, probably from a spur. The frame is triangular or D-shaped, with a straight outside edge. There are some transverse grooves on the frame, possibly decoration; three on the straight edge and one more on each curved side. There is a small lobe projecting into the interior of the frame, and this has a small pin hole. The integral plate is narrow and tapering, and has a rounded lobe at either end. It is covered in hard corrosion and there is no decoration visible. There is probably a rivet hole in the terminal lobe, but again if so it is invisible. The plate is a little bent down its length as if to fit around the foot. The whole buckle is 37mm long and the frame is 15mm wide. The plate is 2mm thick. It weighs 2.46g. Compare SF-26DF64 and SUSS-3F54B8, both of which have been dated to the 13th or 14th centuries.

NMS-96D8A8: BUCKLE
Copper-alloy buckle frame of medieval date. The frame is thick and oval in cross-section, 3 x 4mm at the centre, and tapers very slightly to tight curves at the top and bottom edges. There is a lobe at either end of the narrowed bar; the lobe is separated from the rest of the frame by grooves on both faces; otherwise there is no decoration. The buckle frame is 31.5mm wide, 15mm long and 3mm thick; it weighs 4g exactly. Probably 13th or 14th century.

Post-medieval copper-alloy double-loop buckle, both loops identical and almost rectangular. The frame is chunky, with straight top and bottom edges each decorated with a C-shaped moulding or ridge either side of a central transverse ridge. The outside edges are gently outcurved externally, and each decorated with a pair of trumpet-shaped mouldings that meet at a central grooved pin rest. The bar is obscured by a large patch of iron corrosion, perhaps from a plate; there is no evidence for a separate iron bar. 30mm long, 20 mm wide, 4mm thick, 8.63g 17th century. The decoration is similar to WMID-7DDA69.

NMS-974A29: BUCKLE
Tiny copper-alloy medieval double-loop buckle, both loops oval with pointed outside edges, and bent up slightly about the bar. 15mm wide, 24mm long, 1mm thick, 0.83g. Of similar proportions to, but slightly larger than, Egan and Pritchard 1991, no. 380, which is from a context of c. 1270-1350 AD.

Copper-alloy post-medieval double-loop buckle frame, 28.5mm wide. Both loops are oval with moulded rosettes at the centre of the outside edges; the recesses retain a black coating, which is also visible around the projecting ends of the bar, and on quite a bit of the reverse. The loops are bent sharply upwards about the bar so that the length is hard to measure precisely; if unbent, it would be c. 42mm long. It is generally about 2.5mm thick, and weighs 7.59g. A similar buckle was found on the Mary Rose, which sank in 1545 (Gardiner ed. 2005: 104, ref. 82A5069).

NMS-9811FB: BUCKLE
Just over half of a post-medieval copper-alloy buckle frame, with copper-alloy pin in place on the bar. The surviving loop is D-shaped and the frame is a quarter-circle in cross-section. There is a lozengiform knop at the centre of the outside edge which retains traces of a groove across the middle, with cross-hatched grooves on the inner half; it is probably a stylised acorn. This knop is hollow on the reverse. The bar has a lozengiform lobe at either end, also slightly hollow on the reverse, but there is no decoration apparent on these. The pin is a tapering strip, semi-circular in cross-section, wrapped around the bar. The buckle frame is 30mm wide at the bar and survives to 26mm long. The pin is 24mm long. It weighs 5.36g. Compare Whitehead 2005, no. 406, and many on the PAS database, including HESH-1EA719; they are normally dated to c. 1550-1650 AD.

NMS-983AA8: BUCKLE
Fragment of post-medieval copper-alloy buckle frame. Semi-circular in cross-section, it swells slightly to the pin rest, which is decorated with three grooves and two ridges. Surviving length c.20mm, width 26mm, thickness 3mm, weight 3.02g. One break has bent the metal, the other has not. Similar to Whitehead 2005, no. 360, which is dated to c. 1550-1650.

NMS-98E943: BROOCH
Incomplete copper-alloy Roman brooch of trumpet derivative type. Now very worn, it is missing its head but retains a flat plate in the centre of the bow and its foot. The flat plate is circular, set vertically so that one edge is extended out to the broken-off head (very worn break) and the opposite edge has a narrow foot emerging from it. The plate has what appears to be a separate domed element in the centre, decorated with six radiating ridges; on the reverse there is an oval bump with a groove across the centre, looking very like a rivet shaft that has been split and the two halves bent out. Around this separate element is a narrow ridge, then a wider undecorated field, then traces of a border groove where the bow leads out to the head. Where the lower bow emerges from the central plate, the brooch is bent double, with consequent stress and cracking to the metal. The lower bow is flat, and expands slightly to the foot, which has a patch of white-metal coating on the front and is a maximum of 5.5mm wide. The catchplate survives as a ridge on the reverse of the foot. Unbent surviving length probablhy c. 40mm; length as bent, 22mm. Width of central plate, 12.5mm. Weight 3.19g. This brooch probably falls into Mackreth's type 4.1a, which has a hinged pin. These often have separate rivets in the centre (Mackreth 2011, 126). Mackreth dates them to 80-150 AD.

NMS-991A38: THIMBLE
Copper-alloy thimble of 16th- or early 17th-century date, in good condition. The rim is unthickened and decorated with a slim groove. The straight sides rise to a flattish domed top. Rectangular or oval indentations cover all but the lowest 3mm or so, in a spiral that leads to the right when the thimble is held with the rim downwards. Similar but perhaps more rounded indentations cover the top. The spiral of indentations starts at the bottom with a maker's mark, which appears to be an unbarred A within a shield, all set on its side (so it is the right way up when the top is held to the left). The thimble is 19mm tall and 19mm in diameter at the rim, 12.5mm in diameter at the top. It weighs 6.57g. Right-hand spirals seem to have been used from c. 1520 AD onwards.

NMS-BE1027: STRAP END
Forked spacer plate from a composite strap-end of 14th-century date. Made from copper alloy, it has traces of solder on both faces. The whole object is rectangular in cross-section and of uniform thickness, both the tapering arms and the quatrefoil terminal. The arms are short, and may be incomplete, but both survive to the same length. One is a little wider than the other. The terminal is set on a short stem which has a groove across either side edge. It is cross-shaped, with the lower arm flaring, the side arms square-ended and the upper arm (furthest from the rest of the strap-end) pointed. Length 24.5mm, width 15mm, thickness 2.5mm, weight 2.34g.

NMS-BE48A8: STRAP END
Small 14th-century copper-alloy strap-end made from two sheets held together with a copper-alloy rivet at the open end and a second well-concealed rivet just before the terminal. Both sheets are the same size, and taper from 7mm wide at the open end to 6mm just before the decoratively cut terminal. The upper sheet is decorated with a single row of rocker-arm engraving consisting of very wide curves. Length 38mm, thickness 2mm, weight 1.89g.

NMS-BEA04E: STRAP END
14th-century strap-end made from two pieces of copper-alloy sheet, one a little thicker than the other. Both measure 11mm wide at most, where they are broken, leaving the surviving length 26.5mm. At the other end both sheets are shaped into a shallow point which ends in a projecting V-shaped terminal. There is a well-concealed copper-alloy rivet just before the terminal. No decoration survives. Thickness 3.5mm, weight 2.32g.

NMS-BEC994: STRAP END
One sheet from a copper-alloy strap-end of 14th-century date. It is almost rectangular, a maximum of 9mm wide, and bent in half from an approximate straightened length of 33mm; length as bent, 20mm. The wider end appears broken. It tapers slightly to 8mm just before an elaborate terminal, whcih has a rounded base and a trefoil end to give a shape rather like a pineapple. There is an iron rivet through the rounded part. The sheet is less than 0.5mm thick and the object weighs 1.44g.

NMS-BF62AC: BUTTON
Copper-alloy button cast in one piece, of late medieval or early post-medieval date. The head is lozenge-shaped, a low solid pyramid with a flat reverse. The front is decorated with a relief design of a central cross running from corner to corner, dividing the button into four triangular fields. Each is filled with a trefoil, now rather worn but with each foil having a pointed end and separated from its neighbour by a V. There is probably a lower border to each triangular field, but this edge is now very worn. The back of the button has a long irregular lug attached by a waist and pierced with a circular hole. The front is 9mm square measured from the almost-parallel sides, or 11 x 11mm measured from corner to corner. From front to back it measures 15mm and it weighs 2.08g. Similar to, but in much better condition than, SUR-69A7A1. Read (2005, 30) dates this type to the late 15th or 16th centuries.

NMS-C029EA: BUCKLE
Oval copper-alloy buckle frame of medieval date (13th or 14th century). The bar is ofset and narrowed, and squarish in cross-section. The rest of the frame swells gently to the pin rest in both dimensions, although the reverse is flat. The front and sides are decorated with fine ribbing, transverse on the outside edge and more oblique on the top and bottom edges. 19mm in external width, 12.5mm long, a maximum of 3.5mm thick. It weighs 2.62g.

NMS-C06B46: MOUNT
Incomplete medieval copper-alloy mount, perhaps from horse harness. One end is a bar with a raised rectangular lobe in the centre, and a U-shaped end pierced with a hole for attachment, which has a long narrow projecting terminal. The other end is broken at a curved, probably circular, element, the worn break crossing two rounded recesses which could once have contained enamel. Little of the design survives, but it could be reconstructed as a cross. Surviving length 30mm, surviving width of disc 15.5mm, width of bar 8mm, maximum thickness 2mm, weight 2.25g. The whole mount is fairly flat and quite flimsy, more lightweight than normal horse-harness mounts, but it can be well paralleled among these. DENO-C6994A is broken in a similar place, as are KENT-11E60D and GLO-852F61. SWYOR-05A2D0 is complete and looks entirely decorative, but BH-C7C882 is also complete and is clearly a pendant suspension mount. The design suggests a later 13th- or 14th-century date.

NMS-C0C02F: HOOKED TAG
Copper-alloy hooked tag of late early-medieval date, Read's class A type 1. The plate is trapezoidal, 18.5mm wide at most and 11.5mm at the base; the plate is 14mm long. It has two circular holes of about 1mm diameter through the upper half of the plate, not particularly near to the corners; there are traces of dots forming a square, possibly the remains of setting-out dots or lines, around the holes. The plate is decorated with a border of double punchmarks right across the top; then there is a similar line down each side, beneath the top line. The punchmarks then form an inverted V across the centre of the plate, running up level with the base of the holes. The outer line is a squarer shape, the inner line a little more triangular. A sharp hook emerges from the centre of the base of the plate. It is of the same thickness as the rest of the plate (less than 0.5mm) and is curved backwards to make the total thickness 7mm. The hook brings the total length of the tag up to 20mm. It weighs 1.47g. This is an unusually early example of this double punch-mark technique, which is often called interrupted rocker-arm. The paired square and triangular marks make it look very much as if a rocker tool was being used. Other examples look more like rouletting. Early examples include stirrup-strap mounts, e.g. NARC-3B2C14. Hooked tags were in use from the 7th to the 11th century, and the decoration suggests that this is a relatively late example. Compare other hooked tags decorated using the same technique at NMS-5E5F4D and NMS-B5D7D8; also Read 2008, no. 35.

NMS-C116F5: BROOCH
Complete but worn Anglo-Scandinavian copper-alloy flat disc brooch of Kershaw's East Anglian series, dating to c. 850-1000 AD. It has relief decoration often known as 'lozenge-and-knots', consisting of a central sunken circle within a lozenge; the corners of the lozenge are extended into loose knots.The knots seem to turn clockwise, with the end of the knot to the right of the corner. The whole design is surrounded by a raised border. On the reverse is a pin lug which is parallel to the edge of the brooch; this is filled with iron corrosion from the pin. Opposite this is a catchplate which is made from a projection running perpendicular to the edge of the brooch, then turned over to make a hook which is now bent closed. Both of these pin-holding elements are right at the edge of the brooch. Halfway between them is a bend in the brooch, resulting in a split which runs from the edge to the centre. Diameter 28mm, thickness of plate 1mm, thickness including pin lug 7mm, weight 6.88g.

NMS-C15EFC: BROOCH
Complete copper-alloy cross-shaped brooch of Weetch's type 28, dating to c. 750-900 AD. Each arm of the cross is identical, with an expanded lozenge-shaped end and decoration of a border groove. The edges of the expanded arms do not meet and their junctions (or armpits) are rounded. In the centre, where the arms meet, is a small boss which is now worn and corroded, with a corresponding hollow on the reverse. On the reverse, the centre of one cross arm terminal has a double pin lug, the halves of which are parallel to the line of the pin and blocked with iron corrosion from the pin bar. The opposite terminal has a catchplate consisting of an off-centre projection parallel to the pin, bent over to form a hook. The brooch measures 28 x 28mm measured from one cross arm to another. It is 4mm thick measured across the central boss, and 9mm thick including the pin bar lug. it weighs 4.2g.

NMS-C1A5AA: STRAP END
Well-preserved copper-alloy strap-end of Thomas's Class A, Type 5. At the top, the split end is shaped around the two copper-alloy rivets, both of which survive, with a small point in the split end between them. There is no motif between the rivets and the central field, which is two panels of niello (now decomposed to a silvery colour) set with silver wire scrolls that survive well. One panel has two S-shaped scrolls, one above the other, and the other has mirror-image reversed-S scrolls. All four S shapes either have bifurcated double-scrolling ends, or a separate scroll in the space between the end of the S and the centre. Below, a well-modelled animal-head terminal has drop-shaped ears with inverted-V centres. Between and below these is a triangular field with apex downwards and zig-zag base upwards; this is also filled with niello and a tiny silver-wire scroll. The nose, and eye to either side, are rounded and fairly schematic. On the reverse, there is a dark shiny patina which has worn away in places. The strap-end is 51.5mm long, 15mm wide, 5mm thick at the animal-head terminal, and 12.25g in weight. It dates broadly to the 9th century AD.

NMS-C24EFB: BUCKLE
Incomplete copper-alloy buckle frame of late medieval or early post-medieval date, both loops oval, one largely missing. The buckle is small and distinctly flat. The breaks are neither particularly worn nor particularly fresh. It measures 19mm in width, has a surviving length of 20mm (probably originally c. 22mm) and is 2mm thick. It weighs 1.90g.

NMS-C1DAE6: HOOKED TAG
Complete copper-alloy hooked tag of post-medieval date. The plate is shield-shaped, with a straight top and sides curving to a point. Above is a rectangular loop which at 8.5mm wide is considerably narrower than the rest of the plate. The decoration is in relief, occasionally broken through to the reverse; there is a pelleted border around a double ridge, then inside the shield are three fleurs-de-lis. The plate is 20mm long and 15.5mm wide. A transverse ridge divides the D-section sharp hook from the plate. The hook is complete and curves backwards, bringing the total length to 33mm and the total thickness to 8mm. It weighs 3.45g. Similar to Read 2008, nos. 316 and 317, which are his Class E, type 2.

NMS-C1EA07: BUCKLE
Copper-alloy double-loop buckle frame of late medieval or early post-medieval date, both loops oval and very slightly angled up about the bar. The top and bottom edges are straight and the buckle is not particularly well made. 23mm wide, 27mm long, 3.01g.

NMS-C20171: BUCKLE
Small copper-alloy double-loop buckle frame with copper-alloy pin, of late medieval or early post-medieval date. Both loops are oval and the outer edges are slightly widened and tilted. The bar projects very slightly beyond the frame as a moulding. The pin is made from a browner metal and is very corroded; it seems to be made from a piece of wire wrapped around the bar with an open loop. The pin is 12mm long, and the frame is 17.5mm wide and 23mm long. It weighs 1.72g.

NMS-C26B2C: BUCKLE
Copper-alloy oval buckle frame of 13th-century date. With short offset narrowed bar, the rest of the frame swells gently both in width and thickness. An area c. 6mm wide at the pin rest is undecorated, but the rest of the frame (apart from the bar) is covered with neat transverse ribbing. The reverse is flatter and undecorated. Width 20mm, length 13mm, thickness 4mm, weight 2.22g.

NMS-C2E7E0: BUCKLE
Copper-alloy double-loop buckle frame, both loops rectangular. Both outside edges are baluster-shaped, meaning that they are oval in cross-section and gently taper and flare to form a concave moulding both above and below the pin rest. The pin rest itself (the centre of each outside edge) is shaped into another, shorter concave moulding, and the three concave mouldings on each outside edge are divided from each other by transverse grooves. The top and bottom edges are shaped in side view, flat on the reverse but thickening on the front to accommodate the bar; there is a crack in one edge. The bar is circular in cross-section and retains a copper-alloy pin made from a tapering piece of D-section strip wrapped around the bar with an open loop. The buckle is 42mm wide, 41mm long, and a maximum of 6mm thick. The pin is 23.5mm long and the whole buckle weighs 22.13g. A similar buckle is published by Whitehead (2003), no. 477, and dated by him to the late 15th or 16th century.

NMS-C338BA: STRAP END
Copper-alloy strap-end of 14th-century date, made from two sheets of metal, now with fragmentary edges, joined by a copper-alloy rivet at either end. It tapers from a maximum width of 9mm at the attachment end, where the underplate has sprung away from the rivet, to the other end, which has a small and probably incomplete flat trefoil terminal. The upper plate is decorated with rocker-arm engraving, where the turn of the rocker has produced an effect very like punch marks. It is set in what may be a broad zig-zag, perhaps with other short lengths of rocker-arm in between, but it is hard to be sure as the strap-end is now bent and parts of the surface are missing. Total length if straightened out, c. 43mm. weight 2.49g. Similar to NMS-CA0252.

NMS-EC470E: KEY (LOCKING)
Complete chunky small copper-alloy key. The bow (or handle) is solid and turned at right angles to the bit, suggesting a Roman date. The centre of the bit is rectangular, with a step cut out of the lower corners closest to the stem. The centre of the edge furthest from the stem has a D-shaped lobe, pierced with a circular hole 4mm in diameter; there is a smaller projecting lobe beyond this. Each face has a small diagonal groove engraved at each corner; the lower pair are where the bow meets the stem and running a short distance towards the centre of the bow, and the upper pair are where the D-shaped lobe meets the bow. The D-shaped lobe also has a bolder groove across its base on both faces, and a groove across its junction with the smaller lobe. The bow is flat and 5mm thick in cross-section on the central rectangle, 4mm thick on the D-shaped lobe. The stem is oval in cross-section, 7 x 5mm, and approximately 18mm long. It has a pierced tip which extends about 7mm into the key. The bit is approximately 11mm square and has a long shallow cut-out in the centre of its front edge, leaving two small bumps in line with the end of the stem. There is a further bump in the rear end of the lower edge, and each face of the bit has three bold grooves running parallel with the stem, applied more carefully on one face than the other. It measures a total of 41mm long, the bow is a maximum of 15mm wide, and from top of stem to base of bit it measures 18mm thick. It weighs 17.4g. Compare a more highly decorated example at SOM-391D25.

NMS-EC52C3: THIMBLE
A short copper-alloy thimble, much of the surface corroded away. The rim is 17mm in diameter, and unthickened. The straight sides are covered with vertical rows of tiny circular indentations and the domed (or even conical) top appears to have converging rows of similar dots. The very top is solid but corroded, so it is uncertain whether the indentations continued, or whether there was a bare crown. The thimble is 13.5mm tall and made from thin metal. It weighs 3.1g. Thin sheet thimbles of low proportions with vertical rows of dots are generally considered to belong to the 14th century, and may have been imports from Nuremberg.

NMS-EC76E1: MOUNT
Small copper-alloy 16th-century mount. It is flat and 19mm long. One end is wider (10.5mm wide) and shaped into two rounded lobes. The sides are incurved, making the centre gently waisted, and the other end is shaped into a point and is a maximum of 6.5mm wide. Although pitted, the surface does not appear to have any coherent decoration. On the reverse are two bent-over attachment spikes, the longest of which brings the thickness up to 6mm. It weighs 1.1g. Very similar to LEIC-D44F6D and IOW-260FFF, it might (like them) have been intended as phallic.

NMS-ED09F2: SLEEVE CLASP
Incomplete early Anglo-Saxon copper-alloy wrist-clasp of Hines's form B20, made from a bar and fragmentary plate cast in one piece. The narrow rectangular bar is now very worn, but can be seen to be decorated with four groups of two or three transverse grooves, one set at either end and the others fairly equally spaced in the centre. There also appears to be a row of tiny annulet or crescent stamps running down either long edge. The bar measures 41mm long and 4mm wide. Part of the plate survives, with similar tiny annulet stamps along the edge by the bar and along the surviving edges. The plate appears originally to have been shaped into two large V-shaped points, with a smaller rounded pierced projecting lobe in the centre and probably another similar rounded lobe at either end. One of the larger points survives, together with most of the central rounded lobe. 41mm long, 17mm in surviving width, a maximum of 2.5mm thick, 5.3g. It is surprisingly difficult to find a good parallel to this wrist-clasp on the PAS database, but examples such as SWYOR-B2A835 are not far off, with the larger V-shaped lobes and the smaller rounded lobes in different places. It can also be compared with one published by Hines (1993, fig. 124b) apparently from Ixworth and now in the Ashmolean Museum (MacGregor and Bolick 1993, no. 29.26). This has central and side pierced lobes which are larger than the unpierced lobes, but has them in the right configuration and also has punched annulets.

NMS-ED4D80: BUCKLE
Very worn copper-alloy buckle of 15th- or 16th-century date. It is shaped like a five-petalled rose, with five long lobes separated by indentations forming a flattish circular frame. It has a central circular-section bar, and the lobes are arranged so that one forms the centre of one outside edge and the opposite outside edge has two meeting at its centre. Brown patina. Width 29mm, length 30mm, thickness of frame 1mm, weight 4.4g.

NMS-EDA14D: BROOCH
Lower bow and foot from a Roman brooch of Hod Hill type, c. 43-70 AD. It is broken at a narrowed waist with two transverse flutes across just below the break, the upper one slightly wider than the lower one. Here the cross-section is a very flat D-shape, but the lower bow is a long and very flat-section triangle, tapering downwards and decorated with a fine groove down either long edge. The wider upper edge has a beaded ridge across it, and the foot ends at the base in another transverse ridge, this time unbeaded, with a broad transverse groove or flute below and a moulding to finish, all forming a footknob. The break is not worn. There is a white-metal coating on the front of the brooch. On the reverse, the catchplate survives well and has been turned over to the left (when viewed from the reverse). The surviving length is 35mm, the maximum width 9mm; thickness front to back including surviving catchplate, 8mm. Weight 2.9g. Similar to, but slimmer than, Mackreth 2011, no. 9135; the proportions are perhaps closer to no. 9168. Not enough survives of the brooch to assign it to one of Mackreth's types.

NMS-EE0583: MOUNT
Gilded late 11th- or 12th-century copper-alloy mount, probably from horse-harness. It is basically a short, wide rectangle with geometric decoration consisting of three wide flat-topped transverse (vertical) ridges dividing the mount into four gilded fields. These are decorated with closely spaced shallowly oblique grooves, alternating in direction field by field. Hints of grooves and gilding on the edges of the ridges suggest that both types of decoration carried on over them. The edges and corners of the rectangle are now worn and rounded. It is 28.5mm wide, a maximum of 16mm tall and 4.5mm thick. At the top of the central ridge is a projecting circular loop, now broken (worn break) which brings the object's surviving height up to 20mm. At the base is a flange which projects out from the reverse and tapers from about 16mm wide, first sharply and then much more gently, to about 8.5mm wide. It has a rectilinear end but it is not clear whether this is original or an evenly worn break. The flange takes the overall thickness up to 16mm. It weighs 11.7g. Parallels are published in Rogerson and Ashley 2017, and include NMS-350558, SOM-097A32, SWYOR-355768 and NARC-478096.

NMS-51652C: BROOCH
Almost-complete late Iron Age or early Roman copper-alloy Nauheim derivative brooch, with half of the spring, the pin and part of the catchplate missing. The bow is a maximum of 3.5mm wide and is biconvex in cross-section, the reverse being flatter than the front. It is undecorated, and tapers towards a pointed foot with the unperforated catchplate on the reverse. A stub of the return of the catchplate survives, and shows that it turned to the left (when viewed from the reverse). The very bottom of foot and catchplate is bent upwards and may be incomplete. At the top of the bow, it tapers sharply into the spring, which turns forward and up into two coils on the right-hand side of the bow (when viewed from the reverse). There is then an internal chord, and the other half of the spring is broken halfway through the first coil. The centre of the spring is blocked with iron corrosion, perhaps from a separate axis bar. Surviving length, as folded, 38mm; original length perhaps c. 40-41mm. Surviving width across spring, 9mm. Weight 3.09g. Very similar to Mackreth 2011, plate 8, no. 4346, which he classifies as a Nauheim Derivative 3.b3.

NMS-5203E7: PIN
Copper-alloy pin head and fragment of shaft, probably of Roman date, now very worn. The head is biconical, but the upper half might also be described as pyramidal, as it is irregular in shape when viewed from above, measuring about 7 x 6mm. It has the hint of a tiny boss in the centre of the top and there are faint traces of lines radiating from the boss over the upper half. There is no obvious collar between head and shaft. The shaft appears almost rectangular in cross-section, measuring 3 x 2 mm. The break is worn. The head makes up about half of the fragment, the shaft the other half; the total surviving length of the pin is 14.5mm. It weighs 1.07g. Compare the similar, but more complete, SF-6D904A.

Tiny copper-alloy buckle, probably from a shoe or spur. It is almost circular, 15mm wide and 15.5mm long, and is angled upwards slightly about the central bar. The frame is of even width all the way round, about 2mm wide. The front has all edges bevelled, even on the bar, but the reverse is less well finished. Quite grey and shiny, it probably has a white-metal coating. It is a millimetre or so thick and weighs just 0.93g. A similar copper-alloy buckle was found in a context of c. 1350-1400 in London (Egan and Pritchard 1991, no. 214) and it is suggested there that it may be from a spur. Similar lead-tin alloy buckles are found in 15th-century contexts and are thought to be from shoes (Egan and Pritchard 1991, 65-6).

NMS-52A722: BUCKLE
Copper-alloy double-loop buckle frame, both loops oval and angled slightly upwards about the bar. The bar continues as a slight moulding across the top and bottom edges of the frame. One loop is slightly bigger than the other. Late medieval or early post-medieval, 15th or 16th century.18mm wide, 22.5mm long, the frame a maximum of 2mm thick, weight 1.80g.

NMS-52F3BA: FURNITURE FITTING
Possible Roman furniture knob. It consists of a globular head 12mm in diameter, with the corroded remains of an iron shaft protruding from one side which brings the overall length up to 14mm. It weighs 7.06g. The patina is dark grey-green and quite shiny. It can be compared with SF-365DD1, LIN-146752, SUR-E8FC02, SUR-B519D6 and SUR-2309BF.

NMS-53D3E6: BUCKLE
Rectangular copper-alloy sheet with one face covered in what appears to be solder, probably a detached plate from a 14th- or early 15th-century composite buckle. There is no obvious decoration on the front (without the solder) and there is no obvious scar from a cast spacer on the soldered face. Three edges (two long and one short) are unbroken, and form a neat rectangle 18mm wide; the fourth edge is bent and slightly more irregular, may be broken off short, although the break (if it is one) is worn. There are no surviving holes for attachment. Current length 31mm, weight 2.15g.

NMS-540265: MIRROR
Possible fragment of Roman copper-alloy mirror. It is a dark colour with a high polish on both faces. One face is slightly pitted by corrosion, and the other has faint traces on concentric rings, probably polishing marks. Both faces are absolutely flat, and the thickness is extremely consistent over the fragment, between 1.3 and 1.4mm. The fragment is approximately sub-rectangular, but no edge is certainly original. It measures approximately 21mm x 14mm and weighs 2.96g. Compare SF-518E1E, SF-76FD9B, etc.

NMS-541E8A: UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT
Narrow strip of copper alloy, pointed-oval in cross-section and a maximum of 4.5mm wide. It tapers gently to either end, both of which are broken. One face is highly polished, with many irregular longitudinal scratches. The other is rougher, but has four transverse grooves at one end and is broken at what may be a fifth. Length 61mm, thickness 1mm, weight 1.89g. Date and function unknown.

NMS-54405B: SPANGLE
Incomplete copper-alloy object, possibly an early Anglo-Saxon spangle. It is made from thin sheet and essentially triangular, with two complete edges meeting at an apex which has an irregular hole pushed through from front to back, measuring around 2mm across. These complete edges are both neatly 'pinked' or cut into a tiny zig-zag, and the centre of the object is convex on the front, concave on the reverse. The broken edge is ragged and it is hard to tell how large the object might have been originally. Surviving length from apex to broken edge, 17mm; width 18mm; thickness 0.5mm; weight 0.49g.

NMS-54A298: STRAP END
Tiny strap-end of 14th-century date, made from two pieces of copper-alloy sheet. One is shorter than the other and is smoothly polished; the other is much rougher and may have been a central spacer plate rather than a backplate. It is bent and one end is broken. The surviving end is cut into curved shoulders and then a relatively long terminal ending in a quatrefoil. The sheets are joined by a copper-alloy rivet through the quatrefoil. Surviving length 26mm, width 7mm, weight 0.57g.

NMS-54E13B: RING
Copper-alloy ring with dark green polished surface. It is 20mm in diameter externally and with a central hole 11mm in diameter. The ring is 5mm thick where best preserved; in other places, corrosion has removed some of the surface. In cross-section it is kite-shaped, with an acutely pointed arris around the exterior and a more gentle angle in the central hole. It weighs 6.21g. Rings of these proportions have been dated to the late Bronze Age (e.g. WILT-7BCF7B, with references), or Iron Age to Roman periods (e.g. SOM-7EDF21, WILT-CDE753, HAMP-E3F5BC).

NMS-5501D3: KEY (LOCKING)
Small casket key, quite flat and carelessly made. The bow is circular, with a casting flaw leading to an internal thickening opposite the stem. The stem has a collar at the junction with the bow; the bow is oval-section and the pointed tip projects beyond the bit. The bit is rectangular and flat, and has a square cleft cut into the rear edge and two similar clefts cut into the leading edge. 45mm long, bow 15.5mm in diameter, 3mm thick at most. It weighs 5.61g and probably dates to the medieval period.

NMS-555F55: SEAL MATRIX
Small medieval copper-alloy seal matrix. It is a low cone tapering and then flaring again to a flat top out of which a broken rounded suspension loop emerges; the breaks are fresh and the surviving height is 14.5mm; it weighs 5.58g. The die is circular, 15mm in diameter, and engraved with the central motif of a hare in profile looking right (on the impression), with two long ears, prominent round eyes, a short tail, and four legs with long feet turned at right angles. There is some detail on the body, particularly on the rear quarters, possibly intended to indicate fur. The inscription is set between unbeaded lines, and reads * SOhOV LOV :: with a quatrefoil of dots filling the remaining space. The motto is a hunting cry. Anonymous seal matrices such as this one are normally dated to the 14th century.

NMS-5652BC: BUCKLE
Post-medieval copper-alloy double-loop buckle frame, both loops identical. The frame is wide and flat, and has a central bar. Internally each loop has a double incurve at the outside edge, and externally each pin rest has three projecting lobes, each slightly hollowed in the centre. The line of the bar is continued across the frame at top and bottom as a ridge, flanked by a pair of similar lobes with hollowed or fluted centres, each projecting slightly beyond the rest of the frame. The buckle is flat on the reverse, and is angled slightly upwards to either side of the bar. Length 48mm, width 30mm, thickness 2mm, weight 8.60g. There are several similar examples illustrated by Whitehead (2003), notably nos. 397-399, dated by him to c. 1550-1650. Parallels on the PAS database include PUBLIC-438EA8, DOR-9714CE, PUBLIC-C088A9, LANCUM-6175A6, etc.

NMS-7CA449: BROOCH
Worn and incomplete small copper-alloy early Roman brooch, probably of rearhook type. It has semi-cylindrical wings, curved in cross-section and open at the reverse. Both appear incomplete, the right (when viewed from the front) being more worn than the left; no decoration survives on either. The stub of a rear-facing hook survives in the centre. Surviving width across wings 19mm. The bow tapers from its junction with the wings, and is oval in cross-section; it measures 5mm wide and 3mm thick at the junction with the wings. No decoration survives on the bow, which is broken towards the bottom. No hint of a catchplate survives on the reverse; the break was probably above the catchplate. The break is very worn. Surviving length 26mm, weight 4.04g. It is possible that both ends of the wings have been lost, and that they originally would have had Polden Hill-type caps to hold an axis bar, so the identification as a rearhook brooch is not absolutely certain.

NMS-7D05FC: STRAP END
Large copper-alloy medieval composite strap-end with cast forked spacer and two sheet plates. The attachment end is very slightly incurved, and here the front plate has a longitudinal groove in the centre which crosses a circular aperture. Decayed textile can be seen within the aperture. There is no other decoration on the front plate, which tapers from 18.5mm wide at the attachment end to 16mm at the rounded closed end. This has a projecting terminal which only survives on the front plate. The backplate has a similar circular aperture but no groove, and is similarly undecorated. The forked spacer is incomplete, with one arm running the full length of the strap-end and the other surviving to under half this length. The spacer is rounded at the closed end, with no terminal, and the backplate has an incomplete end, now pointed. There are two separate copper-alloy rivets at the attachment end, one in either corner. Maximum length (of front plate) 49.5mm; total thickness, 5mm; weight (probably with some retained soil) 10.84g. Very similar to one from a context of c. 1270-1350 in London (Egan and Pritchard 1991, no. 664).

NMS-7DAF67: BROOCH
Fragment of copper-alloy Roman brooch of umbonate form. It has a small central boss with cast oval cells for enamel around; three survive, and from their spacing there were probably originally five forming a five-petalled flower. The spandrels between the petals, two of which survive, are filled with red enamel. Around all of this is a reserved ring of copper alloy, then a broad concentric groove. Outside this is another ring of cast cells, probably originally filled with enamel; they are worn and very unclear but may be triangular or oval cells set in a band of reserved metal, with smaller cells above and between. On the reverse is a double lug, both lugs pierced to take an axis bar; quite a bit of the iron axis bar survives. The fragment measures 21mm parallel to the (missing) pin and 15mm perpendicular to this; it is 9mm thick from the top of the lugs to the top of the central boss and weighs 2.81g. All breaks are old and worn. The fragment can be reconstructed to resemble Mackreth (2011) no. 12640, or Hattatt nos. 130-1 and 1064-5. Mackreth classifies these as 7.a, the Petalled Boss type.

NMS-7DD2C1: BUCKLE
Cast copper-alloy pin from a large medieval annular buckle, now corroded to a rough surface. The loop is open and appears slightly distorted. There is a slight moulding or collar at the junction of loops and shaft. The shaft is sub-circular in cross-section and tapers gently along its length from 4.5mm diameter at most. At the end, the underside slopes up to a blunt point. Total length 45mm, loop perhaps 10 x 13mm externally, thickness from side to side 5mm. It weighs 5.19g. These buckles appear to date to the 14th century.

NMS-7DFA29: BLADE
Fragment of late Bronze Age copper-alloy tapering blade, perhaps a rapier, spearhead or arrowhead. The lower break is across a rounded oval midrib measuring perhaps 5 x 5.5mm in cross-section. The midrib then runs up the fragment and is flanked by incomplete cutting edges. All breaks are worn. Surviving length 27.5mm, surviving width 13mm, weight 4.7g.

NMS-7E508D: BOOK FITTING
Small copper-alloy book-clasp of Howsam's type A.1, complete with plate and cast element that would have fitted over a peg. The clasp is now bent upwards about the hinge. The plate is made from a piece of copper-alloy sheet folded in half and secured by two copper-alloy rivets at the attachment end, both of which survive. The attachment end is incurved on both halves of the plate but is undecorated. Each corner of the folded end is cut into a recess so that the narrowed fold can fit between two projections from the cast element. These are both pierced to take a copper-alloy hinge bar. The cast element has a rounded centre, convex on the front and flat on the reverse, which has a central circular hole about 2mm in diameter. Projecting from the outside edge of the cast element is an animal-head terminal, highly stylised, with a pair of bumps on the top which may represent ears. A transverse groove separates these from the rest of the head, which has two smaller bumps on the top which might be eyes, and a turned-up nose. The animal head is pierced from side with a circular hole. Total length (as bent) 37mm, width of plate 10mm, width of cast element 11mm, thickness of cast element 5mm, thickness at rivets 5mm, weight 5.41g. The plate would have been attached to a leather strap emerging from one cover, and the central hole in the cast element would have fitted over a peg fixed to the other cover. It is thought that the hole in the animal-head terminal might have held a cord to help in pulling the clasp off the peg. This type of book-clasp seems to date to the 13th to 15th century.

NMS-7EAC08: BOOK FITTING
Rectangular mount or book clasp made from copper alloy. It is large (40 x 25mm) and well made, with a separate copper-alloy rivet in each corner. There is a central circular perforation 6.5mm in diameter, and each short end is decoratively shaped into a deep central trefoil with an incurve on the remaining edge to either side. A short shallow groove runs from the centre of the trefoil towards the central perforation. The long edges are decorated with a pair of short grooves running from the edge towards the rivets at either corner. It weighs 7.21g. The rivets are short (surviving length 2mm) and there is no evidence that they ever held a second plate on the reverse, but the size and weight of the object suggests a book clasp, with the hole fitting over a peg on the opposite cover, rather than a belt mount reinforcing a hole. The 'grooved aperture' decoration dates it to the 14th century. Compare a very similar example from Fountains Abbey which still retains its underplate (Howsam 2016, fig. 2.20, no. 159).

NMS-7EE8A9: MIRROR CASE
Copper-alloy mirror case. It is circular, 30mm in diameter, with an unpierced lug projecting from one side and a single broken stub of another lug, possibly from a hinge, projecting from the opposite edge. The lugs increase the surviving length to 38mm. The edge is turned down to form short flanges 2.5mm deep. The case is now a little bent and cracked, and decorated with double lines of small rectangular punchmarks, probably interrupted rocker-arm. One double line runs straight from lug to lug and another runs at right angles to this, forming a cross. Four other curved lines are arranged in the four angles, themselves forming a cross with rounded angles between the arms. There are extensive traces of white residue on the inside of the case, probably the remains of a calcium carbonate cement. It weighs 6.43g. In London, three similar mirror cases have been found in late 13th- to mid 14th-century contexts (Egan and Pritchard 1991, nos. 1714-1716).

NMS-7F357B: BUCKLE
Complete copper-alloy double-loop buckle of post-medieval date. The frame is basically rectangular, with the top and bottom edges both incurved. Both outside edges are straight internally, but externally the more elaborate is shaped externally into four rather irregular slight lobes and has its corners expanded into outward-curling scrolls that end in large flat circular discs. The less elaborate outside edge is outcurved externallhy with a tiny notch in the centre, and has smaller expanded rounded corners. Length of frame 34mm, width 49mm. On the bar a copper-alloy pin survives. The shaft of the pin has a drooping tip, probably to fit over the frame. The junction between shaft and loop is marked by slight sideways projections. The loop is folded over the bar and a slot is cut, now blocked by iron corrosion which has fixed the pin in place so that it cannot move. The folded-over end of the loop tapers to a point. Length of pin 25mm, width of loop 9mm. Weight 15.26g. Similar to LON-DFA0C6, ESS-180081, IOW-2337B9, etc; also see Whitehead 2003, nos. 526 and 527. Whitehead dates these to the 17th century, c. 1620-1680.

NMS-7F6C44: BUCKLE
Copper-alloy double-loop buckle frame, both loops identical. Both are oval internally and have outside edges expanding to a point. The bar projects slightly beyond the frame. The reverse is slightly hollowed. A copper-alloy pin of a different, more greenish colour survives on the bar; this is D-shaped in cross-section and has an open loop and a tapering shaft. The frame measures 47mm long and 29mm wide; the pin is 22.5mm long. It weighs 9.09g and dates to the 16th or early 17th century. Similar to OXON-D0F92E.

NMS-7FBE1E: BUCKLE
Copper-alloy buckle frame with rectangular frame and integrally cast plate. The frame is a long rectangle, now with slightly incurved top and bottom edges and an outcurved outside edge. The curves are very symmetrical and it seems that this was the original shape. The pin hole is in the centre of the inside edge and is now blocked with iron corrosion. Behind this is a narrower transverse moulding and then the rest of the short plate is made up of three long straight relief fronds. The central one is lozengiform and ends in a small boss; the most complete side one is narrow and long and ends in a slightly out-turned boss, and the other has lost the end with its boss. The effect is of a fleur-de-lis.On the reverse is a sturdy short integral rivet which brings the total thickness up to 7mm. The total length is 44mm and the frame is a maximum of 17mm wide. It weighs 8.14g. Probably 13th or 14th century, possibly from a spur. Compare NMS-F054A3, HAMP-2D7AF3, HAMP-0FB426, HAMP-65BE04.

NMS-7FDAFE: BUCKLE
Copper-alloy oval buckle frame with offset narrowed bar and outside edge thickened to form a large roll-moulding, which has been constricted in the centre to accommodate a separate sheet roller. This does not now roll, but is fixed around the outside edge with a butted seam on the reverse. The roller is 5mm wide, and is impressed with a ribbed design. The buckle is 19mm wide, 18mm long and 5mm thick, and weighs 3.05g. It dates to c. 1200-1400 AD. Similar to DOR-768F92 and KENT-8F7F47.

NMS-801B67: SEAL MATRIX
Circular lead seal matrix of medieval date. It is flat and 25mm in diameter, with the stubs of a broken-off pierced lug on the reverse; the remains of the side-to-side hole can be seen. The central motif is an eight-petalled flower with a pellet in the centre. The surrounding inscription is set within beaded borders, and reads + S'. RIC[AR]DI MORIS: (Seal of Richard Morris). A small area of the inscription is missing due to damage and corrosion. It is 3mm thick without the lug, and weighs 12.08g. 13th century.

NMS-808DD4: PURSE
Copper-alloy purse bar and part of loop, of late-medieval or early post-medieval date. The central block is smoothly rounded on the sides, and flat on top and bottom; it is undecorated. To either side is a complete arm, decorated with three encircling ridges next to the block and then with a step down to a short narrowed area where the frame would have been attached. At the end of these short arms are simple rounded terminals which seem to have been made separately, as the hammered-over end of a narrowed shaft is visible at their ends. The central block has a hole which runs from top to bottom and contains a shaft, which ends at the bottom in a thickened area retaining the shaft in place. At the top of the shaft are the remains of the loop, consisting of a flattish base decorated with three horizontal ridges. Above this are two quite freshly broken stubs from the loop itself. The bar is 52mm wide and the remains of the loop are 28mm long. The central block is 14mm thick and the entire object weighs 25.30g. This bar is of Williams's Class C2, and can be compared with WILT-D1C432 and NMGW-F9C2A1. It dates to c. 1450-1550 AD.

NMS-80E8F1: SWORD
Copper-alloy pommel, perhaps from a sword or dagger. Viewed from above it is oval, 37 x 31mm; viewed from the side it is biconvex and 20mm thick. There is a clear seam running around the circumference and it seems likely that the pommel was made in two halves soldered together. It is hollow, and there is a small circular perforation at the centre of one half, 9mm in diameter; this is likely to be the top. In the centre of the other half is a larger hole, the edge of which is now bent and perhaps incomplete. This may also have been circular, c. 13-14mm in diameter. It weighs 23.02g. There is no decoration. It can be compared with WMID-71EC66, WMID-8C543D and HESH-107B92, and perhaps the smaller SUR-5E3BBF, although none of these have such a clear seam around the centre. These pommels are variously dated to the medieval or early post-medieval periods, c. 1200-c. 1600.

NMS-BBB237: CLOTH SEAL
Complete post-medieval lead cloth seal. The discs are 22mm in diameter and the connecting strip is 3mm wide; it weighs 9.70g. Disc 2 is stamped with what may be a merchant's mark. It resembles an orb with a cross on top, but the 'orb' appears to be drop-shaped and has a central horizontal line with perhaps the letter R above and some indistinct markings below. This is set within a beaded circle, with perhaps part of an inscription around at the lower left-hand side. No stamp survives on Disc 1. It probably dates to the 16th or 17th century.

NMS-BB6D03: CLOTH SEAL
Early 17th-century lead cloth seal. Disc 1 survives, apparently complete at 15mm diameter, with the flattened remains of the rivet on the reverse. The stamp on the front appears to have been much larger than the seal, so only the central part of the design survives. This shows a building with ashlar blocks outlined and a round arch or gateway; there is a plinth or steps across the base of building and arch. There also appears to be something within the arch, with a pair of oblique lines diverging and running across the steps, then a vertical line from where they join upwards. The top of the building is off the flan; there is something below the building, with part of an oval field outlined with a ridge surviving. To either side there appears to be a wing or tower, but again the bottom and sides of the design are off the flan. On the reverse, there is a large relief letter W with part of a raised shape, perhaps a lozenge, after it. It is 3mm thick and weighs 2.46g. The combination of large initials and a similar building is also found on LON-AB200D, LEIC-DDAAD2, and LON-438A4B. It is most likely to be a Norwich seal, but a similar building with figure in the arch is also found on a Colchester seal (Elton 2017, 80). Dates found on these parallels centre on the 1630s.

NMS-BC214B: CLOTH SEAL
Complete four-disc lead cloth seal. Disc 1, with the rivet on the reverse, is stamped with the number 59 in relief. Disc 2 has relief letters stamped on it, some of which are illegible. The visible letters read SVF / -OLK / - E * Disc 3 is stamped with the royal arms of the house of Stuart with CR above, all within a beaded circle, probably for Charles I but possibly for Charles II. Disc 4 is just a flat ring, and has no surviving stamp. Discs 1 and 3 are both 17.5mm in diameter, and the cloth seal weighs 9.39g. The royal initials date it to 1625-1649 or 1660-1685. Other four-part seals with county names are known, but there seems to be no precise parallel for the combination of stamps on this seal. Compare the Stuart arms on NMS-5CA2F8, LON-48598A, DENO-EDCF36, SF-385C92 and PUBLIC-05DF14.

NMS-BD0C9B: MOUNT
Domed or conical medieval sexfoil mount made from thin copper alloy. It is complete, although slightly distorted, and almost circular, with tiny notches between the foils. Each of the six foils or facets is flat, and slopes up to a rounded apex. Two opposing foils have small circular rivet holes near their edges. Compare an almost identical example from a context of c.1270-1350 in London (Egan and Pritchard 1991, no. 959). 19mm in diameter, 6mm high, 0.83g. Probably from a belt or girdle.

NMS-BD48C6: HINGE
Incomplete and bent copper-alloy hinge, probably of medieval date. It is roughly rectangular, tapering from 14mm wide at one end to 11mm wide at the other; the long edges are irregular, not straight. There are three circular holes, c. 3mm in diameter, pushed through from front to back; one is complete and close to the wider end but off centre, another is partially cut through the wider end, and the third is closer to the narrower end but again off centre, close to one long edge. The narrower end has one of an original two hinge loops which curls up and back towards the front. There is no decoration and the object is carelessly made. Total length 31mm, weight 2.63g.

NMS-BDAC63: STIRRUP
Copper-alloy stirrup-strap mount of Williams Class A, Type 8, of 11th-century date. The very top of the apex is missing (worn break) but part of the animal head that decorated it survives, looking upwards and with two round-ended hollow-centred ears. Between and below the ears is a circular hole 4mm in diameter, and below this is a transverse ridge making a double incurve which follows the line of the ears. The centre of the mount is undecorated, but the edges and lower corners are each filled with a motif which may also be an animal head, perhaps in profile. These each have a drop-shaped ear with hollow centre, similar to but larger than the ears of the upper animal head. They are attached to a U-shaped ridge which follows the edge of the mount. At the base, between the corners made by the bottom of the U-shaped ridges, there are two circular holes filled with iron corrosion. The centre of the lower edge has a right-angled flange on the reverse; above this are extensive traces of iron corrosion. Surviving length 43mm, width at base 34mm, thickness with flange 7mm, weight 18.88g. It is close to Williams 1997, no. 156; also compare PUBLIC-C8A9C1 and NMS-6809C4, and incomplete examples SF-A8DB56 and CAM-59BF30.

NMS-BDECB8: STRAP END
Part of a copper-alloy strap-end of 'crescentic' type, of 15th-century date. Only the crescentic attachment end survives, without its sheet backplate; the terminal, probably shaped like a tree or bush, is missing (worn break). The crescent shape is decorated on the front with the letters ihc (an abbreviation for Jesus Christ) in black-letter script, on a background of closely spaced sets of parallel engraved lines. The letters are the right way up when the strap-end is held with the points of the crescent upwards and the broken-off terminal downwards. To either side, the ends of the crescent are filled with foliate motifs each consisting of a single long pointed-oval leaf with engraved edges, spine and veins.There is a narrow reserved border around the entire design. On the reverse, the crescent is slightly hollowed, and has the stubs of two integrally cast rivets. A further incomplete rivet hole survives at the end of one of the crescent's points. There are scattered traces of a pale gilding or white-metal coating. Surviving length 28mm, width 32mm, thickness 2mm, weight 6.95g. This find joins a small group of similar strap-ends recorded on the PAS database. Compare WILT-E92B96, PUBLIC-0ED382, SF-27B486, HAMP2127.

NMS-BE5107: BUCKLE
Small copper-alloy double-loop buckle frame, complete with separate iron bar on which are corroded a pin and a tiny incomplete plate, both of copper alloy. The frame has incurved top and bottom edges, both decorated with a pair of transverse grooves to either side of the end of the bar. The outside edges are both outcurved and both decorated with more crudely made transverse and oblique grooves. the frame curves as if around a shoe. The pin appears to be cast and the loop drilled; the shaft is D-shaped in cross-section. The plate is triangular, tapering to a broken point, and also appears to have drilled hinge loops. It is decorated with a V shape of what appears to be a double row of punchmarks, possibly interrupted rocker-arm. Length 20mm, width 15.5mm, weight 3.31g. Late 17th or early 18th century; compare Whitehead (2003) no. 626.

NMS-BE7CB7: THIMBLE
Small medieval ring-type thimble made from thin copper alloy. It is 16mm in diameter at the lower rim and tapers to 14mm at the upper rim. Both are decorated with short lengths of circumferential grooving, but these disappear off the edge in places and it may be that both edges, although fairly straight and worn, are incomplete. Between the grooves are 21 vertical lines of punched dots, six or seven in each line. The thimble is 11mm tall and weighs 2.43g. This type of thimble dates to the 13th to early 15th century.

NMS-BE9CE9: MOUNT
Small copper-alloy post-medieval mount. It is essentially circular and 15mm in diameter, with a flat outer and a domed centre which is hollow on the reverse. Four tiny projections around the edge bring the maximum dimensions to 17 x 17mm. On the reverse of the flat outer are the remains of two attachment spikes. It is 4.5mm in thickness away from the spikes, and weighs 1.65g. It has a grey patina on both faces. 16h or 17th century. Compare SWYOR-547066.

NMS-BF6E10: HARNESS PENDANT
Copper-alloy banner, part of an elaborate set of harness fittings. The main part is flat and rectangular, 26mm long by 18mm wide and 2mm thick. It is cast in one piece with a hollow cylindrical tube down one long edge; this would have fitted over a separate stem like a flagpole, around which it would have rotated. The main rectangular area is decorated on both faces with a chequerboard design. The alternating squares have minute traces of blue enamel or are covered with rocker-arm engraving and gilded; each is around 4mm square, and there are four across the width and six down the length. Maximum length (at tube) 27mm; total width, 24mm. Thickness at base of tube 7mm, at top of tube 6mm. Weight 12.15g. This is a heraldic design which can be blazoned as checky Or and Azure; these are the arms of Warenne. It dates to c. 1250-1400 AD.

NMS-E82A27: SPINDLE WHORL
Lead weight, probably a spindle whorl. It is crudely made and irregular, perhaps crushed, with an oval base with a slight thickening around it; total measurements are 22 x 18mm. The sides are straight, tapering to a flat top that is more drop-shaped when viewed from above; it measures 15 x 17mm. The central perforation is also oval, 6 x 8mm at the top and 4 x 8mm at the base. The height is 17mm and it weighs 37.8g. Most lead spindle whorls probably date to c. 900-1400 AD.

NMS-E8F505: BOOK FITTING
Copper-alloy book mount of late medieval or early post-medieval date. It is now rather crumpled but was originally c. 30mm square, with a shallow incurve cut out of the centre of each edge. Each corner has a small rivet hole around which are two or three concentric engraved rings. In the centre there is a circular boss with a large (7mm diameter) circular hole in the centre; the edges of the hole are worn and appear complete, but as most parallels have unbroken domes in the centre it is possible that the hole is due to wear. Around the hole is a ring of crescentic stamps, the points of the crescents facing inwards towards the dome. One corner is bent up and partly over the central boss, and another adjacent corner is bent under the central boss. The surviving area of the dome brings the thickness up to c. 4 mm. It weighs 4.8g. This mount is of Howsam's type B.1.3, an uncommon type which has a central circular dome set within a square flange, sometimes with ornately shaped edges (Howsam 2016, 92). A good parallel can be seen at SUR-6D489D, and there are seven surviving on the late 15th-century binding of a copy of Ranulf Higden's Polychronicon, now in the Huntington Library, San Marino, California (MS HM 28561) (Howsam 2016, 94, fig. 2.41). Howsam dates this type to the 14th to 16th centuries (2016, 95).

NMS-EA3F21: STRAP END
Tip of a late early-medieval copper-alloy openwork strap-end of Thomas's Class E, some breaks worn and others fresher, with another break and bend on one side. It is cast with roughly circular holes, three of about 4mm diameter set two above and one below. The lower one is in the curve of the end of the strap-end, and to either side of it are much smaller circular holes. It is through one of these, on the left-hand side when viewed from the front, that the strap-end is broken and bent. Above the upper pair of larger holes is a slightly upcurving line of five circular holes, that in the centre the largest (3.5mm) and those to either side gradually smaller. Above these is another curving row of five holes, through which the strap-end is broken and the upper part lost. A similar arrangement of holes can be seen on strap-ends NMS-C3918F (from Brandiston) and NMS-CDA11B (from Foulsham) and the original design may have been a symmetrical arrangement of confronted or addorsed birds or wyverns. Surviving length 26mm, maximum width (at break) 23mm, thickness 2mm, weight 5.8g. 10th century.

NMS-0F4A0B: BUCKLE
Tiny medieval copper-alloy buckle with integral plate, probably from a spur. Most of the frame and the other end of the plate are missing (worn breaks). The small part of the frame that survives is curved, and there is a circular pin hole close to it. Level with the rear edge of the pin hole is a pair of projections which recall the lobes at either end of the bar on buckles with separate plates. Behind these, the plate begins with a rectangular area 9 mm wide with bevelled edges and a central circular rivet hole. Behind this is a narrower longer area, 5mm wide, also with bevelled edges. At the other end is a very short length of non-bevelled edge before a second rivet hole, again with bevelled edges around; this hole is broken through and the rest of the plate is missing. Total surviving length, 26mm. Maximum surviving width, 12mm. Weight 2.11g. 13th to 15th century.

NMS-1011A5: STRAP FITTING
Post-medieval copper-alloy strap fitting with loop and probably originally with hook, but now incomplete. In the centre is a flat oval plate, undecorated except for a small notch cut into each long edge, one apparently larger than the other; it is possible that the smaller notch is more worn. At one end of the plate is a projecting transverse rectangular lobe, decorated with a groove, and then the stubs of a circular loop (worn breaks). At the other end is a broken stub which preserves a short length of another decorative groove, probably originally another transverse projecting lobe. Some of the breaks here are fresh. Surviving length 38mm, maximum width (at rectangular lobe) 18mm, weight 4.50g. Compare Read (2008) no. 829, and on the PAS database, DEV-8E312B, KENT-1B5197 and SOM-48E2CD. 17th century.

NMS-1060DC: STRAP FITTING
Small copper-alloy strap slide, for holding down the free end of a strap. It is rectangular with an external integral rivet, 12mm wide at the top tapering to 10mm wide at the base of the frame. The top of the frame is triangular in cross-section, the sides and base rectangular. 14mm long from top of frame to base of rivet, thickness nearly 3mm, weight 1.03g. Examples from London (e.g. Egan and Pritchard 1991, no. 1239) come from contexts of c. 1270-1400. Compare SWYOR-F1BF62.

NMS-10B325: MOUNT
Copper-alloy mount with integral rivet, probably of Roman date. It is almost rectangular when viewed from the front, 23mm long and 15mm wide, and D-shaped in cross-section. It is divided into two smoothly waisted areas by a central transverse ridge; this ridge has a curved top and there are grooves at its junction with the waisted areas, giving almost a bead-and-reel effect, although the 'bead' (the ridge) is very narrow and the 'reels' (the waisted areas) are very wide. At either end is another groove and a similar ridge (or bead). On the reverse, the mount is hollowed, with a flat cap to either end. The integral rivet is in the centre, with a large circular integral rove. The maximum thickness of mount and rivet is 12mm and the object weighs 6.52g. The decorative style of the mount is classical and the form, with sturdy integral rivet with large rove, also points to a Roman date. There do not appear to be any good parallels on the PAS database, with SUSS-FBD783 perhaps the closest, although twice as big.

NMS-11A464: VESSEL
Fragment of copper-alloy bull's head mount from a bucket or similar vessel, of late Iron Age or early Roman date. Only the centre survives, with one well-preserved eye (the animal's left) made from a gradual swelling outlined with a double pointed-oval groove. The other eye is largely lost along with most of the surface, which has suffered badly from corrosion; where the surface survives it is grey and glossy, and looks like a white-metal coating. In the centre, above and between the eyes, is a circular hole 6mm in diameter. To either side are broken-off projections which may originally have been horns; enough of one survives to suggest that it may have curved gently forwards. At the top of the fragment is the stub of a broken loop; a tiny fragment of the edge of its circular hole survives. At the bottom it is broken across just below the eyes. The reverse of the head is hollow, but the horns and loop have a flat reverse. Because of the corrosion, it is hard to tell whether the breaks are old or recent. Length from top to bottom, 33mm. Width across the horns, 37mm. Maximum thickness c. 8mm. Weight 23.37g. Compare SF-9E1B87, GLO-754F3B and BERK-A03B79.

NMS-127DEF: MOUNT
Copper-alloy mount of early post-medieval date. It is flat and roughly triangular, shaped into three pairs of side lobes, a single lobe at the apex and another in the centre of the base. There is a circular depression in the centre, which has broken through in the middle to the reverse making a tiny hole. Around this depression, the rest of the mount is decorated with punched dots. Both front and reverse have a shiny white-metal coating, and the reverse has two attachment spikes both bent in the same direction, towards the base of the triangle. Length of mount 22.5mm, width 11.5mm, thickness 2mm without spikes, 5mm with the spikes. Weight 2.35g. 16th century.

NMS-12570D: BROOCH
Incomplete copper-alloy Nauheim derivative brooch, of late Iron Age or early Roman date (10-100 AD). The brooch is broken across the top of the bow, just after a sharp curve which almost turns the bow through 180 degrees. The spring and pin are missing (fresh break). There is also a break across the foot, and the very end of the foot and a little of the catchplate are also missing. The bow is rectangular in cross-section, 5mm wide and just over a millimetre thick. It is decorated on the front with two longitudinal grooves, between which are short and closely spaced fine oblique grooves. This decoration runs from the break to about 15mm above the broken foot; the last 15mm or so are undecorated and tapering to a narrow, pointed foot. Surviving length 46mm, width of bow 5mm, weight 4.12g. The bow is very flat across the reverse and neatly polished, with a high gloss but still quite a lot of transverse filemarks. The catchplate curls to the left (when viewed from the reverse) and has oblique filemarks on the inside. Compare HAMP-81C1F4, and Mackreth 2011, no. 4082, which has been allocated to Mackreth's ND 1.c.

NMS-12D224: MOUNT
Medieval copper-alloy mount consisting of a D-sectioned rod bent in half, with a gap at the fold, then each end flattened and expanded to a circular terminal, both pierced for a rivet. Length as folded, 19mm. Width of terminals, 10mm. Thickness at fold, 5mm. Weight 1.59g. Similar mounts were used on belts to suspend rings or purse hangers. It is similar to one from a late 13th- or early 14th-century context in London (Egan and Pritchard 1991, no. 1194).

Foot and part of bow from an early Anglo-Saxon cruciform brooch. A short length of the bow survives, faceted or V-shaped on the front and curved to a hollow on the reverse. There is a short flat area at the base of the bow, then the top of the foot is flat and undecorated. This area has an incomplete catchplate on the reverse, missing its return; to the left of this (when viewed from the reverse) there is iron staining showing that the brooch was buried with the pin closed. The catchplate extends onto the reverse of the mouldings at the top of the horse-head terminal. These are D-shaped in cross-section, and consist of a raised area 5mm long with a ridge across the centre. Below these mouldings, the brow of the horse is again D-shaped in cross-section and flares slightly before stepping down into the eye area. The eyes themselves are ridges which run from a rounded top down the sides of the head. The top of the nose is triangular in cross-section but quickly flattens to make space for two large comma-shaped scrolled nostrils. The tail of the comma is small, uppermost and faces outwards; the circular part is large and flat with no decoration. Between the nostrils is a small spatulate extension which does not now extend below the base of the nostrils. Surviving length 48mm, maximum width 16mm, width at bow 9mm. The break is neither fresh nor particularly worn. It weighs 10.19g. The nostrils mean that this brooch, although small, should probably be allocated to Martin's Group 3, probably type 3.1.

NMS-E57BD2: BUCKLE
Tiny oval copper-alloy buckle frame with central bar, 15mm long and 13mm wide, weight 1.0g. The frame is D-shaped or a quarter-circle in cross-section and rather irregularly made. Probably early post-medieval; compare Whitehead 2003, no. 279, which is bigger but similarly proportioned, and which Whitehead dates to c. 1650-1720.

NMS-53EC44: PIN
Complete copper-alloy pin, probably Roman but possibly alternatively middle Anglo-Saxon. The head is solid and hemispherical, with a rounded angle between flat base and rounded top, possibly worn. When viewed from above the head seems more oval, and measures 7 x 8mm. The circular-section shaft tapers from 3mm in diameter where it leaves the head (with no collar) to 2mm in diameter shortly below, where it is bent at just over right angles. It then swells again to 3mm in diameter before a second slight bend, after which it tapers to a sharp point. The bends do not appear to have caused stress to the metal; after the last bend the pin is bright and uncorroded, and any patinated surface may have worn off. The pin measures 28mm from the top of the head to the outside of the bend, and then about another 20mm to the centre of the swollen shaft. The swollen area measures about 27mm long. The complete original length may have been c. 90mm. Weight 5.2g. The shape of the head is more Roman than Anglo-Saxon, and the lack of a collar may also suggest a Roman date. Compare IOW-313B52.

Incomplete late medieval or early post-medieval double-loop buckle frame, both loops originally oval but one half-missing. The frame is D-shaped in cross-section and the bar continues over the frame as a moulding. The incomplete loop is also bent upwards, making the original length hard to measure; one loop and the bar is 16mm long, and the whole thing was probably originally c. 31mm long. The surviving complete loop is 17.5mm wide and so appears sub-circular internally. It weighs 1.9g. The breaks are unworn. 15th or 16th century.

Copper-alloy early post-medieval double-loop buckle frame with copper-alloy pin. Both loops seem to have originally been rectangular; one is still neatly so, but the other has an outside edge which has been bent into an irregular convex curve, and the whole loop is bent upwards. The bar is quite narrow, and on it the pin survives, with a large open loop and a D-section shaft. The shaft is decorated halfway down its surviving length with a narrow moulding, and has lost its tip (unworn break). 23mm wide, currently 35mm long (originally perhaps 33mm). Pin length 17.5mm. Weight 5.5g. Compare Whitehead (2003) no. 464; Whitehead feels that these buckles date to c. 1570-1700.

NMS-636839: BROOCH
One-piece Colchester brooch, missing spring and pin and now worn. The wings are short and narrow, and rectangular in cross-section. From the base of the wings a central stub projects to the rear; this would have gone on to form the spring and pin, but is now broken (worn break). From the top of the wings another central projection bends forwards and forms a complete forward-facing hook which would originally have held the chord of the spring in place. The bow projects from the front of the wings. It is oval in cross-section, 6 x 3mm at the top, and tapers smoothly from the top to the pointed foot. The foot is now blunt, so a little may be missing here; most of the catchplate is missing too, with just a ridge down the reverse of the foot surviving. There is no decoration on wings or bow. Length 50mm, width across wings 13mm, weight 5.5g. Similar in shape to Mackreth 2011, pl. 22, no. 211. Late Iron Age or early Roman, 25-60 AD.

NMS-63CF7E: SPUR
Copper-alloy detached rowel from a rowel spur of medieval date, probably c. 1350-1400 AD. It originally had 16 teeth, but now only eight survive, in a group of six (then two missing) then a group of two. Each tooth that survives is complete, and is a long slim pointed oval in shape. They are fused together for the lower 9-10mm, but delineated by grooves between them; the total length of each tooth is now 22-25mm. They are not very well spaced, with the distance between the tips varying between 7 and 12mm. The breaks are all very worn. The central hole is oval, perhaps due to wear; it measures 4.5 x 6.5mm. The total maximum diameter of the rowel is 55mm and it is 3mm thick; it weighs 18.1g. Rowel spurs were introduced in the early 13th century, but it is thought that these large rowels were used in the late 14th century (Ellis in Clark 1995, 147; compare no. 360, from a context of c. 1350-1400).

NMS-641B27: BUCKLE
Post-medieval copper-alloy double-loop buckle frame, both loops identical and somewhere between rectangular and oval. The frame has a knop at each corner, a curve at either end of the narrowed bar, and a rounded moulding at each pin rest. The whole of the frame has relief decoration; the mouldings at the pin rests are each flanked by a pair of narrow transverse ridges, then there are a pair of scrolls or curlicues, one of which reaches up onto the corner knop and the other of which runs along the inner edge of the frame. There is a little moulding halfway along each loop on the top and bottom edges. The reverse is flat and undecorated. The buckle is now a little bent; its length is 35mm, width 24mm, thickness 3mm, weight 6.9g. Although it has a faintly classical feel, this type of buckle is usually dated to c. 1550-1650. Compare Whitehead 2003, no. 427; and DOR-B48875, DOR-59DE6F, HAMP-C27489, BH-C14C3C.

NMS-64457D: CANDLE HOLDER
Incomplete branch from a branched double-socket candle-holder of the late 15th or 16th century. One branch is completely missing (fresh break) but the central ring survives with most of the other branch. The central ring measures 20mm in external diameter and 13mm in internal diameter. Viewed from the side it is slightly waisted. The lower edge is plain and almost flat, but the upper edge has a bold moulding around it. It is decorated with two grooves, one close to the bottom and the other close to the top, just below the moulding. The surviving branch projects from the moulding around the top, and is lozenge-shaped in cross-section. It runs outwards, then turns a sharp angle upwards before curving out and down to end in a more worn break. The loop at its end, which would have held a separately made candle socket, is missing. The surviving part measures 40mm from top to bottom, and 36mm from side to side. It weighs 29.9g. The original form of these candle-holders can be seen in the more complete example SWYOR-25808C.

NMS-646C47: MOUNT
Small copper-alloy mount of 16th-century date. It is flat and can be described either as square, with the centre of each edge outcurved; or circular, with four angled points around the circumference. On the reverse are two attachment spikes, both bent the same way. located behind the curved edges. It measures 12 x 13mm (between the curved edges) or 13 x 14mm (between the points) and the spikes bring the thickness up to 5mm. It weighs 1.3g. Similar to WILT-88CBB7 and LANCUM-C15926.

NMS-64A1C0: FINGER RING
Very worn and corroded fragment of Roman finger-ring of Guiraud type 2d. One shoulder and half of the bezel survive, with the remains of an oval recess for a glass or gem setting which is now missing. The shoulder flares from a thin, worn break to smoothly flatten into the bezel; there is no decoration. The recess is shallow. The finger-ring was either small, or the hoop has been crushed a little. Maximum width, at break across bezel, 11.5mm. Height from top of bezel to break, 13mm. Weight 1.3g. Guiraud dates type 2 rings to the first to early 3rd centuries AD (1989, 181).

NMS-65707D: VESSEL
Part of the rim of a large-diameter cast copper-alloy cooking vessel, slightly sooted on the outside, all breaks worn. It is relatively thin-walled at no more than 3mm thick, and has few diagnostic features, although the last 5mm or so of the rim is slightly out-turned. 45mm long along rim, 36mm wide perpendicular to this. Weighs 23.7g. Probably from the everted rim of a cauldron, and late medieval or early post-medieval, perhaps c. 1350-1700.

NMS-658C08: SPUR
Incomplete hook-attachment from a 17th- or 18th-century spur, consisting of a large integral button-like rivet 9mm in diameter, and a drop-shaped body with a pair of tiny side projections near the worn break that has removed the hook. Total length 26mm; width of plate only, 7mm; weight 3.1g. Compare SWYOR-FAD115 and NARC-2A94B6.

NMS-675E76: HARNESS PENDANT
Just under half of a gilded copper-alloy openwork horse-harness pendant. At the top is a lug pierced from side to side to make a suspension loop; the rest of the pendant is flat. A little of the original curved edge survives to either side of the loop and forms a frame, with relief (possibly engraved) openwork decoration within. The motif is zoomorphic, a bird or animal in profile facing left, with a lion-like head with an engraved eye and perhaps two upright ears, possibly looking back over its shoulder. It has a plump breast, possibly speckled (or damaged); two short curved projections leading from the animal's back upwards to the frame may be the ends of wings. The rump is rounded and may have a tail running around and across it. The animal may be a winged lion or perhaps a wyvern. The reverse is ungilded and undecorated. Surviving length from top of loop, 39mm. Width, 30mm. Thickness of loop, 10mm. Weight, 8.4g. This pendant fits into a series of openwork zoomorphic pendants with circular frames and engraved or relief decoration, including YORYM-61D961, DENO-D26DDD and NLM-00B934, NMS-39ED1E, NMS-47C777, NMS-D7E903, NMS-1CF265, HAMP1306 and the slightly different HAMP-292F87. They are dated to the 12th century.

NMS-678BAE: SEAL MATRIX
Small copper-alloy seal matrix with circular die and almost conical, very slightly hexagonally faceted handle rising smoothly to a rounded handle pierced with a circular hole for suspension. The central motif is a crouching hare in profile looking left (on the impression). The inscription is set between plain engraved lines, and reads * PRIVE SV. (I am private) with a large space-filling dot at the end of the letters. The star that starts the inscription is in front of the hare's head, so when orientated correctly the hare is in fact sitting upright on its hindquarters. The die measures 15mm in diameter and the height is 17mm. It weighs 4.5g. Anonymous seal matrices with mottoes, like this one, are usually dated to the 14th century.

NMS-67B438: SPINDLE WHORL
Lead spindle whorl. It is conical with a flat base, an irregular circle 23-25mm in diameter. The sides are straight, sloping up to a flat top perhaps around 13mm in diameter. The central hole is neat and 11mm in diameter on the base, but is less neat at the top where it is 7-8mm in diameter. It is 9mm thick and weighs 27.2g. Lead spindle whorls appear to date from c. 900 to c. 1400 AD.

NMS-78699E: SPINDLE WHORL
Decorated spindle-whorl made from chalk, probably of middle or late early-medieval date. The base is approximately circular and 31mm in diameter; it is decorated with a crudely made groove around the central perforation. The angle between base and sides is rounded, and the steeply sloping sides are also slightly convex. They are decorated with a series of irregular grooves, mainly roughly vertical but also some more oblique and some slightly curved. These grooves do not quite reach the base. Where the top survives, they do not seem to reach this either, but most of the top is now missing with only a very small area surviving to show that it was flat and probably undecorated. The height can be measured at 25mm. The central perforation is neat and circular, and tapers from 11mm in diameter at the base to 8mm at the highest point that it survives, which is not at the top. The chalk is hard, homogeneous and white, and the whorl weighs 21.9g. It is difficult to see how this spindle-whorl has been made. Externally it is certainly not lathe-turned, but the central hole may have been drilled. Some parallels can be found at the early-medieval site of Coppergate in York (Walton Rogers 1997, 1736). Most of the Coppergate spindle-whorls are made from stone, many are decorated and all have central holes of a similar size to this one (earlier whorls often have smaller central holes to fit a spindle of smaller diameter). This whorl fits into Walton-Rogers's form A, with one flat face, which comes into use in the 6th century (Walton Rogers 2007, 24) and continues into the 11th century but no later. There are some whorls decorated with vertical or oblique grooves from Coppergate (e.g. biconical whorl no. 6549, Walton Rogers 1997 fig. 806, and globular whorl no. 6572, Walton Rogers 1997 fig. 807). There do not appear to be any good parallels on the PAS database, and so although no particularly close parallel has been found, the weight of evidence from Coppergate suggests that a middle or (more likely) late Anglo-Saxon date is probable.

NMS-78B68B: BUCKLE
Small copper-alloy double-loop buckle frame of late medieval or early post-medieval date. Both loops are oval and the bar continues onto the frame as a moulding, but does not project beyond it. One outside edge is flat on the reverse and a quarter-circle in cross-section; the other is thinner and more irregular, perhaps poorly cast or perhaps damaged or corroded. A copper-alloy pin survives on the bar; this has an open loop and tapers to a sharp point, now corroded. It is 21mm long and 16.5mm wide; the pin is 11mm long. It weighs 2.2g.

NMS-78D4B5: CLOTH SEAL
Fragment of post-medieval lead cloth seal. Disc 1 survives complete, with a flattened rivet on the reverse. The connecting strip and any other discs are missing. The front of Disc 1 is featureless with no stamp surviving, but the rivet on the reverse retains some evidence of a stamp with lettering including a small neat letter B, which is the only one that can be read. It is 13mm in diameter and 3.5mm in thickness, and weighs 2.7g. Probably 16th or 17th century.

NMS-7D83BB: SPUR
Incomplete Post medieval copper-alloy rowel spur with a white-metal inlay, probably silver. The sides are straight and flare very slightly to the back of the spur, where the neck emerges. There is a short, gently tapering conical neck, then the rowel box is broken off just where it splits to hold the rowel (worn break). Most of one side is also missing, as is the other terminal; the breaks here are a little less worn. The silver inlay is complex and well-preserved. It consists of a line of dots along both edges of the sides, and four lines along the neck, on top and bottom and both sides. Those on the top and bottom stop at the cleft in the rowel box; the rows of dots along the sides continue to the break. The neck is also decorated with four lines of larger, more widely spaced dots which alternate with the lines of finer dots. Three dots survive for three of the lines, with two left on the final row. The sides and back of the spur have figurative designs inlaid in silver which are best viewed when the spur is held with the rowel box above and the (missing) terminals below. Each side is identical, with two plant stems at the top, the right-hand one curling left and right into a clockwise spiral which ends in a rosette made from seven pellets around a central pellet. There is an oval leaf on the right of the stem, below the spiral. The left-hand plant stem bends to the left, over a separate bud-like flower seen from the side. Below these is a human face, turned to look straight at the observer. The full-face human may be bearded and may have long hair, but the details are hard to see. Below the face, a second area of plant ornament survives only on the more complete side. This is a single stem with leaves to left and right. Again it curves to left and right and turns into a clockwise spiral which ends in a rosette, less well preserved than the rosette above. There may be a second plant stem below, but this is unclear. Maximum width of spur (at the back) 9mm; minimum width, at the break, 5.5mm. Surviving length of rowel box and neck, 20mm. Weight, 18.0g. Compare two similar iron examples with silver inlay, SOM-5DEE43 (with flowers) and NMS-A75C57 (with a human figure, but the other way up). This one is better-preserved than either, and with the extra detail, it can be dated to the post-medieval period when spur sides became straight. It should probably be dated to the 17th century, when spurs became fashion items, or a little later.

NMS-90DCD7: HARNESS PENDANT
Fragment of medieval horse-harness pendant and most of its suspension mount, both made from copper-alloy. Only the loop of the pendant survives, pierced from side to side. The suspension mount is made from thin sheet. One end is flat, folded and with a slot cut; this holds a copper-alloy bar on which the pendant is hinged. The other end is convex with a hollow reverse, and has a circular hole roughly in its centre. The upper edge is broken across two more circular holes, and there is a hint of a groove running into the centre from the top edge. The original shape was probably a scallop shell; compare DUR-B9A2CB and WILT-5396D1. This shape of horse-harness pendant and suspension mount is thought to date to the late 12th or 13th centuries. The mount is 23mm long, 13mm wide and 4mm thick.The fragment of pendant is 16mm long and the loop is 5mm thick. The total length is 35mm and the total weight is 3.15g.

NMS-914592: SWORD
Just under half of a cross-guard or quillon from a post-medieval sword. Part of the central perforation which passed over the tang of the sword survives, a simple rectangular hole on the upper surface but with a V-shaped groove extending about 10mm from the hole on the underside. The guard is solid and rectangular in cross-section, tapering from 14.5mm wide and 10mm thick at the worn break. The upper surface is very slightly convex, and the lower surface is a little more strongly curved, ending in a rounded terminal.It is 51mm long overall and weighs 44.11g. There is no decoration and the surface is quite rough and unpolished. Compare SUR-CADD26 and IOW-48B737. It is probably 17th or 18th century.

NMS-91843E: KEY (LOCKING)
Fragment of copper-alloy medieval key of London type VI. Part of the stem and a small part of the bow survive. The bow appears to have been circular originally; parts of two circular perforations survive, one to either side of the centre. Both holes were at least 9mm in diameter. The bow is flat, 5mm thick, and is joined to the collar around the stem by a 5mm thick rectangular area. The collar comprises a flaring conical element, a thick rounded element and a narrower moulding. The stem emerges from the narrower moulding, and is hexagonal in cross-section. The broken end appears to curve, as if it represents the junction between a solid and a hollow part of the stem. The breaks vary from fresh to worn. Total length 49mm, surviving width at bow 19mm, maximum thickness at collar 12mm, weight 25.60g. It is not particularly easy to find parallels with two circular holes at the end of the bow rather than one, but compare WMID-7CE0D1 (with two pointed-oval holes) and WMID-512884 (with much smaller holes). Type VI keys are hard to date precisely within the medieval period.

NMS-91C2C0: SWORD
Fragment of late Bronze Age sword blade. It is 28mm wide, with worn edges. The cross-section is pointed-oval, a maximum of 5mm thick, in the centre. The fragment is 26mm long and all breaks are worn. it weighs 17.12g.

NMS-92562B: BROOCH
Incomplete copper-alloy Rosette brooch of late Iron Age or early Roman date, cast in one piece except for an applied thin plate of decoration. The head is a cylindrical spring cover 27mm wide, now open and incomplete at the back; it is very grey within. On the front the spring cover is decorated with several fine longitudinal grooves, above panels of very fine oblique engraved lines. The lines in the left-hand panel point to the bottom right and the lines in the right-hand panel point to the bottom left. The bow is wide and decorated with a ridge down either side, and three wider ridges in the centre each decorated with two grooves down their length. The bow ends in a disc which has lost most of its edges. The upper half runs behind the bow right up to the spring case and nearly meets it; here the plate is undecorated. The lower half has a separate decorative plate, very thin and presumably soldered on, but there is no visible trace of solder. This has a series of long raised triangles running down from the base of the bow, with very fine ribbing between. There is then an outer ring of radiating fine ribbing, then the stubs of four or five raised strips.The edge of the disc survives at the base, where it has a border groove and ridge. A tiny stub of the lower bow survives, decorated with the same set of three ridges each with two grooves down their length. On the reverse of the disc and lower bow is a ridge of which 15mm survives; this is the remains of the catchplate. The brooch measures 43mm long, 27mm wide and 10mm thick at the bow; it weighs 13g exactly. The decoration can be reconstructed to strongly resemble Mackreth 2011, pl. 16, no. 5855, which Mackreth has allocated to his type ROS 4.a. It is also very close in decoration and appearance to the much smaller no. 5862 on the same plate.

NMS-9308A8: BROOCH
Incomplete and corroded Roman brooch, of Colchester derivative hinged type. The wings are cylindrical, with no seam visible along the reverse. There is a slot in the centre in which the loop of the copper-alloy pin can be seen; the rest of the pin is missing. One end of the wings is complete, and the copper-alloy axis bar can be seen at this open end; the other end is more fragmentary, with a length of the bar visible on the reverse. The surviving width is 35mm, but at least 3mm is missing from the incomplete wing. The wings are decorated with transverse grooves, ridges and mouldings, but the detail is obscured by corrosion. The bow is D-shaped in cross-section and tapers towards the break. Most of the surface is missing due to powdery corrosion, but there are hints of relief decoration. No hint of a catchplate survives on the reverse, and the brooch may be broken above the catchplate. The surviving length is 36mm and the weight is 16.21g.

NMS-B9113C: HARNESS FITTING
Copper-alloy object of late Iron Age or early Roman date, consisting of three circles with open centres fused together in a trefoil or triangle. Each circle is 9-10mm in internal diameter and 14-16mm in external diameter, depending on wear. The edges are bevelled slightly to front and back. The whole object is 3.5mm thick and measures 31-33mm across two circles, again depending on wear. It weighs 7.8g. The circles each have a double groove between them on both faces, making a tiny ridge projecting between each circle. One face is otherwise undecorated, but has six irregularly spaced deep dots in the centre which look deliberate. The other face has a central shallow indentation, roughly circular and 3-4mm in diameter, and two clear and one indistinct double-crescent punchmarks. These are in a neat row between one of the circles and the central indentation, with the open ends by the circle and the curves by the centre. It seems possible that the other circles also had a short row of punchmarks in the same place, but that the edges have corroded away, taking the decoration with them. Compare WAW-CA0CC0, LIN-B87FF1, DUR-06AF22 (although this has four loops) and YORYM-D1D0C0 (although this has a lug projecting from the centre). These are variously recorded as harness fittings, strap fittings and 'fobs' or 'danglers'. A similar object, but with a solid circle in the centre of the three open circles, came from Camerton in Somerset, and was thought to be a harness fitting dating to the first century BC or first century AD (Jackson 1990, 34-5, no. 61, pl. 6).

NMS-E4F35B: BROOCH
Fragment of copper-alloy Roman plate brooch. Originally circular, less than a quarter of the circumference remains, with the centre also missing. It is thin and flat, with two quite widely spaced lugs on the reverse with much hard grey corrosion around; the lugs may both be incomplete. The design on the front consists of several concentric rings. Around the edge there are ridges, perhaps a double ridge with corrosion between which may be decayed enamel; then a ring of reserved pellets with the remains of a blue enamel inlay in between; then perhaps a wide flat-topped band towards the centre. The very centre does not survive. There appear to be traces of what a white-metal coating on the ridged elements. Length of fragment 21.5mm, width 15mm, thickness including lugs 4mm, weight 2.2g. Compare Mackreth 2011, pl. 106, no. 13238, and WILT-A869C4, which also has the widely spaced lugs on the reverse.

NMS-E5543F: BROOCH
Incomplete brooch, now very corroded and missing its head. The bow is a small thick lozenge with a worn break at the top and some possible grooved decoration, both radial grooves and transverse grooves below the lozenge, and a possible annulet in the centre. The foot then flares out to a thick fantail, with no obvious decoration on the front; there is a longitudinal ridge on the reverse which is the remains of the catchplate. Surviving length 26mm, width of foot 15mm, maximum width of bow 9mm. Thickness of bow 4.5mm, thickness of foot (away from catchplate) 2mm. Weight 3.5g. This may be a Trumpet derivative brooch, but without the head it is hard to be sure. It resembles Mackreth 2011, pl. 86, no. 5603 (a Mackreth TR 4.1b1) but does not have the decoration on the foot.

NMS-E5B918: SPUR
Fragment of small copper-alloy spur of post-medieval date, probably 17th century. About half of one straight side survives, tapering from 7mm wide at the back to 4mm wide at the fairly fresh break, and from 3mm to 2mm thick. The side is D-shaped in cross-section and undecorated. A little of the other side also survives, with the break here perhaps a little more worn. The neck is oval or sub-rectangular in cross-section and short, with traces of two circumferential grooves as decoration. Both halves of the rowel box taper to a point and their original form is hard to reconstruct, although the box is straight and in line with the sides. Total length of neck and rowel box from the inside of the heel of the spur to the end of the rowel box, 19mm. Weight 8.5g. Similar to SWYOR-040087, NMGW-022E68, SOM-7BCF85, DENO-2A9B47, PUBLIC-D4472D, KENT-4A15D7 and NMS-06F341.

NMS-E5E3BC: BUCKLE
Rectangular copper-alloy buckle plate of medieval date, probably 13th or 14th century. It was made by folding a piece of sheet metal in half and cutting a pin slot and frame recesses; the pin slot has an expanded rounded end and the frame recesses are now worn. There is a large gap at the fold to accommodate the buckle frame. The two halves of the plate are held together by five copper-alloy rivets, one at each corner and one in the centre. One rivet survives complete with globular head, and the shafts of two others survive. The front plate is decorated with a border around three sides of what look like punched double addorsed triangles, probably interrupted rocker-arm; the border does not continue along the side with the pin slot. Length 29mm, width 16mm, maximum thickness (at fold) 4mm, weight (with much soil between the two halves) 4.8g. HAMP-E4A72D is larger but otherwise very similar.

NMS-E64E53: BUCKLE
Copper-alloy double-loop buckle of post-medieval date. Both loops are oval, with the bar extending onto the frame as a moulding at either end. Each outside edge is pointed externally and very slightly incurved internally to make room for a relief rosette, now rather blurred, perhaps worn or perhaps poorly cast. The frame is generally D-shaped in cross-section, the bar circular in cross-section. There is a black coating over all surfaces, reverse and bar as well as frame. Length 41mm, width 30mm, weight 8.3g. Similar to Whitehead 2003, nos. 407-8, which are dated to c. 1550-1650.

NMS-F698C3: GAMING PIECE
Lead object, probably a gaming piece. It is neatly made, with an almost-rectangular base measuring 15 x 11mm. The corners of the base are not right angles, so technically it is a parallelogram. The base has a central hole about 7mm deep, again almost rectangular; two corners are neatly right-angled, the width of the hole is 4mm and its length is 4mm on one side, 6mm on the other. Around the hole, the base is neatly indented, with a groove running from each outer corner to the neighbouring corner of the hole. The sides slope, making the object pyramidal and 16mm tall. The top is also a parallelogram, and measures 9 x 6.5mm. It has a much shallower rectangular indentation in the top which measures 3 x 4mm and is perhaps 3mm deep; the top is irregular, not flat, and may have been damaged. It weighs 16.3g. Similar lead objects have been found in a detailed fieldwalking and metal-detector survey of the Viking camp at Torksey, Lincs (Hadley and Richards 2016, 54, fig. 26). Solid examples have been classified as weights, and hollow examples (such as this one) classified as gaming pieces (Hadley and Richards 2016, 48 note 79). The Torksey examples are unstratified, but are likely to date to the late 9th century. Compare LIN-F95C3A and SF-0C5D76.

NMS-F6E058: VESSEL
Large cast copper-alloy leg from a cooking vessel of late medieval or early post-medieval date, c. 1350-1700. It is incomplete, being broken at the top (worn break) and is gently curved outwards along its length to make a slight foot at the base. In cross-section it is thick and generally flat, but has a low midrib. The sides are parallel and curve to meet at the foot in a U shape. There is sooting on both front and reverse. Surviving length c. 86mm, width 38mm, maximum thickness 14mm, weight 198.9g.

NMS-F72A2E: POWDER MEASURE
Lead powder-holder cap, now crushed. The flat top is circular, 16mm in diameter, and has a pair of opposing D-shaped loops cast in one with it; both are now incomplete. Soldered to this is a separately made flaring sheet ring forming the sides, now crushed and torn but originally c. 15mm high. The diameter at the base cannot be measured. It weighs 14.1g.

NMS-F77DBA: CLOTH SEAL
Lead 4-disc cloth seal. Disc 1 has no obvious stamp, but has an unusual rivet; not circular, but cut into a cross and each of four arms opened up to secure it on the cross. There is a short groove across the centre of the cross which may be damage or may be deliberate. Disc 4 also has no stamp. Discs 2 and 3 have stamps of relief Roman numerals with a horizontal relief line above and below, and a relief letter above this. Disc 2 is stamped with XXX, with a W above. Disc 3 is stamped with XV, but the letter above is uncertain; it may be another W. The connecting strip is missing. Discs 1, 3 and 4 are 19mm in diameter; Disc 2 is 20mm in diameter. The total length is difficult to measure as the cloth seal is now bent, but it was probably c. 38-39mm. It weighs 18.8g. Compare SWYOR-5EB916, SF-197036 and SF-CBBD21, all of which appear to have the cross-shaped rivet as well as Roman numerals. Four-disc cloth seals date to the 17th or early 18th centuries.

NMS-F79D72: MOUNT
Small copper-alloy mount of post-medieval date. It could be described as triangular with a rounded base, or drop-shaped with absolutely straight sides. It is D-shaped in cross-section, has no surviving decoration, and has the stubs of a pair of rectangular-section attachment spikes on the reverse. One stub is at the pointed end, the other in the centre of the curved base; between these, the reverse of the mount is hollowed. It measures 20mm from point to base, and is 11mm wide. With the stubs of the spikes it is 6mm thick; without, 3mm. It weighs 2.3g and dates to the 16th century.

NMS-F801CE: BROOCH
Corroded Roman brooch of rearhook type. The wings are semi-cylindrical, open at the reverse to hold the spring. A tiny fragment of possible spring survives, corroded to the reverse. The wings are incomplete and corroded, but a possible remnant of decoration survives on the front of the more complete right-hand wing (right-hand when viewed from the front); a diagonal line running upwards and outwards from about halfway up the wing at its junction with the bow. In the centre of the wings, on top of the bow, the stub of a rear-facing hook survives. The bow is also very corroded, but hints of decoration can be seen; it appears to have a row of pellets down the centre, each perhaps surrounded by a circular groove. The bow is D-shaped in cross-section and tapers smoothly from about 10mm wide and 7mm thick at the top, to a point at the bottom; the foot itself is almost certainly missing, broken or corroded away. A faint ridge about 13mm long survives on the reverse of the lower bow, the remains of the catchplate. The maximum surviving width of the brooch, at the wings, is 19mm; the surviving length (including the hook) is 46mm and it weighs 10.5g. Because this brooch is so incomplete it cannot be put into Mackreth's classification.

NMS-F87925: SPOON
Fragment of lead-alloy spoon of post-medieval date. Part of the bowl and part of the stem (or handle) survive, and the broken edges of the bowl show the crumbly delamination characteristic of a pewter or other lead alloy. The break in the stem is more smoothly patinated. The stem is basically rectangular in cross-section at the break, with bevelled edges on both front and reverse, and a midrib about 2mm wide on the reverse. The stem flares from the break to a maximum of 10mm wide, then tapers again, but this flare and taper is all within the bevel; the central flat part of the stem has straight parallel edges and is about 6mm wide. The line of the stem continues onto the reverse of the bowl as a wide shallow moulding with a rounded end, and the midrib continues to the end of this moulding as well. The shape of the bowl cannot be reconstructed, as not enough survives, but it appears to have been large (perhaps 50mm wide) and shallow. Length of fragment 58mm, width perpendicular to this 42mm, weight 16.2g. The flat but still slightly hexagonal stem and the midrib on the reverse probably indicate a date in the late 17th century.

NMS-F8E085: MOUNT
Small gilded copper-alloy bar-mount with hook. The bar is triangular in cross-section and the top end is now rounded, perhaps through wear. The lower end has a moulding or transverse ridge, below which is the hook. This tapers to become circular in cross-section at its lowest point, before curving up again in a U shape and ending in an expanded long half-oval terminal, with straight edge at its junction with the hook and its curved end uppermost. The end of the terminal is on a level with the bottom of the bar. The front of the bar and the front of the terminal are gilded. On the flat reverse of the bar is a single integral circular-section rivet. Length 22mm, width 6mm, total thickness from front to back including rivet 13mm. It weighs 3.2g. Compare IOW-7184A4, which is very similar in style but twice the size, and still hooked into a catchpiece; SF6325, IOW-6C1D62 and SUR-4913C2 are also of this large size, and are thought to be from horse-harness. LIN-DA9449 is closer in size and style to this example, and these smaller variant may be from a dog or hawk harness.

NMS-FBD030: STEELYARD WEIGHT
Lead weight, probably a Roman steelyard weight. The body of the weight is lead, and it is roughly globular, with an iron rod protruding at either end (top and bottom). Viewed from one end (either top or bottom) it is sub-rectangular, measuring c. 43 x 37mm; viewed from the side, it is oval or sub-circular. In general it is very battered-looking, with dents and scratches and one deep cut. The iron rod at one end looks square in cross-section, of side 6.5mm; at the other end it is too corroded to tell the shape. The overall length from one end of the iron to the other is 55mm, and the lead element is about 42mm long. The weight is exactly 350g (12.3 oz). The form of this weight would suggest a Roman date, but it seems unlikely to conform to any specific Roman weight standard, as the libra (the Roman pound) was 327.45g.

NMS-776078: HOOKED TAG
Late medieval or early post-medieval hooked tag of Read's Class C, Type 3. Now rather corroded, it has a hollow body 22mm long and 13mm wide with a curved front and flat back, so a semi-circular cross-section. It is open at the top, and the back has a rectangular hole in it measuring 10mm long and tapering from 9mm wide at the top to 8mm wide at the bottom. The front is decorated with a rectangular panel of criss-cross lines inlaid with niello, with a possible tranverse ridge above and a definite one below. The body tapers in thickness from 7.5mm at the top to 5.5mm at the base. The hook projects from the rear centre of the base of the body, and is circular in cross-section. It is complete but now bent slightly out of shape, and its sharp point reaches almost to the base of the hole in the reverse. The hook brings the length to 29mm. Compare Read 2008, no. 168 and 169, and SF-B0E805, SF-EFECE2, BH-B81BF5, etc. Read dates these to the late medieval or early post-medieval period, presumably by comparison with other lattice-decorated niello-inlaid objects.

NMS-78627D: UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT
Copper-alloy object with two arms and a central loop. One arm is complete, trapezoidal in cross-section, tapering slightly in width to a ridged collar and then a rounded terminal. The other is incomplete, broken before the terminal; the break is fairly fresh. The complete arm measures 4 x 4mm at the junction with the loop and tapers to 4mm thick and 2.5mm wide just before the terminal. The incomplete arm is slightly larger, measuring 4mm high and 5mm wide at the junction with the loop and tapering less. On the reverse of the incomplete arm, about halfway along, is a transverse groove; there are hints of another at the break. The two arms form a straight line, and in between the two is a central oval loop which is widest at the base and tapers towards the top. It is 8mm thick and has a central hole which also tapers towards the top. The arms project from the shorter ends of the oval; the longer sides each have a circular hole 3mm in diameter which look like rivet holes. The reverse is flat but the two arms do not lie in exactly the same plane, being angled up a little about the centre, so the object may have become slightly bent. It has a brown patina with light green patches. Total length 58mm, width 12mm, weight 8.92g. This object looks a little like a dagger guard, or a very small purse bar, but neither of these have the holes in the side of the central loop. It is probably of early post-medieval date.

NMS-78956F: HARNESS PENDANT
Incomplete horse-harness pendant of medieval date, now very corroded. It is shield-shaped, with a straight top and straight sides which converge slightly before curving to a rounded end. In the centre of the top is an incomplete loop, pierced from side to side. The front of the pendant has red enamel decoration, originally inlaid but now proud of the corroded surface. The design is the royal arms of England, which can be described as Gules, three lions passant gardant Or. A tiny scrap of gilding survives on one of the lions. Surviving length 31mm, maximum width 19.5mm, thickness of plate 3mm, maximum thickness (at loop) 5mm, weight 6.04g.

Incomplete late Anglo-Saxon strap-end of Thomas Class E, type 1, with openwork relief decoration on both faces. The terminal is missing (unworn breaks). The attachment end is rectangular, split to hold the strap, and retains a copper-alloy rivet at either corner. The split end is separated from the body of the strap-end by a transverse ridge on one face (the front) only. On the other face, there appears to be a single ring-and-dot motif close to one of the rivets. The openwork decoration has an outer frame, and begins with an oval roundel placed centrally just below the transverse ridge. This is hollowed on the front, and five bars issue radially from it, forming six small holes. Where the upper four bars meet the outer frame there are square pellets on both faces. A horizontal, or transverse, bar then runs across the strap-end, again with a square pellet on both faces where it meets the outer frame. Below this there may be another roundel linked by radiating bars to the frame; a vertical bar survives with a larger hole to either side, then two bars survive on one side, one on another, before the break. The surviving length is 37mm, width 18.5, maximum thickness 4.5mm, weight 9.12g. The decoration is ultimately in Winchester style, but is very simplified. It is similar to SWYOR-F0D6E3, WMID-A4D7E1 and NMS-53C1A2.

NMS-7A477C: COIN WEIGHT
Circular uniface coin weight in good condition. In the centre of one face is a relief Agnus Dei or Lamb of God, a lamb in profile facing left with one foreleg raised and the head turned to look upwards and backwards. Behind the lamb is a flagpole topped with a cross, flying a flag or pennant which appears to extend a long way from the flagpole, but to be quite short top to bottom; it is decorated with two or three transverse (vertical) lines and may end in two streamers. The lamb and flag are entirely enclosed in a beaded circle, and outside this is the relief inscription, set within an outer beaded circle. It reads + POIS: DE FLOR D AGNEL. Diameter 15mm, thickness 2.37mm, weight 3.32g. This is a weight for a French coin, the agnel d'or of Philip IV (ruled 1285 to 1314).

NMS-7AE577: BUCKLE
Copper-alloy double-loop buckle frame, both loops rectangular. A very corroded copper-alloy pin wurvives on the D-section bar; the pin is made from a piece of rectangular-section strip wound around the bar so that the shaft of the pin overlaps the join. The frame has bevelled edges and is undecorated. 33.5mm wide, 32mm long, 2.5mm thick, weight 8.32g. Late medieval or early post-medieval.

NMS-A00A2D: CLASP
Two-part medieval strap clasp complete with sheet plate. The copper-alloy frame is cast, essentially rectangular but with slightly outcurving sides that flare a little from the bar to the outside edge. The outside edge is hollowed on the reverse and convex on the front. It is shaped into a crown, with two notches forming a central V and two half-Vs, one to either side. A circular hole has been drilled at the base of either notch. There is a line of five blind-drilled holes, irregularly set, along the inner edge of this outside edge. The top and bottom edges of the frame are rectangular in cross-section, and each has a small rectangular bump on it just before it meets the outside edge. Maximum width of frame 14mm, length 23mm, maximum thickness 4.5mm. The plate is made from a long rectangular piece of sheet copper-alloy folded almost in half (the underplate is slightly shorter than the upper plate) and secured by a single rivet, now missing. There are faint traces of decoration; one long edge seems to have a border of perhaps three very fine grooves, and across the plate, to either side of the rivet hole, are two or three lines of double triangular marks, often called interrupted rocker-arm. The plate measures 22 x 10.5mm. Total length 44mm, weight 4.31g. Two-part strap clasps such as these are normally dated to c. 1350-1450 (Gilmore 2019, 5). They are often known as 'king's head' clasps, but this example is unusual in that although the main motif is clearly a crown, there is no head or face below it. Some parallels (such as SOMDOR-C0F735 and HAMP-1870E7) are interpreted as animal heads, but the row of dots along the base seems to suggest that this example depicts a crown.

NMS-A06181: BROOCH
Tiny little copper-alloy Roman brooch of rearhook type, just 26mm long. The wings are semi-cylindrical, open at the reverse, and have a patch of corrosion on the right-hand side when viewed from the reverse; this may be a patch of solder. In the centre is the rear-facing hook, apparently complete. On the front the wings are decorated with a single oblique groove running from the top outwards and downwards. There is a hint of a transverse groove running vertically down the very end of one wing, and it is possible that some of the edges are missing here along with a groove at the far end of each wing. The maximum surviving width here is 14mm. The bow is rounded on the reverse and has an angled arris on the front. It is decorated with a ridge down either side. On the reverse are the remains of the catchplate, triangular in side view, which runs for 6mm up from the base of the object. The return of the catchplate is missing. It is difficult to work out whether the base of the brooch is complete, or whether part of the foot is missing. It weighs 2.23g and dates to c. 43-c. 70 AD.

NMS-A0C513: UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT
Copper alloy 'moustache-shaped' object, cast in one piece, of probable middle Bronze Age to Iron Age date. It has a central narrowed constriction, undecorated and with a vertical step down to it, which is curved on the top and has a rounded hollow on the underneath, c. 5mm in diameter. The constriction measures c. 5mm in thickness and 8mm in width. To either side is a thicker, tapering, drooping element, D-shaped in cross-section although slightly rounded rather than completely flat on the underside. The strongly curved upper surface of each half is decorated with worn ridges and grooves, which continue almost to the pointed ends; just before the end, they stop and the end is a little concave. In side view the object is widely angled, with the two halves extending outwards rather than downwards and joining each other at an angle of about a hundred degrees. The whole object is worn and detail is hard to see. It is 32mm from end to end, 9.5mm wide when viewed from the top, and measures 14mm from top to bottom when viewed from the side. It weighs 10.96g. There is little dating evidence available for these enigmatic objects. An example was found with the Salisbury Hoard, indicating a Bronze or Iron Age date; the style might suggest an Iron Age date. Compare NARC-6A4546, LVPL-B000C6, HAMP-6F4C45, PUBLIC-E9E1C5, NARC-925E14, WILT-616785, KENT-77A0BF and SF-722CF5.

NMS-A16F24: HARNESS PENDANT
Very corroded medieval horse-harness pendant made from copper alloy and enamelled. The loop is missing and the rest of the pendant is bent. It was originally shield-shaped, with a straight top and sides curving to a pointed base. The heraldic design can be reconstructed as three closely spaced parallel diagonal lines (a bend cotised) running from top left to bottom right (as viewed from the front) with three small lions (occasionally called lioncels) rampant in a line below, and three more similar lions above, spaced two and one. The tails of the lions are to the observer's right, which is the usual way round for lions to be shown. There is no obvious enamel surviving and the original colours of the heraldry are uncertain. Surviving length 33mm, width as bent 22mm, weight 8.08g. By comparison with other, better-preserved examples (such as YORYM-921C86 and IOW-148F58, and Ashley 2002, 39-40, figs 11 and 12, nos. 68, 69, 80 and 81) it can be seen that the arms are [Azure] a bend cotised [Argent] between six lions rampant [Or]. These are the arms of the de Bohun family, Earls of Hereford and Essex.

NMS-A3FEC2: BUCKLE
Hollow plate and scrap of frame or terminal, probably from a buckle but possibly from a strap-end of late 14th- or early 15th-century date. Made from copper alloy, the hollow plate is square, 28mm wide, almost 25mm long and 5mm thick. It consists of a front, sides and back all apparently cast in one piece, with a pair of rivet holes close to the open end in both front and backplate and what may be the corroded remains of two copper-alloy rivets. The front is decorated with a ridge across the open end, with an engraved groove in the centre of this ridge; and a pair of ridges at the closed end. The panel in between is engraved with black-letter initials reading ihc (an abbreviation for Jesus Christ) with a line across above the h and c, indicating abbreviation. The inscription is the right way up when the object is held with the open end uppermost. There are traces of a shiny white-metal coating (or very pale gilding) around the letters. Projecting from the closed end of the plate are the stubs of what was probably the frame of a 'lyre-shaped' buckle. There appears to be a slight gap between two main projections, which may be the end of a pin hole. The fragment survives to a length of 28mm including the stubs of frame, and weighs 15.80g. Compare strap-ends SUR-A0D161, NMS-8FC872, CORN-11B3FB and NMS-79B927, and buckles HAMP-C43DB8, DENO-0C86CA, CAM-500482 (with the inscription the other way up). From effigy evidence, they all seem to date to c. 1390-1420.

NMS-A4F2F1: BUCKLE
Rectangular medieval copper-alloy buckle plate, now very corroded. It measures 26.5mm long and 21mm wide, and has the remains of two hinge loops projecting at one end. At the other end is one complete and one incomplete circular rivet hole. There is worn decoration in a central panel within a narrow frame. This is likely to consist of an animal, and has decayed traces of an inlay, probably enamel. The corroded surface is reddish brown with light green patches. It weighs 4.03g. Compare KENT-83F5EE, BERK-4743E7, BERK-FE2643, CAM-C11BB5, SF-34E354, WMID-C8F194. Probably late 12th or 13th century.

NMS-A55C0C: STRAP END
Medieval strap-end made from two almost square sheets of copper alloy, 21mm wide and 23mm long. These are held together by three copper-alloy rivets at the open end, not very neatly placed, and there is a further copper-alloy rivet in the centre of the closed end. This also holds the stem of a projecting flat copper-alloy loop, with the 4.5mm diameter perforation running from front to back. The addition of the loop brings the length of the object up to 29.5mm. There is a hint of a grooved border running around the edge of the plate, and there may have been other decoration within but the surface is now too corroded to see. The reverse is much less corroded, but undecorated. It is a maximum of 3mm thick, at the attachment end, and weighs 5.02g (with quite a bit of soil retained between the two sheets). This object may be a 'bookmark' fitting of Howsam type B.7, but these are normally made from a single piece of folded metal with a hole cut for a loop. Parallels are not easy to find, but compare CORN-794084. Both the 'bookmark' parallels and the ornament on CORN-794084 suggest a 15th-century date.

NMS-A5936D: CANDLE HOLDER
Fragment of copper-alloy object, probably the base of a candle-holder of late medieval or early post-medieval date. It preserves a good length of original edge and although this is curved, it is bent and so the original diameter cannot be reconstructed. The rim is slightly thicker than the rest, and is marked by a groove 5mm in from the edge. There is then a steeply sloping wall which is decorated about halfway between the edge and the angle by a pair of grooves parallel to the edge. Above this is an angle to a much shallower slope, again marked by a pair of circumferential grooves at the angle. It is broken on all other edges, with relatively fresh breaks. The fragment measures c. 65mm long and c. 37mm wide; it is 1.5mm thick at most. It weighs 21.73g. There are not many extant candle-holder bases to compare this with, but it is not unlike LVPL-417C75.

NMS-B53365: STRAP END
Complete copper-alloy composite strap-end probably dating to the 14th century. It is made from three sheets which are probably soldered together, the central sheet probably full-width and certainly shorter than the other two at 46mm long. All three sheets taper slightly from 12mm wide at the rectangular attachment end to 10.5mm wide just before they are all cut into a decorative terminal. This has a pair of triangular projections and then an elaborate quatrefoil. The upper plate is decorated with three saltires of fine rocker-arm (zig-zag) engraving. There is only one visible rivet, made from copper-alloy and in the centre of the attachment end; it has sprung out of the front plate but remains in the hole in the underplate. It is possible that there is a second very well-concealed rivet at the closed end. There is quite a bit of well-preserved pale textile surviving between the rivet and the end of the central plate, best seen in side view. Total length, 64mm; thickness at closed end, 2mm; weight, 8.2g.

NMS-B7A2FA: STRAP END
Part of a forked spacer plate from a composite strap-end of 14th- or early 15th-century date. It is flat and sub-circular, rather carelessly shaped, with two projections forming the fork; one is slimmer than the other and incomplete, the other is wider and perhaps complete. Projecting from the opposite side is a three-dimensional terminal made up of a collar below an oval knop, reminiscent of an acorn. Both of the plates that would have been soldered on to this spacer plate are missing. It is a maximum of 37mm long and 21mm wide, 3mm thick at the knop and 2mm thick elsewhere, and weighs 4.0g. Compare SUR-07190D, DENO-1F7CB9, etc.

NMS-B7D16E: STRAP FITTING
Copper-alloy medieval strap fitting, probably part of a 14th-century strap-end but perhaps an incomplete buckle plate, or a plate from a strap clasp. It is rectangular, and comprises two sheets held together by a single circular copper-alloy rivet in the centre of the short side. The other end is damaged and it is not clear whether the breaks reflect any remnant of an original shape. There appear to be no frame recesses and no gap at any fold for a frame, but there is a bit of an indentation in the centre of the damaged end which may be the remains of a pin slot. One plate is 13mm wide and 17mm long; the other is 11mm wide and 22mm long. The rivet is 4mm thick and it weighs 2.1g.

NMS-B7EF2F: BUCKLE
Incomplete double-loop copper-alloy buckle, of late medieval or early post-medieval date (15th or 16th century). The one surviving loop is oval, neatly made with a bevelled outside edge. The bar does not project onto the frame; the reverse is flat. The second loop survives only as stubs, and both the breaks are unworn. 24mm wide, 17mm in surviving length, 3mm thick, weight 3.3g.

NMS-B8165A: THIMBLE
Incomplete copper-alloy thimble of 14th-century date. Part of the rim is missing, with an unpatinated break. The rim is unthickened, and decorated with a pair of circumferential grooves; it is not quite circular, measuring about 17 x 19mm. The sides are fairly straight and steeply sloping, and covered with vertical rows of tiny circular dots. The top slopes more shallowly, and has four concentric rings of similar dots. Above the dots, the very top of the thimble is bare of indentations, with a single slightly larger circular indentation in the very centre. Height 12.5mm, weight 2.4g.

NMS-B89DA1: KEY (LOCKING)
Medieval 'casket' key made from rolled sheet copper alloy. There is a butted-together seam along the bottom of the bow, stem and bit. The stem is cylindrical in cross-section, 5-6mm in diameter, so it probably has a separate rod or spacer within. The bow expands from the stem to become a flat triangle 9mm wide, pierced in the centre with a circular hole which appears to have been pushed through from one side to the other, distorting the bow a little. The bit is rectangular and uncut, measuring 8mm long and 10mm from the top of the stem to the base of the bit. The stem ends in a very small hole at the tip, which is in line with the end of the bit. Length 42mm, weight 4.8g. This is a common way of making a medieval casket key. Compare NLM-302245, WILT-7C697A, WMID-2E9513, etc.

NMS-B94982: BUTTON
Cast copper-alloy openwork biconical button of early post-medieval date. When viewed from the front it is hexagonal, with a pellet at the centre and six triangular perforations. The back also has six smaller triangular perforations, and a rectangular-section lug in the middle which flares to a rounded perforated end. It measures 11.5mm in diameter and 17.5mm from front to back. It weighs 2.3g, although this includes a lot of soil trapped in the hollow interior. Buttons like this one may have been used as hat ornaments or as clothing fasteners. They are thought to be 16th-century in date, but are found in 17th-century contexts in Amsterdam (Margeson 1993, 20, no. 102). Compare HAMP-B924A7, NMS-0E43E7, etc.

NMS-B9E1E9: MOUNT
Exceptionally tiny copper-alloy repoussé medieval mount. It is sub-square, pressed into a quatrefoil shape, each foil being rounded on the front with a hollow centre and hollow on the back. There is a central separate copper-alloy rivet with a circular sheet rove on the reverse; this rivet is very short, so whatever the mount was fixed to must have been quite thin. The mount measures 7 x 8mm between the straight sides, and is 3mm thick in total. It weighs 0.3g. There are similar mounts known (such as WILT-E6BE14 and LVPL-603893) but few quite so small. SUSS-39D7A3 is a good close parallel.

NMS-35B1CA: BELL
Incomplete copper-alloy openwork bell, probably of Roman date, now in two pieces (a main part and a detached fragment) which do not join. It is conical, with a circular rim 24.1mm in diameter. The sides are very slightly convex, curving to a rounded suspension lug at the top which is pierced with a circular hole. There is no thickening or decoration of the rim. The sides have two rows of triangular perforations which are not consistently arranged; clockwise (to the right) from one break, the lower row has two apex-up holes, then an apex-down hole, then apex-up, then apex-down at the other break. The detached fragment has an apex-down hole between two apex-up holes. The upper row starts with a fragment of apex-up hole, then an apex-down hole which forms a zig-zag with its lower apex-up neighbours. Next comes an apex-up hole which is set base-to-base with its apex-down lower neighbour, and then there is a wider gap (filled on the lower row by an apex-up hole) before a fragment of apex-up hole forms a similar pair of base-to-base holes with its lower neighbour. The external surface is smooth and greyish. Inside, the surface is much rougher and there is iron corrosion, perhaps from a clapper. The breaks are fresh and there are cracks in the larger fragment suggesting that the metal is brittle. The bell is 26.6mm tall and the two fragments together weigh 7.9g. There is enough surviving to reconstruct a possible original appearance, as each row has a fragmentary hole at 12o'clock and 6o'clock, with three holes in between for the lower row (originally eight holes) and two holes in between for the upper row (originally six holes). Openwork conical bells are normally found in the south of Britain only, and they are probably of Roman date (Eckardt and Williams 2018, 10). This example seems to be confusing a zig-zag arrangement of holes (as seen on SF-349CD7) with a base-to-base arrangement (as seen on HAMP-AF9143) but is otherwise well made and still has a tinny ring.

NMS-46FD1B: BROOCH
Copper-alloy brooch of Roman date, now bent. The wings are rectangular in cross-section on the front, tapering in thickness from centre to edge and decorated with transverse (vertical) grooves; there is a narrow groove, a wide groove and then another narrow groove. On the reverse is a hollow tube to hold the copper-alloy axis bar, with an off-centre slot for the hinged copper-alloy pin; all but the loop of the pin is now missing. The bow has a wide U-section groove down the centre which occupies the whole width. The raised edges of this U shape end at the top in a pair of small horn-like bumps which must be the remains of a large headloop; the breaks are very worn. The bow tapers but retains the groove right down to the foot. On the reverse, where the brooch bends, there is a ridge which is the remains of a catchplate. The foot is now smoothly pointed and it is difficult to tell whether this is a break. Length as bent 26mm, width across wings 17mm, weight exactly 4.00g. The bow can be paralleled on a Headstud brooch in Mackreth 2011, no. 7263, which has a large footknob, suggesting that this brooch is missing its foot. Although there is no stud on either this brooch or no. 7263, the other features of this brooch (the cast loop and hinged pin) are typical of Headstud brooches.

NMS-488D2D: VESSEL
Body sherd of late Roman fine oxidised ware, with external burnishing. It is bright orange internally and a little darker externally, with a patch of grey which may be the result of burning. There are horizontal grooves on the exterior, probably fine rilling and not deliberately made. It weighs 4g and dates to the third or fourth century AD.

NMS-490F08: MOUNT
Elaborate cast copper-alloy openwork mount of Roman date. It is essentially circular, with a convex pointed-oval lobe to top and bottom, each lobe joined to the centre by a concave waist and decorated with a longitudinal groove. The circular part was originally symmetrical, but is now incomplete. It has a D-section frame that tapers to top and bottom and expands in the centre of each side. Here the inner edges project to meet in the centre, with two lozenge-shaped lobes between the frame and the centre, one to each side. At the top and bottom, although the frame is narrower, it still has a projection towards the centre to form a cross-shaped or cruciform pattern of four struts with four openwork perforations. The lower strut is now missing, but was probably the same shape as the surviving upper one; this is narrow, but has a pelta-shaped or crescentic lobe with each point expanded into a circle. On the reverse of each of the two projecting lobes is an integral rivet with circular rove; one of the roves is missing. The mount is 43mm long and 28.5mm wide; it is 3mm thick without the rivets, and 8mm in total thickness. It weighs 9.96g. This mount was probably from military horse harness, and is likely to date to c. 100-300 AD.

NMS-49632B: BROOCH
Copper-alloy Roman brooch, missing its lower bow and foot. The wings are slim, long and tubular, slightly tapering, with a groove on top and bottom dividing the decorated front from the undecorated reverse. The front of each wing has a short undecorated area, then is decorated with a pair of fine grooves with a rounded ridge in between, then a broad U-shaped groove or flute, then at the end probably another pair of fine grooves with a rounded ridge between, but the ends are a little abraded. Total width at wings 31.5mm. The undecorated tubular reverse has a slot in the centre to hold the hinged pin; of the pin, only the loop and a tiny stub of shaft survives. The D-section bow is decorated with a groove or step down each side, and a double groove in the centre with transverse ribbing in between. The break is not particularly worn. Surviving length 19mm, weight 6.49g. There is no particularly close parallel in Mackreth 2011, but no. 2474 on pl. 55 (a type 3.a) is fairly close.

NMS-4A03A7: VESSEL
Lead pot mend or vessel repair. One face is smooth, flat and sub-rectangular, measuring c. 36 x 26mm and generally c. 7mm thick. The other half is a solid domed oval lump of lead, measuring c. 31 x 21mm and c. 12mm thick. The two halves are not oriented in the same plane, so the total length is c. 39mm and the total width c. 32mm. Between the two are sandwiched dark grey fragments of pottery of reduced fabric, identified by Andrew Rogerson as likely to be medieval. He further comments that the fragments are likely to be from the base of a pot as the thickness varies from 3mm to 6mm. The total thickness is 24mm and the weight is 111.26g.

NMS-4B4A68: BROOCH
Incomplete copper-alloy brooch of Nauheim Derivative type and late Iron Age to early Roman date. It consists of a rectangular-section bow with a sharp right angled bend towards the top; at the bend, the bow measures 2.5mm wide and 2mm thick. At the top of the bow, the copper-alloy rod then curls up and forward into nearly two turns of the spring, before a break. The surviving coils sit on the left-hand side of the bow when the brooch is viewed from the front. At the other end, the bow tapers to a pointed foot; on the reverse of the foot are the remains of a catchplate. Total length 42.5mm, weight 2.14g. It is similar to Mackreth 2011 pl. 14, no. 4898.

NMS-4B8271: PIN
Copper-alloy pin with large globular head and slender shaft. No decoration can be seen on the head, although it is very worn; the diameter is 9.5mm. The shaft is circular in cross-section and tapers quickly to just over 2mm in diameter, then gently tapers to 1mm before the tip. The shaft is straight and unbent, but it is uncertain whether it is complete or whether it has a very worn break. The entire pin is 37mm long and weighs 4.50g. There are similar items from Roman contexts in Colchester, catalogued as 'nails' in Crummy 1983 (e.g. no. 2995, on p. 115) although this example has a thinner shaft than most of these. Compare LON-7E2E34, NARC-609F46, NLM-0193B0, etc.

NMS-4BEFCE: PIN
Incomplete early post-medieval copper-alloy pin, with the head and part of the shaft surviving. The head is spherical, 4.5mm in diameter. It is very worn, but there are faint traces of lines on it suggesting that it may have been made from wound wire hammered together to form a solid head. These lines appear to run vertically rather than the more usual horizontally. The shaft is of uniform slender circular cross-section, less than 1mm in diameter, and also has faint striations showing that it is made from drawn wire. The shaft is now bent at an acute angle; if unbent, the surviving length would be c. 23mm. It weighs 0.54g. Pins made from fine drawn wire are likely to be early post-medieval, 16th or 17th century (Margeson 1993, 11-13).

NMS-4C35D5: VESSEL
Copper-alloy 'paperclip' rivet, now incomplete. It consists of a piece of sheet metal with tapering ends, most edges now broken. The ends are very neatly folded back to the centre and then again back on themselves like a paper-fastener, but are broken just after this second fold. Length from complete fold to complete fold, 18mm; one corner has now been bent out to bring the maximum length to 21mm. Perpendicular to this, the edges are broken and the surviving width is 19mm. Surviving thickness 5mm, weight 3.85g. A fragment of what appears to be corroded iron (not reacting to a magnet) adheres next to one broken fold, suggesting perhaps that this rivet was used to repair an iron vessel. Sheet rivets of this type tend to be used to mend cooking vessels from the mid 15th to late 16th centuries (Egan 2005, 101).

NMS-5F9A2E: HANGING BOWL
Decorative enamelled copper-alloy mount from a hanging bowl of 7th-century date, with secondary perforation. It is flat and basically semi-circular, with one long edge outcurved and the other with two small incurves leading to a central rectangular projection. It could alternatively be called pelta-shaped or crescentic, or even mushroom-shaped. There is a reserved border running nearly all the way round, mostly around 2mm wide but narrower along the incurved edges. This border appears to have broken off the centre of the outcurved edge (very worn break). The rectangular projection (the stalk of the mushroom) has a neat circular hole about 2mm in diameter made through the centre, partly within and partly off the border. Within the border the field is filled with four hollow lozenge shapes, one below the hole, then two below this, then another one so that they are set in a cross. They are not perfectly regular, but in general their long axis runs sideways when the mount is held with the hole at the top. There is enamel all around and within the lozenges, now mostly decayed to a pale colour but with hints, particularly within the lozenges, that the original colour was red. There is no evidence that the enamel colour within the lozenges was different to that outside. The reverse is flat and has a smooth green surface at the rectangular projection, but a rougher surface, possibly with traces of shiny grey solder, at the outcurved side. The mount measures 19mm long from the rectangular projection to the opposite side, and 22.5mm wide; it is 1.5mm thick and weighs 3.6g. It is possible that the hole was intended as a rivet hole to fix the mount on to the bowl in addition to any solder; or it is possible that it is a secondary hole, added to convert the mount into a pendant (as is known from other examples, e.g. from Camerton; Marina Drive, Dunstable; Bedhampton; Thornham (Bruce-Mitford 2005, nos. 6, 7, 8, 23, 68). These were all found detached from their bowls, in graves, suggesting a secondary use. Without a context, it is impossible to be certain if this mount was re-used. The style of open shapes framed or 'contoured' by reserved lines is also found on, among others, mounts from Benty Grange; White Horse Hill, Uffington; Barham; and Whitby (Bruce-Mitford 2005, nos. 14, 76, 80 and 101). These are dated to the mid or second half of the 7th century. There are several pelta-shaped or 'axe-head' mounts known from the Lullingstone bowl, of varying sizes. The larger ones have relief interlace, but the smaller examples have reserved crudely scrolled lines set in enamel (Bruce-Mitford 2005, no. 43, colour plate 5; now in the British Museum, 1967,1004.1). The Lullingstone bowl is dated by Bruce-Mitford to the end of the 7th or the early 8th century. Other good parallels for mounts of this form include SF-E537B6, attached to a frame for a disc.

NMS-5FBF02: BUCKLE
Copper-alloy double-loop buckle of late medieval or early post-medieval date, both loops oval and D-shaped in cross-section. The bar is slender and circular in cross-section. The whole buckle is flat and very simple in shape. It is 25.5mm in external width and 29mm long; it weighs 3.9g.

NMS-5FCC1B: BUCKLE
Copper-alloy double-loop buckle of late medieval or early post-medieval date, both loops tall and oval. Loops and bar are D-shaped in cross-section. The buckle is flat and very simple in shape. It is 37mm in external width and 34mm long; it weighs 8.0g.

NMS-5FFD53: BUCKLE
Copper-alloy double-loop buckle of early post-medieval date, both loops oval and a quarter-circle in cross-section. The bar is slender and D-shaped in cross-section; it projects beyond the frame to top and bottom. The whole buckle is angled about the bar so that the outside edges are forward of the bar. The outside edges are decorated, each with a groove at the pin rest and an oblique groove to either side, making an arrow shape. It is 37mm in external width and 39mm long; it weighs 9.2g. Compare Whitehead 2003, no. 302, which is dated to c. 1500-1650.

NMS-8836FC: STRAP END
Copper-alloy composite strap-end of 14th-century date, now very worn. It consists of three components; a cast forked spacer plate, and a thin copper-alloy sheet soldered to either face. The strap-end is basically rectangular, 18mm wide and 34mm long. The cast spacer has a terminal that brings the total length up to 39mm. The form of this spacer is unusual; it appears to be a loop 4-5mm in diameter and 2.5mm wide that is pierced from side to side, but is now blocked with iron corrosion. About half of one outer sheet is missing, but the other survives, with an attachment edge shaped around one surviving rivet hole; the other has broken off. The shaping includes a deep V shape and it is likely that the strap-end originally had the 'grooved aperture' that is characteristic of 14th-century composite strap-ends. It weighs 7.0g.

NMS-888945: BOOK FITTING
Copper-alloy book clasp of Howsam's type A.1.3. The plate is 18mm square at most, and has a raised border around a lower, thinner centre, sunken on one side, which has worn away completely in places. The border has traces of beading and the plate has a flat reverse. In the centre is a circular hole, 3mm in diameter, which would have fitted around a peg on the opposite cover of the book. The plate tapers very slightly to 16mm wide at one end, which has a projecting terminal. This is pierced from side to side and is a simple oval in shape, looking very like a suspension loop. It would probably have held a cord to help in pulling the clasp off the peg. The terminal is now broken through. The terminal brings the length up to 29mm and the weight is 2.6g. The object is very worn and appears incomplete, as there is no obvious way of attaching a strap; there was probably a separate bar originally. Compare the much more up-market NMS-F85129, also WILT-0E7163, YORYM-8C8C27, NMS-3F85E4, NMS-70E951, NMS-5A7B07, SWYOR-5ADF97, etc. They date to c. 1100-1450.

NMS-88C606: HARNESS MOUNT
Copper-alloy suspension mount for a medieval horse-harness pendant, now very worn. It consists of a rectangular plate, 34mm long and 15mm wide, with a circular hole at each corner. One of the two lower holes (on the viewer's left) is blocked with iron corrosion. The other holes are 3-4mm in diameter. In the centre of one long edge are two projecting stubs which are the remains of a hinge. No decoration survives. It weighs 8.0g. No precise parallel has been found. SWYOR-348117 and IOW-AE3ECE are fairly close, but smaller and with only two rivet holes.

NMS-89A175: AMPULLA
Complete medieval lead ampulla. It has almost parallel sides which taper very slightly before flaring very slightly out and curving to form a rounded base. There is a triangular handle on either side, just above the narrowest area. The top is straight and the edges are pressed together. The base is the thickest part of the ampulla, with the edges bevelled to meet at an angle. One face is decorated with a broad double-strand arrow with a single-line shaft that runs right up to the top; there is no obvious fletching. There are faint hints of oblique ribbing around this, on the bevelled edge. The other face is very unclear, but again has hints of oblique ribbing around the edge. Length 43mm, width at handles 34.5mm, width at base 25mm, maximum thickness 6.5mm, weighs 28.2g. Compare the very similar SWYOR-F7C156, also DENO-BDE6C5. This shape, with almost parallel sides, is thought to be comparatively late, perhaps 14th to early 16th century.

NMS-8AEC09: VESSEL
Base of small cast copper-alloy leg from a medieval or post-medieval cooking vessel. At the break it is D-shaped or sub-oval in cross-section, 20 x 7mm. It is 23mm long and has very slightly flaring sides, to a base which turns out to make a foot; this flares to a maximum of 24.5mm wide. The foot has a flat base and brings the total thickness to 14mm. It weighs 28.4g.

NMS-8AD6CE: VESSEL
Cast copper-alloy leg from a cooking vessel. At the top it retains some of the integrally cast body of the vessel. The leg itself is D-shaped in cross-section with a prominent midrib which runs the full length of the leg and up onto the body of the vessel. It tapers from about 34mm wide where it joins the body, to 20mm wide at the base; the sides are straight. About 15mm above the base there is a transverse moulding which runs over, but does not interrupt, the midrib. The flat reverse retains sooting. Total length including some of vessel body, 90mm. Maximum width with vessel body, 43mm. Maximum thickness 22mm. Weight 191.0g.

NMS-C55F0D: STRAP END
Very worn fragment of openwork early-medieval strap-end of Thomas's Class E. Parts of both long edges survive, and they taper very slightly. There is a central spine with three surviving complete branches, showing that it was originally symmetrical and in Winchester style. Parts of another three branches survive, together with one complete perforation and parts of six others. There is very little evidence to go on, but the holes appear to grow in size from the wider to the narrower end. Surviving length 28mm, surviving width 24mm, weight 3.77g. Broadly 10th century.

NMS-C5F27A: UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT
Gilded copper-alloy object, probably of 12th- or 13th century date. It consists of a cast front plate and a fragmentary sheet backplate, held together by two copper-alloy rivets. The cast front is basically U-shaped with parallel long sides and a lot of surviving gilding. Along the length of the U it is perforated by two complete neat circular holes, each 10mm in diameter. A third similar hole is cut across by a straight edge which is at a slight angle to the long edges; it is difficult to tell whether this edge is complete or very neatly broken and smoothly worn. The two rivets are in the spandrels between the incomplete hole and one of the complete holes, suggesting that the edge is original. Each rivet has a small dot punched on its flat head, and a circular groove around it. The rivets cut a groove which runs down each long edge; both of these grooves are a little carelessly made and each one runs off the slightly angled edge. At the other end, the front plate curves to a slightly off-centre point which is shaped into a pair of concave curves and embellished with little projections as the object begins to taper. The grooves also curve to a point and are echoed by short parallel grooves emphasising the small projections. The very tip of the point is blunt and may be incomplete, but if it is broken the break is worn. The plate is not quite flat; the point bends down slightly. The reverse of the plate is ungilded and rough. The sheet backplate is the same width as the front plate but short, starting halfway along the central hole with a neat straight edge; the backplate is also curved around the hole. There is no obvious gap between the front and back elements, which appear to be pressed tightly together. On one side, the backplate ends at the end of the cast front plate, but it may be broken and worn here, as on the other side it extends slightly beyond the front plate, and is bent upwards and roughly torn. The front plate is 47mm long, 22mm wide at most and 2.5mm thick. The backplate brings the total length of the object to 54mm and the thickness to 3mm. It weighs 15.27g. 55mm long,

NMS-C6A634: KNIFE
Small copper-alloy blade, perhaps a small knife (as SOM-BCDC68) or possibly a fragment of rapier. It is very worn and corroded, with all edges worn away and a lot of corrosion bubbles on the pitted surface. It is a long oval in shape, with both ends broken and/or worn so that they run straight across. The cross-section is pointed-oval, a maximum of 3.5mm thick in the centre where there is a very slight bulge to a barely-visible midrib. It flattens away from the centre, with one end 3mm thick and the other 2.5mm thick. The surviving width, with all edges worn, is 14mm and the surviving length 43mm. It weighs 7.23g. The corroded areas are light green and the small areas of surviving surface have a mid grey patina.

NMS-C6FB8A: CLASP
Copper-alloy three-part strap-clasp of medieval date. It is small but well-preserved and nearly complete. The plate is made from a piece of rectangular sheet folded in half and with frame recesses cut. It measures 7mm in width at the open end and 8mm wide at the fold, and half of the front is missing. The surviving part of the front is decorated with rather crude geometric engraving forming rectangular panels. Two survive complete next to the fold, with an engraved saltire within each panel. The next two survive incomplete, with oblique grooves. The backplate is complete, 23mm long, and has a circular rivet hole at the open end. The frame is made from a rectangular strip bent to form three sides of a rectangle, with a hole at each end to hold a separate outer copper-alloy bar on which the rotating end hinges. It is 13.5mm long and flares from 9mm at the hinge with the plate, to 10.5mm at the rotating end. The rotating end is wrapped around the separate bar and is decorated with a matching design to that on the plate; two square or rectangular panels, each filled with a saltire. There is also a series of grooves across the space between this and the outside edge of the clasp. The rotating end is 9mm long. The total length of the object is 35mm and it weighs 2.78g. The same design is found on many rotating ends, such as those on NLM-CEE283, SF-6CE020, NMS-161753, SF-1C6369, etc. Strap clasps date to c. 1250-1450 AD.

NMS-C75260: BROOCH
Incomplete and worn copper-alloy Roman brooch of Colchester derivative rearhook type. The wings are semi-cylindrical, open at the reverse for the spring, In the centre at the top is the stub of a rear-facing hook, and below this on the reverse the middle of the wings has a deep hollow. The front of the wings are decorated with transverse (vertical) ribbing, a shallow version of bead-and-reel; there is a groove right next to the bow, then another groove then hints of a broad groove (or flute) and at least one other conventional groove. The bow is D-shaped in cross-section, flat on the reverse, with longitudinal (vertical) grooves. There is a groove running down from either side of the rear-facing hook, then perhaps a broad groove along the sides of the bow. These run down to a worn, patinated break. Width of wings 28mm, surviving length of brooch 29mm, weight 9.76g. Similar to Mackreth 2011, pl. 38, no. 792, which Mackreth allocates to his type !.a, but it is difficult to be certain about exactly which sub-type of the CD RH type this brooch fits into.

NMS-C77FEB: PADLOCK
Circular end-plate from an iron padlock case with no obvious coating of copper alloy. It is the end-plate from the bolt, 36mm in diameter and 5-6mm thick. Two spines are fixed through this end-plate, each about 6mm square, close to one edge of the end-plate. These protrude about 7mm from one face and are visible as bumps on the other. The total length of the longest spine is 13.5mm. It weighs 28.77g. These padlocks appear to date from c. 950-c. 1250 AD.

NMS-C7EB39: HARNESS PENDANT
Fragment of unusual medieval horse-harness pendant. The fragment is now roughly square, of side 15mm, with a projecting suspension loop which takes the total length to 24.5mm.The loop is pierced from side to side with a hole which is now oval, probably very worn, and the line of it continues down the reverse as a ridge or rib. All the edges of the body of the pendant are broken so the original shape cannot now be reconstructed. It is decorated on the front with a separate silver sheet or foil, too thin and flimsy to survive if detached. The silver foil has grooves on it, but it is hard to tell if these are accidental damage or part of a deliberate design.The two that survive best appear to radiate, perhaps from the centre, and are at an angle of about 30 degrees to each other. It is not clear how the silver sheet was attached; it was probably soldered, but there is no visible evidence of this. It is unusual to find a separate silver element on a horse-harness pendant, but compare SUR-E35947 and SF-CB7B12.

NMS-C8BFB8: TOKEN
Lead token, with relief designs on both faces (biface). On one face there are the initials W W between raised horizontal lines, one of which divides the token in half. Below the central line are markings which may be four numbers,perhaps (from parallels) a date. On the other face is what appears to be a four-legged animal, perhaps a sheep, in profile facing left. There seems to be something above the animal, but it is difficult to work out what. It is oval, 17 x 19mm, and weighs 3.96g. It is unclear exactly which Powell type it belongs to, as it has initials (type 2) and numbers (type 8) on one side, and animals (type 19) on the other. Parallels to the letters and numbers can be found at KENT-C9233E and PUBLIC-A7B8AA, but these are both coupled with a daisy-wheel design of six petals. A parallel to the animal with letters on the other face can be found at WMID-5509EC. These are all thought to be post-medieval, perhaps 1600-1800.

NMS-C92EE6: BROOCH
Fragment of large but very corroded Roman brooch, made from copper alloy. Because the breaks are worn and there is no decoration, it is hard to tell what type it is. The head is largely missing, but it has a large stub on the reverse which looks more like the remains of a single central lug (as on, for example, a trumpet brooch of Mackreth's type 1) than a rear-facing hook. It is possible that semi-cylindrical wings may have broken away, or that a trumpet-like head has broken away. The bow is triangular in cross-section, narrow and tall with a steep angle and prominent arris. There is a groove between the edges of the bow and the remains of the head which might argue for Colchester-type wings rather than a smoothly curved trumpet head. The bow tapers smoothly, becoming more rounded in cross-section, to a worn break. The fragment is 40mm long and 11mm wide, and weighs 11.5g. Whatever type it is, it is likely to be first- or second-century in date.

NMS-C9A50C: DIE
Small lead throwing die. It is not perfectly cubic, as the sides vary between 9.5 and 10mm. Each face has a number of dots, and all the readable faces are laid out in the modern fashion. 1 is opposite 2, 3 is opposite 4, and 5 is opposite a face whose dots cannot now be made out but which is clearly 6. The layout of faces is Winchester type Bii (if 6 is held with 4 above and 3 below, 2 is next to 6 to the right, then 5, then 1). It weighs 9.65g. Brown comments in the Winchester report that nearly all of the Type B dice come from contexts of the 13th to 16th centuries, whereas dice with other configurations were Roman (in Biddle 1990, 693). Although these dice were of bone or jet, not metal, the correlation probably still holds.

NMS-C9C85D: SEAL MATRIX
Copper-alloy flat pointed-oval seal matrix. It is 29mm long and 18mm wide, and the die is at most 3mm thick. There is a faint midrib on the reverse, with at the top a D-shaped lug, pierced from side to side to make a suspension loop. The lug brings the total thickness up to 6.5mm, and the matrix weighs 7.02g. The central motif is a pair of addorsed birds with crests and long tails, perhaps peacocks, looking over their shoulders at each other. In between them is a line topped with a fleur-de-lis, perhaps a staff. The inscription is set between finely beaded lines, and reads * SIGILLVM AMORIS (Seal of Love) with a space-filling star at the end of the inscription. Anonymous seal matrices are normally dated to the 14th century.

NMS-CA053E: BUCKLE
Copper-alloy composite buckle with forked spacer. It is made up of several elements, all of copper alloy; the frame and integral forked spacer plate, a sheet soldered to either side, a pin and two tiny rivets. The frame is oval with a pointed pin rest, 20mm wide. The plate is rectangular and 15mm wide. It starts with a broad ridge, in the centre of which is a pin hole or slot. The forks of the spacer extend right to the end of the sheet plates, which are complete but poorly preserved, with what appears to be iron staining. They both have a U-shaped cut-out in the centre of the attachment edge, with a rivet to either side. In the middle of the U there is a short groove; this decoration is often called a 'grooved aperture'. The pin is of a greener metal, with a tiny transverse ridge between loop and tapering shaft. Total length 31mm, maximum thickness (at ridge by pin) 3.5mm, weight 4.66g. The presence of the grooved aperture dates this buckle to the 14th century.

NMS-CA4579: CLOTH SEAL
Lead cloth seal of 'worsted reformed' type. Only Disc 1 survives, with the seriffed letters ...FORM... on the flattened rivet, and the number 2.7 with curlicue below and to the side on the other, flat face. The die-axis is about 1 o'clock and the disc is irregular, perhaps about 17 x 19mm. It weighs 3.58g. The 2.7 face is identical to Egan (1994) no. 89. The other face is paralleled at BH-F0D748, but the vast majority of Worsted Reformed seals have the line break before the M. They date to the late 17th century.

NMS-037906: CLOTH SEAL
Complete lead cloth seal consisting of two discs linked by a connecting strip. Disc 1 (the circular disc with the rivet on the reverse) is stamped with a series of seriffed upper-case initials in four lines: NS / MSW / GCG / C. This disc is well preserved and the initials are very clear. Disc 2 (the annular disc around the rivet) has similar but larger initials in three lines: NO / RWI / C. The lowest line is partly off the disc and the right-hand side is hard to read; the final H is missing completely. Length including connecting strip, 24.5mm. Width 20mm, thickness 2.5mm, weight 6.4g. This is a Norwich Weavers' Company seal, with the initials on Disc 1 those of the twelve wardens of the year; compare Egan 1994, no. 82. Egan dated these seals to c. 1650-1705 (1994, 46). This particular combination of initials does not appear to have been recorded before, but may correspond to 1673, when the initials should have been NS CMSW BCCC LC (Egan 1987, 410).

NMS-03D4E8: CLOTH SEAL
Incomplete lead cloth seal, just Disc 1 surviving. The front is stamped with upper-case seriffed initials in lines: BH / BCL / CL or GL. There is almost certainly an indistinct initial before BCL, perhaps a G. The reverse has a ridge running across and a flattened rivet in the centre. A trace of a stamp survives on the rivet, probably another initial. 17.5mm x 18mm, weight 2.7g. This is a Norwich Weavers' Company seal, with the initials those of the twelve wardens of the year; compare Egan 1994, no. 82. Egan dated these seals to c. 1650-1705 (1994, 46) and the precise year may be 1693, as the initials are very close to those on NMS-67B937 (also see Egan 1987, 414 for details of the 1693 wardens).

NMS-0558CE: BELL
Copper-alloy medieval globular bell, probably from horse-harness, with incomplete copper-alloy suspension mount. The bell's globular end has four petal shapes bent in to hold two peas, one of which appears to be a small copper-alloy sphere, the other perhaps an irregular lump of iron. The four-petal construction results in a square bell with slightly curved sides, 17mm square. It has a long stem, pierced at the end to make a loop, which brings the length up to 26mm. There is a separate copper-alloy bar, now bent, passing through the loop and through two holes in the suspension mount. The suspension mount is hard to reconstruct. It is small (surviving length 12mm) and consists of two hinge loops, pierced to take the bar; these are joined above by a strut at right angles, and then there is a spike extending outwards at an angle, and a scar from a second. The means of attachment to the harness does not apparently survive. Total length 34mm, weight 9.4g. Compare NMS-5ED084 and NMS-2D33D6. 13th or 14th century.

NMS-0599E2: DRESS FASTENER (DRESS)
Hook-piece from a copper-alloy blunt-hooked fastener of post-medieval date. It has an oval plate with relief decoration of a stylised face set within an oval made up of two swags of drapery. There are possible flowers or plant stems curling to either side. This is all set in a double ridged frame, with a broad groove between the ridges. The design is the right way up when the object is held with the hook to the right; the hook bends slightly backwards and then forwards, and is then broken (slightly worn break); it is 6mm wide at the break. There is a circular loop for attachment at either side of the base of the hook, where it leaves the plate. Midway along both long edges of the plate is a small projection, each with relief decoration forming a pair of outward-turning scrolls. At the end opposite the hook is a third circular attachmment loop, flanked by a single outward-turning scroll to either side. All of the three loops are c. 2.5mm in internal diameter. The reverse is fairly flat, but hollowed in the centre behind the head. Total length 41mm, width 23.5mm, weight 7.9g. Similar to Read (2008) no. 664, but the best parallels come from the PAS database, such as DOR-9E03F5 and SUSS-8D2522. These have a beaded line instead of a groove between the two border ridges, but are otherwise quite close.

NMS-0732E5: BUCKLE
A neatly made copper-alloy circular buckle frame with central bar and copper-alloy pin, of medieval date. It measures 23.5mm wide and 23mm long. The frame is slender, measuring just 1.5mm wide. The front has a bevelled external edge; the reverse is flat and has visible oblique filemarks. The pin is made from a flat strip, of a greener metal than the frame. It is wrapped around the bar (one and a half turns) and then tapers evenly to a point. The buckle weighs 3.3g. It is similar to, but more neatly made than, WILT-AA518E. Another of similar proportions is shown in Whitehead 2003, no. 258, probably from a spur. A medieval date is certain due to the filemarks.

NMS-079CAA: BROOCH
Incomplete plate brooch which imitates the sole of a shoe or sandal. One half survives, the toe end, with the pin lug on the reverse. It is pointed rather than rounded at the end and has no loop. Just in from the edge is a border groove, and there may be two very tiny stamped annulets set evenly across the centre, but corrosion makes it hard to be certain. It does not appear to be recessed enough in the centre to have been enamelled. On the reverse, what seems to be a single pin lug survives, broken through the off-centre circular perforation. The pin lug is now a slim, long, low D shape, but as half of the perforation is now missing, it may have been much larger originally. It is 9mm long and runs right down to the pointed tip of the brooch. Alternatively, as most shoe-sole brooches have shorter, thicker double pin lugs set slightly in from the edge, it may be the remains of a catchplate which for some reason has been drilled with a small hole. This would also explain the lack of a loop and the pointed shape. 9mm wide, 23mm in surviving length, 4.5mm thick including the lug or catchplate on the reverse, weight 1.9g. This falls into Mackreth (2011) type 1.1a, unenamelled, but it is not at all like the example illustrated by Mackreth. It is much closer to IOW-70FE55 and BH-F6F7D2.

NMS-194822: STRAP FITTING
Copper-alloy shield-shaped hook from a post-medieval sword-belt, with relief decoration on the plate. When held with the hook at the bottom, the plate has a straight top, incurved side edges and an outcurved base. The centre of the base extends into a circular-section hook, 4mm wide, which curves backwards then forwards to end butted up against itself making a circular loop. The flat plate is decorated with symmetrical plant decoration in low relief, all within a low raised border. There is a pair of trefoils at the top, perhaps flowers, each on a stem; the stems are bound together at their closest point, and then spiral out to the corner where they each have a small leaf filling the angle. The stems run downwards into a spray of perhaps five leaves radiating from the area at the top of the hook. Each of these leaves has about three lobes, but the details are unclear here. The design is cut through by two circular attachment holes, one between the flowers at the top, one in the middle of the leaves at the bottom. The plate measures 21mm wide by 23mm long and is nearly 1mm thick. The hook takes the total length to 40mm and the total thickness to 11mm. It weighs 6.02g. This object is of the type illustrated by Read 2008, nos. 790-792, but is not exactly like any of those, and differs from them in that the decoration seems to have been designed to be viewed with the hook downwards.

NMS-1AE62F: BROOCH
About half of a copper-alloy ansate brooch of early-medieval date, Weetch's type II, with circular terminals. One terminal survives, with a little missing, and about half the bow; the breaks are slightly worn. The terminal is flat and sub-circular, 17mm across, and decorated with four pointed-oval, V-section depressions forming a cross. Four further similar depressions are placed between the ends of the cross arms to form a lozenge, and an edge of the terminal has broken away along one of these grooves. The bow is 11mm wide and fairly flat with a slight arris in the centre. The reverse is flat giving a low triangular cross-section. The front is decorated with a narrow longitudinal groove, each about a quarter of the way in from the edge; these are lined up with the ends of two of the depressions forming the lozenge. Within the grooves, the centre of the bow is decorated with closely spaced pairs of short, slightly oblique grooves forming shallow V shapes. On the reverse of the terminal is a transverse lug (perpendicular to the line of the bow and the pin) which is now broken across a perforation. This is more likely to be the remains of a catchplate than of of a pin lug, as most Type II ansates have a longitudinal pin lug, often double, and many have a transverse catchplate with a hole drilled in the centre and a slot filed though to form a hook. Total length 27mm, weight 6.12g. This is an unusual ansate brooch with no very close parallel. Although the terminal has the kind of incised geometric decoration found on many examples of Weetch's type II.Aiii and type II.B, the bow is not of the type found with either of these.

NMS-1B8345: UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT
Copper-alloy object shaped like a reel. It is almost complete, with two circular ends, flat on both sides; both ends are 31-32mm in diameter and 2.5-2.5mm thick. One is missing a small portion and the break is a little worn. Both end discs have squared-off edges covered with closely spaced transverse grooves giving a ribbed effect. The grooves have been added by hand and are not all completely straight; in places there are groups where the orientation has become a bit oblique. The end discs are joined together by a short hollow cylindrical tube, bringing the overall length (or thickness) to 17mm. The external diameter of this tube is 15.5mm and the internal diameter 13.5mm at either end, tapering to 12mm in the centre. The top and bottom discs are smoothly polished on their exterior surfaces, but the underside of each end and the outside of the tube are rough as if not designed to be seen. It weighs 36.41g. It is difficult to find a parallel on the PAS database. SUR-A76FF2 and YORYM-F1B2A7 are smaller and the two ends are not flat on their undersides. Both of these rather distant parallels have been given a Roman date, so this object is also tentatively dated as Roman.

NMS-1DBD41: STRAP END
Copper-alloy composite strap-end of 14th-century date. It is corroded, so that details are unclear. It seems to consist of a short spacer plate, possibly made from two plates sandwiched together, with longer plates on top and bottom held together by a single copper-alloy rivet at the open end and another in the centre of the object. The open end is fragmentary but was probably rectangular, 11mm wide, and the long straight edges continue for over half the object's length before curving inwards in a concave curve and then out again to a point at either side. Another narrowed waist separates this flatter part of the strap-end from a thicker, apparently cast terminal in the shape of a very stylised and now very corroded animal head. This starts with a pair of back-to-back C-shaped bevelled nicks in the edges, then a pair of small V-shaped nicks, and perhaps another V-shaped groove on the head dividing the nose from the rest of the head. A groove around the thickness right at the end of the terminal may indicate the line of a mouth. On the reverse a third copper-alloy rivet can be seen passing through the cast terminal, through the back of the head between the C-shaped scoops out of the edges. Surviving length 64mm, width 11mm, maximum thickness 5mm, weight 10.23g.

NMS-1DFBB4: HOOKED TAG
Copper-alloy hooked tag of Read's class E, type 3. It is made in one piece, with a trapezoidal attachment loop, a circular plate and a long hook. The loop and hook are both trapezoidal in cross-section; the hook is complete, but bent to one side, and has a rectangular moulding at the top which brings the maximum thickness up to 2.5mm.. The plate measures 17mm in width and has relief decoration on the front consisting of a central bearded human face with hair in a heavy fringe and side locks, looking straight at the viewer. The head appears to be backed by a concave circle, so the whole scene looks a little like it might be the head of John the Baptist on a dish. Around this is a ring of pellets, then a raised border with hints of beading. This border runs from either side of the loop down to meet the hook; it does not continue across the inside of the loop. The reverse is slightly concave in the centre. There is a crack across the beaded border which appears old and worn, and the entire object is well preserved but perhaps not very well made. Total length 37mm, weight 2.74g. Similar to Read 2008, nos. 321-323.

NMS-6FB233: AWL
Bronze Age awl. One end is flat in cross-section, and gradually thickens to a circular cross-section of diameter 3mm about halfway down the object. It is slightly bent here, causing stress to the metal and loss of the surface. From here it tapers to a point. Where the surface is lost, the colour is a matt green; where the surface survives it is a polished dark brown. Length (as bent) 52mm, maximum width (at flat end) 5mm, maximum thickness 3mm, weight 3.17g. Similar awls were made throughout the middle and late Bronze Age, but the dark brown patina suggests a middle Bronze Age date for this one. Parallels on the PAS database include PUBLIC-E1E3A8 and WMID-7999D4.

NMS-98195F: PENDANT
Drop-shaped copper-alloy pendant with white-metal coating. It has a flat reverse, convex front, and is a solid D-shape in cross-section with a narrow flange or flat border running around the edge. Much of this flat edge is broken, and the pendant now appears almost oval. The pointed apex of the drop shape is extended into a suspension loop which is pierced from side to side with a small circular hole. Viewed from the side, this loop is rectangular, and is the thickest part of the pendant at 4.5mm thick. The loop is decorated with two grooves across its base at the front only. The body of the pendant is decorated with punched ornament. The small areas of flanged border that survive are transversely ribbed. The convex centre has vertical rows of crescentic or inverted V-shaped punchmarks. On either side, two rows survive well and are closely spaced, with the stamped punchmarks touching (but not overlapping). The outer rows run right up to the apex; the second in from the edge stops as the pendant tapers and there is less room. In the centre of the pendant, although it is worn and corroded, there is no trace of any punchmarks, and it seems unlikely that they would have disappeared completely. Instead, this area seems to be undecorated, although there is a very slight shallow groove down the centre. The white-metal coating is retained well down the sides and in the groove, but not elsewhere. The flat reverse is undecorated but retains a lot of white-metal coating. Surviving dimensions: length 27mm, width 14mm, maximum thickness away from loop 4mm, weight 4.6g. This object has proved hard to parallel on the PAS database, but Andrew Rogerson has suggested a tentative Roman date.

NMS-98569E: STRAP FITTING
Very neatly made copper-alloy post-medieval sword-belt fitting. The plate is drop-shaped, with the apex thickened into a small knop. At the other (wider) end, in the centre a projection or collar of three ribs extends into a large circular loop which is pierced from side to side; the loop measures 4.5mm internally and 9mm in diameter externally. Between knop and loop, the drop-shaped plate is convex on the front and concave on the reverse. The front is shaped into four slight longitudinal facets, and the central arris between the facets is cut through near the knop by a small circular rivet hole. Length 34mm, width 14mm, thickness of plate 5mm, weight 4.4g. A good parallel is illustrated in Read 2008, no. 812, and others can be found on the PAS database (e.g. DEV-F7533D, NMS-8043B6).

NMS-98C51B: TOY
Part of a lead-alloy toy of 16th- to 19th-century date, apparently originally a female figure with a wheel rather than feet. Only the skirt of the figure survives, with curved sides and a straight hem. This is seen in profile, and is two sheets thick as if made as a cone and then squashed flat. It is decorated on both faces and is slightly asymmetric. The rear of the woman's skirt is more strongly curved (as if over a bustle) and is decorated with vertical ridges representing pleats. The front falls almost straight from the waist and is at firsrt sight undecorated. A ridged line dividing the two halves runs down from the waist and turns a rounded corner before running across the base of the skirt, onto the other face of the object before turning another rounded corner to rejoin the waist. This represents the edge of an apron, which appears undecorated although is to some extent obscured by corrosion. The waist of the figure is broken and the top half is missing. The broken edge is thin and the upper half must also have been seen in profile. The centre of the bottom edge of the skirt has an iron pin or nail 11mm in length passing through it, with a small head at one end. This retains, between the two halves of the skirt, a lead-alloy wheel. Less than half of the wheel can be seen, but there are two of a probable four spokes visible and the diameter was at least 16mm. Maximum surviving dimensions of skirt: length 30mm, width 33mm, thickness 5mm. Total length with wheel, 36mm. Weight 9.4g. A precise parallel to the skirt-wheel combination has not been found, even though it would have allowed the figure to move smoothly about in a satisfying manner. Parallels to the pleated or gathered skirt and plain apron are similarly hard to find. Female figures in Forsyth 2005 are dated from the mid 16th to the early 19th centuries.

NMS-993DA5: BROOCH
Fragment of copper-alloy Roman brooch of Harlow type, head and upper bow only. The wings are semi-cylindrical, open at the back, and undecorated. In the centre of the reverse of the wings is a lug, pierced above for the chord and below for the axis bar. The copper-alloy axis bar and spring both survive, together with part of the chord, made from copper-alloy wire of a slightly different colour to the rest of the brooch. When viewed from the reverse, there are three-and-a-half coils to the left of the lug and four-and-a-half to the right. The turns to the chord are both missing, but the centre of the chord is still in place in the (now broken) upper hole of the lug. The pin is missing. The bow is small and worn, and tapers to a very worn break. Any decoration has been lost with the corroded surface. Surviving length 13mm, maximum width (the axis bar) 24mm, width of wings 21mm, weight 4.8g. Not enough survives to assign a Mackreth type.

NMS-9A208B: THIMBLE
Copper-alloy palm guard (also called a palm iron). It has a circular centre, 32mm in diameter, with a smooth convex reverse. The dished front has large square round-based indentations, seven or eight across the centre. The edge has three D-shaped lugs each with a circular perforation, which bring the maximum dimensions up to 38 x 40mm. It is 6mm thick and weighs 15.9g. Read dates these to c. 1650 to the present day. There are not many recorded on the PAS database at present; compare SWYOR-438A46 and, PUBLIC-A6D670.

NMS-9AA487: BOOK FITTING
Tiny copper-alloy book clasp of Howsam type A.1.3. The cast pierced element survives, together with a separate copper-alloy hinge bar. The pierced element is D-shaped, thick but flat with a small central circular perforation 2.5mm in diameter. There is a slight thickening along the straight edge, and at either corner there is a rearwards projection; one is broken off (worn break) and one survives complete. It is perforated from side to side and the hole retains a fragment of slim hinge bar, now broken and bent. At the other end of the book clasp is a central projection, originally pierced from side to side but now broken across the perforation. There is no decoration on either the central D-shaped lobe or on the projecting knop. The clasp is now pitted with corrosion and is a deep brown colour. The cast element is 13mm wide and survives to a length of 21mm. Its centre is 2mm thick and the projecting pierced knop survives to a thickness of 4mm. It weighs 3.1g.

NMS-ADBE79: BUCKLE
Large copper-alloy pin from a medieval buckle, now incomplete, corroded and worn. The loop is incomplete, surviving as a thinner curved end with worn break. There is no division between loop and shaft; one runs smoothly into the other. The shaft is sub-rectangular in cross-section, a maximum of 5 x 4mm, and it tapers to a point. There is a sudden taper just above the tip as if worn by the outside edge of the buckle. 46mm in surviving length, weight 4.04g. There is very little to help narrow down a date; it is likely to be 13th to 15th century.

NMS-00231D: STRAP END
Rectangular copper-alloy plate, decorated on both faces, which falls into Egan and Pritchard's category of strap-ends made from folded sheeting, with wide gaps at the fold; it may be from a medieval strap clasp. It measures 38mm long by 15mm wide, and is made from a single piece of rectangular strip folded in half with a wide gap at the fold. The two halves are fixed together by five rivets, one at each corner and one in the middle. Two copper-alloy rivets survive complete, at the corners closest to the fold; they have small neat domed heads. The shafts of two other copper-alloy rivets survive, at the outer corners. The corners of the fold are worn and it is hard to say if there were once frame recesses. The fold and the open attachment end are both 5mm thick. It weighs 8.8g. The upper plate has lost much of its surface, but enough survives to reconstruct some decoration. There was a border around three edges, which survives well along one long edge and the attachment edge but only in short lengths along the other long edge. This border was made from double rows of punchmarks, probably using a rocked tracer (often called interrupted rocker-arm). There is a plain groove along the edge near the fold. This decoration seems to be repeated on the underplate, which is again corroded with much surface gone. The fold itself seems to have been decorated with three rows of interrupted rocker-arm, one at either end and the other off-centre. Only the off-centre row survives well, but again this decoration appears to be carried over onto the reverse. It is closely paralleled by an example from a late 13th- to mid 14th-century context in London (Egan and Pritchard 1991, no. 749); also compare NMS-2607C2.

NMS-02A495: BROOCH
Fragment of early Anglo-Saxon cruciform brooch, part of the foot. The upper break is patinated but relatively unworn. It occurs at the top of the catchplate, on the reverse, but any moulding on the front at the junction of bow and foot is missing. The whole of the fragment has a marked curve from side to side and is hollow on the reverse, so C-shaped in cross-section. The rest of the flat panel consists of an area about 13mm long which is decorated down each edge with a row of worn tiny double-crescent stamps, with the open ends of the crescents towards the edge. This area ends with four transverse grooves which separate it from an area about 8mm long which has bevelled edges; just in from each bevel is a row of similar double-crescent stamps. The flat panel ends with three bold transverse mouldings. The central one is higher and undecorated; the outer two are lower and decorated with grooves along their length, the one above having one groove and the one below having two. Below these mouldings, the terminal starts. This is slightly narrowed at the top and flares out to a break just below the eyes. This break is very worn and appears old; it may have bent the metal as it occurred, as there seems to be some distortion here. The eyes seem to be simple pellets with perhaps a slight ridge between each pellet and the edge. On the reverse, the catchplate survives well. It is large and tightly curled to the left (when viewed from the reverse), clearly bent out of shape to some degree but otherwise surviving well with small areas missing at either end. The catchplate is a maximum of 25.5mm long but a short length of ridge with a neatly filed-down top extends below it for a short distance. The brooch was large, and the maximum width of the fragment (at the top) is 17mm. It measures 10mm in total thickness. The fragment is 48mm long and weighs 17.1g. Without the rest of the brooch it is impossible to definitely assign a specific Martin type to it, but its general size and proportions probably indicate that it is likely to be a type 3, dating from c. 480-c. 550 AD.

NMS-02F7E3: SPINDLE WHORL
Circular lead spindle whorl. In shape it is a thick disc, with top and bottom similar and flat, but curving gently into the convex sides. The central perforation is cylindrical, c. 7mm in diameter at both ends. It is 17-19mm in diameter and 10mm thick, and weighs 18.9g. In general lead spindle whorls are found from the 10th to the 14th century, c. 900-1400 AD.

NMS-3027C4: STRAP FITTING
Three linked elements once attached to a sword belt, a three-looped mount and two hooked mounts. The three-looped mount is symmetrical about the centre, with a trefoil terminal at either end. Each half of this element then flares towards the centre, with a loop projecting downwards from the widest point on each half. The mount then narrows before flaring again to a point at the centre; the third loop projects downwards from the centre. There is an iron rivet in each terminal, and an empty rivet hole in the centre. This mount is covered with neatly made decoration of engraving around a reserved plant springing from either end, with feathery leaves, and a second pair of three-stemmed plants in the centre, springing from the rivet hole. The mount is very slightly curved from end to end. It measures 70mm long and 30mm wide exactly. Still in place within the left-hand and central loops are matching hooked mounts. These also have trefoil terminals, with the central element more pointed than on the looped mount and the side elements longer. The main part of the looped mounts is sub-triangular, broad next to the trefoil terminals then tapering upwards to another trefoil terminal; here the central foil is extended to become a D-section hook which passes through the loop from back to front before ending in a rounded knob. The hook is bent round so far that it is almost closed into a loop, and it is not now possible to remove the hooks from the circular loops. These mounts have plant decoration to match that on the looped mount, and each have two iron rivets. They are both 50mm long, and 23 and 22 mm wide at the lower terminal. The entire suite measures 72mm from top of looped mount to bottom of hooked mount, and weighs 38.63g. Similar to, but much better made than, Read 2008 no. 793. On the PAS database, compare BERK-D0AB56.

NMS-2A6CA8: VESSEL
Lead pot mend or vessel repair. One face is smaller, smoother and sub-triangular; the other face is larger, flatter and irregular. There is very little remaining of any groove in which part of the ceramic pot could survive. Overall dimensions about 29 x 21mm and about 6mm thick; it weighs 14.06g. Probably medieval.

NMS-2B3E1A: BUCKLE
Medieval copper-alloy buckle frame and plate. The frame is oval with a thickened centre to its outside edge and a narrowed bar which has now cracked in the centre. There is a grooved pin rest with a strip of tiny double punchmarks (interrupted rocker-arm) flanking it to either side. The frame is 26mm wide and c. 19mm long, and 2.5mm thick. The plate is rectangular and now crumpled, but 18mm wide and perhaps originally about 33mm long. It is made from a strip of metal folded about a quarter of the way along its length, and has a pin slot and frame recesses cut into the fold. The two halves were originally fixed together with two rivet holes, one at each of the inner corners, and there are also two rivet holes at the corners of the outer open end. Gilding survives around each of the rivet holes. The plate is decorated with an outer border right at the edge, a line made up of punchmarks. In the centre is a rectangular panel, its edge a groove which links the rivet holes. In the centre of this panel is an engraved design which is now hard to read due to damage to the plate and loss of surface, but which is probably a plant or flower. There seem to be two scrolls in the inner corners, perhaps a pair of leaves on stems stretching out to fill the corners. If the plate is held with the fold downwards, above these leaves is a rounded element shaped like an onion, with its globular base filled with a lozenge from which a pair of scrolls issue to make a heart shape. The globular shape then narrows and curves out again at the top to leave the shape open; this space is filled with a triangle which depends from the panel's border. Total length as crumpled, 46mm. Weight 7.67g. Probably 13th century.

NMS-2F196B: WEIGHT
Standing lead weight with rectangular base measuring 15 x 12.5mm, and bevelled corners rising to a height of 32mm. The very top is flattened front to back, and irregularly rounded, and pierced between the wider faces with a circular hole. Neatly made, it weighs 35.56g (one and a quarter ounces). Compare the larger SWYOR-05FF1A and CORN-C10729. These weights are very difficult to date.

NMS-2F649A: GAMING PIECE
Unusual lead object, probably an early-medieval gaming piece. It is circular, slightly concave on the bottom and more steeply domed on top, with three circular-section projections or knobs on top. These are set in a neat triangle, but the group is off centre so that two are closer to the edge than the third. 21mm in diameter, 6mm thick away from the projections, 7-8mm thick with projections; it weighs 13.68g. It is difficult to precisely parallel this object from the PAS database. There are several early-medieval gaming pieces with three projections (e.g. SF-1CB627 and NCL-FC8D35) and several with the same low domed proportions but no projections (e.g. SWYOR-EEF738 and PUBLIC-0058FD) but none that combine the low form with the projections. Perhaps the closest is LIN-7D8F62. All of these gaming pieces are dated to the late early-medieval period by comparison with finds from the Viking winter camp of 872-3 at Torksey (Hadley and Richards 2016, fig. 26).

NMS-2FBA2B: UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT
Unidentified and incomplete copper-alloy object of probable late medieval or early post-medieval date. It is thick and flat, and can be reconstructed to resemble a five-petalled flower or cinquefoil with a circular perforation. Only two of the petals now survive. They are almost identical, both being short and rounded with an engraved line running from the centre close to the edge, then turning a rounded obtuse angle to meet the circular perforation at an acute angle. Each is surrounded by three dots, one at the end of the engraved line near the edge of the petal and the others flanking the line between this end and the angle. The two surviving petals have a V-shaped groove running in from the edge to separate them, and seem to be broken at similar V-shaped grooves at the other side of the petals. The edges are bevelled and the reverse is flat. The fragment is 32mm across the surviving petals,19mm perpendicular to this, is 3mm thick and weighs 9.98g. If these two petals were repeated around the central circular perforation, the original five-petalled object would be around 40mm in diameter and the central perforation about 10-12mm in diameter. There is no obvious means of attachment. It looks of some age, but the decoration does not help in assigning a precise date. It has a general late medieval or early post-medieval feel.

Gilded copper-alloy buckle plate of medieval date. It is rectangular, 22.5mm wide by 29mm long, and has a narrower projection folded under with a pin slot cut. The short narrow underplate is fixed in place with two copper-alloy rivets with domed heads, set quite close to each other one to either side of the pin slot. Behind these is another similar rivet with slightly larger head, in the centre of the plate. Two further rivet holes are set close to each other at the attachment end. The front is decorated with a line of rocker-arm engraving across the width of the plate just before the hinge loops and pin slot start. This engraved border continues around the three other edges of the plate, but is less well preserved here. In the centre of the plate is an irregular engraved circle, around the central rivet and within the square made by the surrounding four. Four engraved lines radiate from the central rivet, forming a cross. These alternate with four triangles which also radiate from the circle, and which are filled with triangular punchmarks or possibly more rocker-arm engraving. On the underside, it seems that the underplate has been folded neatly back on itself over the ends of the rivets. The rivets bring the maximum thickness up to 6mm and the object weighs 5.52g. There are several similar 13th-century buckle plates with five rivets and an engraved border (such as SF-71EDD8), but the elaboration in the centre is unusual. SF-1C30A2 is the closest parallel yet found.

NMS-41684C: SPUR
Incomplete copper-alloy spur, probably of early 17th-century date. Both terminals are missing. The undecorated sides are almost straight, curving very slightly. In cross-section they are D-shaped, flat on the inside (where there are file marks) and convex on the outer face. They are slender, being just 2mm thick for most of their surviving length, and a maximum of 10mm wide at the back. This is where the neck projects, which has three facets on the underside and a gentle concave curve on the top. A grooved and ridged collar separates the neck from the rowel box, which is relatively long at 19mm, able to accomodate a rowel of about 30-35mm in diameter. Each arm of the rowel box tapers and ends in an expanded rounded terminal which is pierced to take an iron bar on which the rowel would have swivelled; in between the arms there is a lot of hardened soil. Length from front of broken sides to end of rowel box, 75mm. Width between broken ends of sides, 56mm. Weight (with soil) 23.16g. Similar to DEV-73C0BD.

NMS-41DBB5: BROOCH
Fragment of Roman brooch of Mackreth's Aesica rearhook type, and Hattatt's reversed fantail type. The wings are semi-cylindrical, open at the back where there is a strip of dark grey patina, possibly solder, but also seen on other areas of the brooch. The wings are incomplete but one oblique groove can be seen on the left-hand wing (when viewed from the front). There is a stub of rear-facing hook on the top. The upper bow has two main facets with a central arris, and two smaller side facets that make the cross-section essentially pentagonal. Again almost no decoration survives apart from a hint of a transverse (horizontal) groove on the left-hand facet. Both the groove on the wing and that on the upper bow retain a dark grey patina similar to that on the reverse of the wings. The centre of the bow consists of a lozenge-shaped boss and the lower part of the bow is also lozenge-shaped. The lower bow retains worn ridges forming a diagonal cross but is broken just below these so that the foot is missing. The reverse of the bow is flat. All breaks are worn. Length 23mm, width of wings 15mm, thickness c. 11mm, weight 4.70g. The closest parallel in Mackreth 2011 is no. 11878 on pl. 28, which is allocated to Hattatt's Aesica type 2.c. In Hattatt 2000 there is an equally close parallel on p. 313, fig. 172, no. 813. On the PAS database, SF-9A0583, SF-998334, SF-E1D023, SF-00DBF4, NMS-54B133 are all good parallels.

Ornate outside edge from a medieval copper-alloy buckle frame. Two stubs remain of the oval loop, with worn breaks. The outside edge is only 2mm thick, and 7mm wide in the centre, where there is a rectangular panel with a grooved pin rest and two crude diagonal grooves. To either side are short panels with bevelled edges, then the fragment ends in two more rectangular-section panels, perhaps once rectangular in shape but now worn. These are both decorated with short grooves which run perpendicular to the axis of the outside edge. The reverse is flat. The outside edge is 28mm long and the entire fragment, with stubs of the loop, measures 30mm across and 12mm long. It weighs 2.60g. 13th or 14th century.

NMS-43D4E9: BUTTON
Circular copper-alloy button, cast in one piece and probably of 16th-century date. The head is 11mm in diameter, solid and decorated with a central boss and eight radiating curved ridges. The back is flat, and the head is 4mm thick. In the centre of the reverse is a long lug with a circular hole at its far rounded end. The lug brings the total length up to 15mm. It weighs 2.85g. As Read 2005, no. 97. A close parallel on the PAS database is HAMP-576311.

NMS-44321B: BUTTON
Circular copper-alloy button, cast in one piece and probably of 16th-century date. The head is 12mm in diameter, plano-convex and solid; it is 5mm thick. A short rounded lug on the back has a central circular perforation; it brings the total length up to 11mm. It weighs 2.89g. Similar to NLM-6FC63D and NARC-12DD84.

Lead musket ball, nearly spherical. It 13mm in diameter at most, around a slight circumferential ridge, and 11.5mm perpendicular to this. It weighs 9.96g. Most lead shot found in England is likely to date from the 17th century.

NMS-44F995: UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT
Decorated copper-alloy object of unknown function. It is currently almost square, 18.5mm wide by 17mm long; the decoration suggests that three edges may be original and one longer edge broken. It is decorated with what may be stamps or fine engraving, not very neatly done. It is best described by holding the apparently complete longer edge downwards. This has decoration along it of a broad groove (perhaps 2mm wide) filled with small transverse ridges. Above this is a row of three feather or Christmas-tree shapes. with a vertical tapering trunk or shaft and many upward-pointing branches or vanes. Above this is another broad groove running from side to side, filled with small transverse ridges. Then comes a zone of decoration which runs off the top edge; this consists of rather carelessly applied, fairly wide vertical grooves which start a little way above the broad side-to-side groove. Down each of the shorter edges are narrow border grooves. There is no apparent means of attachment. It weighs 1.69g and appears to be perhaps late medieval or early post-medieval.

NMS-14CFAA: BROOCH
Incomplete early Anglo-Saxon cruciform brooch. It is missing part of the headplate, side knobs, and the terminal of the foot. The surface is quite corroded and the breaks all appear old and worn. The small top knob is cast in one piece with the headplate. It is oval in cross-section, only 6mm wide and 5mm thick. It was probably originally full-round but flattened, and is now worn. It has a deep waist so that the entire knob is relatively long. Below the waist is a half-round base which projects forwards from the flat headplate; the base is 5mm from front to back. The headplate has a rectangular central panel c. 14mm wide and 20mm long, which is flat in cross-section. The wings are triangular in cross-section, tapering in thickness from their junction with the central panel. This junction is marked by a vertical row of punchmarks along the inner edge of each wing; these are now worn or corroded off the right-hand wing (from the viewer's perspective) but can just be made out on the left, where they appear to be double-crescent stamps. All of the external edges of the wings are broken so that the headplate is now 25mm wide. There is a small circular hole visible on the front of the headplate, slightly off the centre, which is now filled with iron corrosion. On the reverse of the headplate there is a scar from a single vertically aligned pin bar lug, and extensive iron staining. This all seems to be part of an ancient repair, with the original pin bar lug possibly filed down and replaced. Both of these small holes are around a millimetre in diameter. The base of the headplate is emphasised by a ridge, below which the bow springs. This has a flat panel to top and bottom, and although these are perhaps the best-preserved areas of surface on the brooch, there is no hint of any added decoration. In between, the bow is highly arched and faceted, perhaps with a narrow flat area down the centre; it tapers from 15mm wide at the upper flat panel to 10mm wide at the lower. The reverse is deeply hollowed, making the centre of the bow V-shaped or C-shaped in cross-section. The bow is 23mm long and brings the maximum thickness of the brooch up to 14mm. The flat panel at the top of the foot survives, tapering markedly towards the break to a minimum of 7mm; the edges here may not be complete. There is a circular hole off-centre here, filled with iron corrosion, representing another ancient repair. None of the catchplate is visible. Total length 65mm, weight 23.0g. With its small topknob, relatively large headplate, heavy and highly arched bow and missing foot, this brooch is likely to belong to Martin's type 1, the earliest type dating to c. 420-475. This brooch is not as narrow as some, and may therefore date towards the end of this date-range.

NMS-3F5D28: PADLOCK
Fragment of early-medieval or medieval iron padlock case with brazed copper-alloy coating on the exterior. The fragment is small (28 x 24mm) and flat so it is difficult to work out which part of the padlock it comes from. Across one end of the fragment is a broad low ridge of copper alloy, possibly a reinforcement around one end. There is a second similar ridge running at an angle to this. These padlocks appear to date from the late 10th century to at least the mid 13th century. Maximum thickness 4mm, weight 5.76g.

NMS-3F764C: VESSEL
Small body sherd of Roman grey ware, 25 x 21mm, thickness 5mm, weight 4g.

NMS-7AE4E5: UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT
Copper-alloy unidentified object of post-medieval date. One end has several breaks but the object seems largely complete; it is now in two pieces, but was originally cast in one piece. One piece consists of two prongs joined together at the top by a pair of curves, the backs of the curves downwards (towards the points of the prongs). All of the edges are bevelled. The join between the two curves continues upwards but is broken here. Above the break, the hexagonal cross-section gives way to a series of circular-section mouldings, with a spike projecting from the centre of the first, at right angles. This spike bends upwards to form a pointed hook. Above this there is a 'reel' moulding (a symmetrical waisted moulding) and then above this the object flares out into a pair of flat-section cross arms, both of which are broken (one break old, the other new). At the top, above the cross arms, is another circular-section area, then the object is again broken. Total surviving length c. 89mm, maximum width (at top of prongs) 39mm, thickness with hook 17mm, weight 24.12g. The object is reminiscent of a pickle fork, with the little hooked spike maybe to keep it on the jar, although it seems to bend the wrong way for that. Alternatively it also has similarities to a hair comb, used to keep an elaborate hairstyle in position. The bead-and-reel mouldings are vaguely classical and suggest an 18th-century date.

NMS-F7910D: FINGER RING
Gold finger-ring. Oval colourless translucent flat-topped glass within a raised box-setting surrounded by a roped flange. Flat hoop of constant width, with two twisted roped wires applied to it and bordered on each edge by finely milled wires. Two globules at junction of hoop and bezel on each side. 4th century. The oval box setting is oriented longitudinally to form the bezel of the finger-ring. It is formed from a strip of gold bent to fit closely around the slightly irregular piece of glass. The 'roped flange' is a piece of twisted gold wire around the base of the box setting. The hoop is fixed at either end on to the bezel at the base of the box setting, with the twisted gold wire of the 'flange' running over and concealing the join. The hoop consists of a backplate giving a smooth interior, covered with filigree consisting of two twisted wires set centrally to form a herringbone pattern, with a beaded wire to either side. The two gold granules to either shoulder are set between the beaded border and the edge of the herringbone. The hoop is now slightly crushed and bent.

NMS-0CEED0: STRAP FITTING
Copper alloy 'socketed hook' strap fitting of late early-medieval date. Almost complete, it has a hook at one end which curves up and round to the reverse to form almost a complete circle or loop, 12.4mm in external diameter from front to back. The cross-section tapers throughout the curve of the hook to a minimum of 2.5 x 4.4mm. It has internal wear towards the top and slightly to the rear. Below the hook, the object has a short solid rectangular-section area which flares slightly downwards and is decorated with a groove above a moulding on each side, and a pair of grooves on the front. Below this is the hollow openwork 'socket', which consists of a rectangular-section front and rear strut which project from the solid area and meet a basal ring. The front strut is decorated with a border groove around three sides which meets the lower of the grooves across the solid area. The strut runs down to meet a domed cross-shaped element at the base, solid in cross-section, which also has a border groove. The side arms of the cross extend into a narrower ring which forms the base of the socket and joins the undecorated rear strut. A small part of this ring is missing (worn breaks) and it is now mis-shapen, perhaps bent; despite the damage, the ring appears to have formed a sub-rectangular rather than circular socket. The object has a rough red surface with patches of green patina. It measures 15mm wide and 15.6mm thick at the base of the socket, and is 41.5mm long. It weighs 11.8g. Compare IOW-54EA11, BERK-2D0795, SUSS-04F175 and BUC-1C1BB6, all with similar engraved decoration; the engraving is of the style used in Ringerike-style art and dates these objects to the first half of the 11th century. Finds such as LIN-F29FC4 and ESS-841793 hint that socketed hooks may have had more than one function, but were probably related to straps on weapon harness or horse harness.

NMS-0E0292: FINGER RING
Incomplete medieval copper-alloy finger-ring. The hoop is broken across close to its widest point; it is convex internally and perhaps originally had bevelled edges externally, The shoulders flare and thicken to a raised bezel, which has a rectangular area recessed to take a gem or glass setting. The rectangular recess has five rounded scoops out of the base - one central and the others at the corners - as if there were originally five separate settings within it. The hoop's surviving external diameter is 22.8mm. The bezel is 5.9mm wide and the recess is about 9.5mm long. The bezel is about 5.5mm tall. The ring is scratched and corroded, alathough a shiny grey patina survives over much of the surface. It could be described as stirrup-shaped, although the length of the bezel combined with its relative lowness makes it rather borderline. There are very close parallels at BUC-633791 and CORN-712A32, complete with the five cells within the bezel; Stirrup-shaped rings date from the end of the 12th century onwards, c. 1150-c. 1450.

NMS-0EE53D: BROOCH
Incomplete Roman 'chatelaine' brooch, made from copper alloy and enamelled. On the reverse are the remains of a short pin lug and a longer catchplate, allowing the brooch to be described the right way up with (unusually) the pin lug at the bottom. The centre is circular and domed, hollow on the reverse. This has a small central boss with six triangular cells around it, with traces of decayed enamel which may originally have been red. Between these cells there is more enamel, now a dark green colour. A ridge forms the edge of the domed centre, with a deep groove outside it and then a second concentric ridge. The outer part of the brooch is wide and flat, but less than half survives (worn breaks). The upper part has four D-shaped cells radiating from the outer concentric ridge, filled with decayed enamel, now pale green. An undecorated space separates the last of these from four alternating triangular cells below, set to form a zig-zag, filled with enamel which is now brown. These are bounded by a ridge which runs across the width of the brooch; below this is another zone of pairs of larger alternating triangular cells, again set to form a zig-zag. Around the surviving edge of the brooch are two small projecting lugs, now just small points, with a third larger lug over the catchplate which appears to have had at least two triangular cells, probably filled with enamel. The catchplate survives to 10.2mm long; the stub of pin bar survives to 5.1mm long and is right at the broken edge of the brooch, so may be the survivor of an original double lug. Surviving length 35mm, surviving width 26mm, total surviving thickness c. 9.7mm, weight 7.1g. Hattatt illustrates a close parallel (2000, 351, no. 1082) and there are others on the PAS database including BH-7D5B9E. PUBLIC-9E4646, SF-3E0435 and SUR-CCE0F4. From these parallels it can be seen that the lugs would originally have been more elaborate, with that over the catchplate probably circular and divided into four cells. The complete brooch would have had a separate bar between two lugs at the bottom, on which toilet implements could have been hung. These are often known as 'chatelaine' brooches. There are few parallels illustrated in Mackreth; the closest is probably 11219, which Mackreth allocates to his type 7.b. Late 1st to mid 3rd century AD.

NMS-0F4D69: BUTTON AND LOOP FASTENER
Incomplete copper-alloy button-and-loop fastener of Wild's Class III. Its head is solid, plano-convex and almost circular, with a central circular low domed boss surrounded by a deep groove. Outside the groove is a ring with a convex upper surface, with a small area extended to form a slight point, making the head drop-shaped. There is a ridge running across the outer ring to the point. Opposite the point, a thick shaft extends from the very slightly concave reverse, quickly turns a right angle and then forks to form a loop; both halves of the fork are broken and most of the loop is missing (worn breaks). Surviving length from tip of point to stub of broken loop, 29.1mm. Length of head alone, 23.4mm. Width of head, 19.5mm. Total thickness including loop, 12.5mm. Thickness of head alone, 7.5mm. Weight 10.5g. Class III button-and-loop fasteners are dated to the mid 1st to mid 2nd century AD.

NMS-249EFC: QUERN
Saddle quern made from fine-grained hard stone with few visible inclusions, likely to be a glacial erratic. It has an evenly rounded base and wide, gently sloped-out or bevelled edges around an oval hollow or concave area in the centre measuring 200 x 280mm. No part of the wide edge survives complete; there is much relatively recent damage, with conchoidal fractures. The maximum surviving width of the sloping edge, at one end, is about 90mm, and the whole of the edge at the other end has broken away. The maximum depth of the concave hollow is c. 27mm in the centre, and it gently slopes up to a break of slope which is worn at the surviving end but sharper on the long sides where there has presumably been less wear. Along the long sides, the bevelled edges are quite well preserved, with smooth surfaces covered with linear scratches and grooves which on one edge are parallel to the axis of the hollow, and on the other are at a slightly oblique angle. The surface at the surviving shorter edge, where the break of slope is less clear, is more battered and uneven. The hollow has pockmarks in the base, perhaps from construction or use. The rounded base is very even, slightly smoother in the centre and slightly pockmarked around the edges. It is hard to tell whether the wear here is recent (since finding in the 1970s) or the result of manufacture, or is the original surface of a rounded boulder. Overall dimensions are c. 365mm long, c. 270mm wide, and 72mm thick. It weighs 7.4kg. Saddle querns were in use from the Neolithic to the late Iron Age. The wide bevelled edges are similar to those on the smaller WMID-47EEE6.

NMS-777696: BRIDLE BIT
Fragment from a horse bridle bit, of late Iron Age or early Roman date, 1st century BC or 1st century AD. The object is a short cylindrical tube of cast copper alloy, decorated on the outside with cast grooves.At one point on the exterior is an oval-section scar from a broken-off bar, measuring 10.5 x 9mm in cross-section. This has a bold ridge around the base before the break, which increases the cross-section to 15.5 x 13 mm. The break is slightly worn and possibly iron-stained. The grooves emerge from either side of the oval-section stub and diverge to run around the outside of the tube, converging so that they meet to form four parallel grooves on the side opposite the stub.They alternate with five ridges, and outside the outer ridges are broad shallow grooves or flutes which fill the space to the ends, which are each marked with a further ridge. The tube is very worn internally opposite the stub of the bar, and at the edges has worn through entirely so that some of the edge has gone. The thickness of the tube elsewhere varies between 3.5 and 5mm. The tube is 26.8mm in length, and 18.0mm in external diameter away from the oval-section stub. Measured across including the stub, it is 24.2mm. It weighs 29.4g. The tube would originally have held a rein ring, accounting for the internal wear. The oval-section stub would have developed into a bar passing through the horse's mouth and linked in the centre to another element of the bit. Similar but more complete examples can be seen at BH-9EDAF7 and GLO-848294. Similar fragments include HAMP-968F5A, LVPL-495C15, CAM-269E43.

NMS-9E6D48: PENDANT
Description: Fragment of silver pendant, probably a pilgrim souvenir, of late medieval or early post-medieval date. It consists only of a fragment, with a circular suspension loop cast in one at the top, pierced from front to back. The fragment depicts a tall tower, and is D-shaped in cross-section, flat on the reverse and curved on the front. Its uppermost part is thicker, rectangular and slightly faceted, with a flat centre and sloping sides, perhaps indicating battlements. Below this is a narrow transverse moulding (like a string course) and then the upper storey of the tower has a short groove with a sunken circle or dot above and below, representing a window or arrow slit with gun loops. Below are three mouldings, the central one higher and thicker, again like a string course. Below is the start of another window or arrow slit, with a dot and the top of the groove surviving above the fresh break. The object appears to have an original edge down the right-hand side of the tower (as viewed from the front) but there is a more ragged, perhaps torn, edge down the left-hand side. Dimensions: Surviving length 21.1mm, maximum width (at top, just below loop) 7.2mm, maximum thickness (at same point) 2.4mm. Weight 1.2g. Discussion: This pendant perhaps originally depicted St Barbara with her tower, but although the tower with string courses is well paralleled on badges of St Barbara, apart from this there are several problems with this identification. Firstly the suspension loop is pierced from front to back, rather than side to side as is normal in the medieval period. Secondly the break appears to be down the left-hand side, leaving the tower on the right-hand side of the image, whereas St Barbara normally stands in the centre with the tower to the left. Thirdly the top of the tower is cut straight across, with battlements rather than the normal conical roof. Finally the suspension loop is in the centre of the fragment; if the tower formed one side of a larger object, the loop would not be in the centre. Date: The design of the building suggests a 15th- or early 16th-century date. There are 15th- or 16th-century parallels for the front-to-back loop, such as NARC-F0010E (2019T338), NMS-5D5A28 (2017T347), LIN-D1EFDA (2014T491), LIN-59D105 (2013T354) and pilgrim souvenir SUR-F32367 (2012T940).

NMS-1A3DD7: METAL WORKING DEBRIS
Piece of silver droplet or metalworking debris. It is flat, 3.3mm thick, and oval with one rounded end. The edges are also rounded, except for the end opposite the rounded end which is irregular and indented with sharp edges, probably caused by breakage at a bubble. All edges and faces have smaller sharp-edged depressions and indentations, probably caused by gas bubbles when molten. Both faces have small green patches as well as a silvery surface. It measures 13.7mm x 9.9mm and weighs 2.2g. Undatable.

NMS-82F388: STRAP END
Unusual copper-alloy medieval strap-end. It is sub-circular, made from a piece of figure-of-eight shaped strip folded in half and secured by a neatly made and well concealed separate circular-section copper-alloy rivet. There is no decoration on either face. The edges are irregular in many places due to damage, but it is hard to tell exactly which edges are original and which not. The surviving width (parallel to the fold) is 16.5mm; the fold is 7mm long. The length is 17mm, thickness at rivet 4mm, weight 2.0g. Similar to the slightly bigger NMS-F68AA7. As it says in that record, this form of strap-end is not at all common. It can be dated to the 14th century on the basis of the characteristic rivet.

NMS-843DE0: BROOCH
Incomplete Roman brooch of Colchester derivative type. It is either a Polden Hill or a Rearhook, but it is missing the ends of the wings (which define a Polden Hill) and it is also missing any rear-facing hook in the centre of the wings. All breaks are worn. The wings are semi-cylindrical in cross-section, open at the reverse. The ends are missing, but a transverse moulding or ridge survives running across each wing at its junction with the bow. This moulding is delicately ribbed with tiny grooves running across the moulding and survives well on either side. There is little to note on the reverse of the wings except for a depression in the centre, in the reverse of the top of the bow. The bow is strongly curved on the front and more gently curved on the reverse. It has a ridge running down the centre, which may originally have been ribbed to match those on the wings, but which is now worn and corroded so that detail is hard to see. Below the very top of the bow, the brooch is very corroded and has lost a lot of its surface, so it is hard to see how far the ridge continues down the bow. It is apparently broken above the start of the catchplate, as there is no trace of this on the reverse of the lower bow. Surviving length 28mm, width 17mm, thickness c. 12mm, weight 5.0g. The decoration is similar to Mackreth 2011, no. 13389, pl. 40, although the bow is sturdier and wider than on this example. This is a rearhook brooch, Mackreth type 3.c. Another parallel is Mackreth 2011, no. 1588, pl. 46 (a Polden Hill brooch) but the mouldings on the wings on this and similar Polden Hills are not ribbed. If a rearhook, it will date to c. 43-70 AD; if a Polden Hill, it will be a bit later, c. 70-150 AD.

NMS-959102: BUTTON
Copper-alloy hollow openwork button of late 15th- or 16th-century date. Cast in one piece and globular, the front has a small central boss with six sub-triangular perforations radiating from it. The back has six more sub-triangular perforations and a central lug with a rounded end, pierced with a circular hole. Diameter 10mm, length 17mm, weight 1.2g. Similar to HAMP-B924A7 and ESS-7048E3, and Read (2005) no.93. Excavated parallels include Baart et al. (1977) no.235, from a 16th-century context. An example from Norwich was residual in an 18th- or 19th-century context (Margeson 1993, 21, fig.11, no.102).

NMS-963FC6: MOUNT
Unusual medieval copper-alloy trefoil mount still in place on a fragment of copper-alloy backplate. The mount is basically lozengiform, with three lozenge-shaped leaves and a slender flaring stalk, all divided by V-shaped grooves, radiating from a centre which is pierced to hold a separate copper-alloy rivet. This rivet fixes the mount to a thin backplate whose edges may be all broken, but which now echoes the shape of the mount in that it has a square cut-out (or break) at each of the mount's corners (the outer point of each leaf). This gives it a rough cross shape, and outside one edge of the mount (the upper left as viewed from the front) the edge has a knop giving a roughly trefoil outline. The mount measures 10-12mm along each edge, giving a length from the top of the trefoil to the base of the stalk of 16mm and the width of 15mm. It is nearly 2mm thick, and with the backplate and rivet the maximum thickness is 3mm. The backplate adds 2mm to the width of the mount but is the same length. The entire object weighs 2.5g. Compare Egan and Pritchard 1991, nos. 1088 and 1089, both made of tin and from contexts of c. 1400-1450. There are few parallels on the PAS database, and none with the copper-alloy backplate; compare NARC-563705 and NARC-55FCD6.

NMS-C4659F: PIN
Very small Roman copper-alloy pin. It is corroded and worn so that any surface detail has been lost; it has a smooth brown patina. The head and shaft are both circular in cross-section, the head a maximum of 3mm in diameter. The head starts at the top with a long narrow round-ended element which tapers into a larger rounded moulding. Below this is a slim ridge between two narrowed waists; below the lower waist, the shaft begins with a diameter of 3mm before tapering to a right-angled bend around 35mm from the top of the head, and then a sharp point. Some of the shaft is probably missing; its surviving unbent length is about 47mm. It weighs 1.14g. It is similar to BM-C94D69, BM-CAA54A and BM-CA5CAD, three similarly slim but much better-preserved pins from Piercebridge.

NMS-C48145: VESSEL
Large lead pot mend or vessel repair. One face is lumpy and sub-oval, about 34 x 38mm at most. The other face is sub-rectangular and smooth, about 14 x 22mm. The groove in between the two faces is very narrow, perhaps crushed. The overall thickness is 6.5mm and the object weighs 35.83g. Possibly Roman, probably medieval.

NMS-D39FAC: UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT
Unidentified lead object, cast in one piece, now incomplete. It has a flat base, probably originally roughly circular, but much of this is now missing; what remains is variable in thickness, at most 3mm thick. The reverse is flat and featureless, but the upper surface has the remains of four ribs arranged in a cross shape. These are D-shaped in cross-section, and two survive well, one badly and one not at all. There is a rounded boss in the centre of the cross, c. 4mm in diameter, which brings the maximum thickness of the object to 7.5mm. At the end of the three surviving cross arms are similar bosses. The object now measures 26 x 25mm, but probably originally was about 28mm in diameter; it weighs 11.61g. With its cross and pellets design it resembles a medieval token; with its tall bosses, it also resembles an early-medieval gaming piece.

NMS-D40525: BROOCH
Small Hod Hill brooch of Roman date, c. 43-70 AD. Most of the head is missing but the base of the central slot for the pin can be seen. Below this the upper bow has a single transverse (horizontal) ridge between two broad grooves or flutes, with traces of white-metal coating in the upper one. The centre of the bow has longitudinal (vertical) ridges and broad grooves; three ridges survive with the stubs of side knobs beyond. There is more white-metal coating here. The lower bow has four transverse ridges with flutes between before ending in a footknob. On the reverse of the lower bow are the remains of a catchplate. The brooch is thin in cross-section, just 2mm thick at the centre of the bow; it is 30mm long, 15.5mm wide and weighs 2.4g. It is very close in form to Mackreth 2011, pl. 92, no. 9124, which Mackreth allocates to his type 4.a2.

NMS-D46BAE: HARNESS PENDANT
Very tiny medieval copper-alloy horse-harness pendant. It is shield-shaped, with an almost straight top (slightly outcurved) and sides curving to a rounded point. The shield is relatively long (15mm) compared to its width (11mm). In the centre of the top is a projecting suspension lug, pierced from side to side but now incomplete, broken through the hole. This brings the surviving length up to 20mm and the thickness at the broken lug is 3mm. The hole can have been no more than 1mm or so in diameter. It weighs 1.6g. The front of the shield is decorated with a wide, neatly made cross of black enamel, the surface treatment of the metal (gilding or tinning) is missing. Blazon: ?Or/?Argent a cross Sable. Of uncertain attribution. Horse-harness pendants of comparable size and proportions on the PAS database include SWYOR-1FCED1, SF-6DF707, DEV-A8D2A2 and SF-A6ADA5. None have the same decoration.

NMS-D4A118: SEAL MATRIX
Medieval lead seal matrix. Flat and circular, now incomplete, with about a third of the inscription missing (both fresh and older breaks). The central motif is a quatrefoil of four long oval leaves, with a rounded flower on a stem in each angle; the stems radiate from the centre. The inscription around is separated from the central motif by a plain groove, and reads + S'. - AL - - IDI. FIL' R. DE. SM (probably Seal of Geoffrey son of R. of Sm...). It is neatly engraved, but the M lacks its second stroke and the missing letters make it hard to read; the first missing letter is probably G and the others FR, making the name Galfridi or Geoffrey. The placename beginning Sm... might be Smallburgh. Originally 28mm in diameter, with a lug projecting from the top which brings the total length to 32.5mm. The lug is very slightly thicker than the rest of the matrix at 3mm, but is unperforated; it is a long D shape. It weighs 10.70g.

NMS-D4F2F8: SEAL MATRIX
Medieval lead seal matrix. Flat and pointed-oval, now incomplete, with just under half missing (fresh breaks and an unstable, corroding edge). The part that is missing seems to be the top half, as there is no lug or any other feature on the reverse. The central motif is very difficult to make out but it may be the bottom half of a fleur-de-lis, with a triangle for a stem and the base of two curling side leaves. The inscription is set between two plain grooves, and the surviving part reads ... BEAT RICI... (probably originally Seal of Beatrice). The letters are well spaced, particularly on the second half of the inscription, and there may be room for perhaps another two or three letters. The Latin genitive of Beatrice would normally end ...IE and so it is likely that there was never any second name on this matrix. Surviving length 30mm, original length c. 34mm, width 22.5mm, thickness 3mm, weight 13.0g

NMS-D56442: VESSEL
Suspension lug from a medieval to early post-medieval vessel, made from copper-alloy sheet folded in half and secured by a single rivet made from rolled copper-alloy sheet. The lug is trapezoidal, flaring from a narrow base 20mm wide to a maximum of 33mm wide just below the fold. The corners of the fold are cut off at an angle making the fold 25mm wide. At the widest point, an oval hole has been pushed through both halves leaving a burr of bent-over sheet fragments on one side. The hole measures 10mm tall by 7mm wide. The lug is 6mm thick at the open end and 3mm thick at the fold. The entire lug is 35mm long and weighs 12.6g. Compare a similar example in place on a vessel in the Museum of London's collection, illustrated in Egan 1998, fig. 146, but with two rivets; on this, the lug holds a chain. The same vessel is also illustrated in Ward Perkins 1940, pl. LIV, and on p. 207 it is given a late-medieval date. Another example was found in an undated context in Norwich (Margeson 1993, 92-3, no. 573). On the PAS database, compare WAW-53FD97 and WMID-C91871.

NMS-D68917: PIN
Copper-alloy pin, now very corroded but with fragments of patinated surface surviving. The head is 6mm square in cross-section, and 5mm long with a domed top and flat underside. The shaft is 15mm long and circular in cross-section, tapering smoothly from 3mm in diameter at the junction with the head to 1mm just above the point. Total length 20mm, weight 1.5g.

NMS-D6FB48: STRAP FITTING
Medieval copper-alloy swivel made from three components, each cast in one piece, still attached to each other. In the centre is a hollow globular component, now damaged and incomplete, with all breaks very worn. It has a circular hole at either end, each of which retains another component. These have shafts that pass through the holes and end in circular roves inside; the roves are quite thick, and are D-shaped in cross-section. The other end of the shaft has an encircling ridged collar below a rounded loop with a circular hole 4mm in diameter. Both of these holes are blocked, one by a spongy material which is probably textile or string, the other with what appears to be hard soil concretions. Each of these components is 18mm long, 9-10mm in diameter at the ridged collar and 7-8mm thick at the holes. The central element is decorated with a series of perforations which probably originally formed a symmetrical pattern. Around the circular hole at either end are four triangular perforations, apex away from the hole. These alternate with what appear to be pairs of oval or D-shaped perforations, one above the other, but damage and crushing has made this uncertain. Total length c. 50mm, maximum diameter c. 30mm, weight 32.0g. Swivels seem to have been in use for much of the medieval period. The symmetrical design of this swivel is unusual, and does not help to narrow down the dating.

NMS-D7511B: CLOTH SEAL
Thin flat circular lead disc, an inner disc (Disc 2 or Disc 3) from a four-disc cloth seal of post-medieval date. It is 16mm in diameter, bearing the arms of London on a straight-topped shield (a double-strand cross with an upright sword in the top left corner). Around the shield is an inscription, now only partially legible as the stamp is a little off the flan. It reads CIVITATIS LON... Weight 1.2g. Compare SOM-CE2E79, DOR-5498F7, SOM-170440, BERK-D86A4E. Probably 17th or early 18th century.

NMS-D7ABDC: STRAP END
Part of copper-alloy spacer plate from a 14th- or early 15th-century composite strap-end. It consists of a curving C shape, at least one end broken (worn break) with a large integral acorn-shaped knop at what was originally the centre. The C shape is 4mm wide by the knop and tapers to the ends; it is 2mm thick. The knop is decorated on all sides, and starts with a ridged collar below a cross-hatched area that represents the acorn's cup. Above this, a slightly narrower D-shaped area represents the acorn's kernel. The whole object is corroded and detail is hard to see. It is a maximum of 35mm long, 25mm wide, 5.5mm thick at the terminal and weighs 4.9g. Compare an example in the collection of the Museum of London (Egan and Pritchard 1991, fig. 92, bottom left) which is of similar proportion but lacks the ridged collar to the knop. Similar examples on the PAS database include LEIC-AA7DF3 and WILT-03C6E2.

NMS-1241A7: STRAP FITTING
Chunky copper-alloy bar-mount with integral forward-facing hook, of medieval date. The bar-mount is 10mm wide and a low triangle in cross-section, 4mm thick. It has possible traces of gilding. At its base is a transverse ridge, then the object narrows into the start of the hook. This is rectangular in cross-section, and tapers gradually both in width and thickness until it curves forward in a U shape and then expands into a trapezoidal terminal, tapering upwards. This is decorated with a small groove running up from either side of the hook's shaft as it meets the terminal. On the reverse of the bar-mount are two sturdy circular-section integral rivets, one in the centre at the junction of hook and mount, the other at the top of the mount but off centre. The rivets and hook bring the total thickness of the object up to 14mm. Total length 36mm, weight 9.5g. A close parallel is illustrated in Read 2008 (no. 808) and another is shown complete with looped or eye counterpart (no. 807). Parallels on the PAS database include another example with looped counterpart (NMS-90C017) and several hooked examples: LIN-DA9449, BH-002B2D, NMS-274CEF, NMS-E6093C, etc. Although Read allocates a post-medieval date, they are very much more likely to be medieval, by comparison with similar harness hooks and belt hooks.

NMS-135107: WEIGHT
Thick flat circular lead weight, perhaps for half an ounce, marked with the highly simplified arms of the Commonwealth (1649-1653 or perhaps as late as 1660). These are slightly off centre on one face, and consist of two conjoined shields with straight tops and rounded points.The left-hand one has a cross and the right-hand one has a shield-shaped inner border intended as a harp. Both shields are within a circular band. Above this is a stamped crescent or part-circle, points or open side upwards. The other face is unmarked. Diameter 25mm, thickness 3mm, weight 15.2g (0.54oz). Similar to NMS-D5A0C4.

NMS-137C4E: BUTTON
Well-made copper-alloy button of 16th-century date. It is solid and globular, cast in one piece, 11mm in diameter but slightly flattened front to back. There is a central boss or pellet on the front, with lathe-turning marks around it, which brings the thickness of the button's head to 10mm. On the reverse is an integral drop-shaped lug with a circular hole. Total thickness 18mm, weight 5.2g. Similar to PUBLIC-8E4A11 and SOM-A11BC3.

NMS-13ADF8: VESSEL
Fragment of cast copper-alloy leg and foot from a medieval or early post-medieval cooking vessel. The fragment is relatively thin at the worn break, largely rectangular in cross-section but with a slight midrib. It thickens towards the base and then widens and turns out, flaring in cross-section with a slight concave curve towards the front, to form a minimal foot. The reverse and underside are flat. All faces apart from the break are sooted. The cross-section at the top is 30mm wide and 5-7mm thick. The foot is 35mm wide and 13mm thick. It is 32mm long at most, and weighs 47.8g. Similar to IOW-1BEA47.

NMS-1618AC: SEAL MATRIX
Flat circular medieval lead seal matrix, 25mm in diameter. Neatly made with rounded edges, 3.5mm thick at most. The central motif is a small neat equal-armed cross, deeply engraved, with slight serifs. The inscription is set between neat, perhaps compass-drawn, grooves, and consists of neat, widely spaced letters. It reads + S ADE: BETE (Seal of Adam Beater, perhaps). A chunk is missing from the edge, and has carried away parts of two letters, the S and A, and any apostrophe or stop between them. The break is patinated. The reverse is slightly dished, and there is a low, unpierced lug running from the centre to the edge behind the initial mark. This has a scar, probably from post-depositional damage. Weight 14.0g.

NMS-16A686: WEIGHT
Lead 4oz weight, probably of 16th- or 17th-century date. It is thick, flat and circular, 32mm in diameter and 13.5mm thick. The sides are slightly convex. One face is very slightly recessed within a raised border; the other face is decorated with four irregular, almost quarter-circle depressions, whose outer edges make an approximate off-centre circle. Weighs 110.5g (3.9oz). The closest parallel on the PAS database is probably LEIC-5C6B33, which also has four rounded depressions, but on both faces. There are many other weights with the four depressions but with official stamps of various monarchs of the 16th and 17th centuries.

NMS-16CE14: HARNESS MOUNT
Medieval gilded copper-alloy suspension mount for a horse-harness pendant, cast in one piece. It is essentially T-shaped, the horizontal part being rectangular, short and wide with a triangular cross-section; there are two sturdy integral circular-section rivets on the flat reverse and tiny traces of gilding on the front. Projecting from the centre of one long edge is a triangular-section bar which quickly divides into two round-ended D-section lugs, both pierced from side to side to take a (now missing) hinge bar. 20mm long, 20mm wide, 5mm thick at the lugs, 7mm thick at the rivets. Similar to SUSS-813B58, LIN-A47F55, WILT-97BBE0, DUR-7DF359, etc.

NMS-17FFFC: BROOCH
Incomplete copper-alloy Roman brooch. Flat and probably originally circular, it is now oval, It is decorated with what at first sight appear to be ring-and-dot motifs, but which are actually blind-drilled depressions with a small deep centre and two distinct steps of larger shallower concentric circles. There are four of these motifs, set unevenly; one almost in front of the pin lugs, another close by on the other side of the lugs, but the other two more widely spaced and two-thirds of the way to the catchplate. All are near what are now the edges, although no part of the original edge appears to survive. The condition of the breaks varies; some appear to be fresh. On the reverse are the remains of a small double pin bar lug and the stub of a catchplate. The brooch now measures 23.5mm in length (parallel to the pin) and 18.5mm perpendicular to this. The body of the brooch, away from the pin fixings, is 2mm thick and the maximum thickness at the pin lugs is 5mm. It weighs 4.0g. This brooch has proved difficult to parallel.

NMS-26ABF5: HARNESS MOUNT
Shield-shaped copper-alloy medieval harness mount. The shield has a straight top and sides curving to a point; it is now slightly bent but measures 16mm across the top and 17.5mm in length. Surface treatment of metal and enamel missing. Blazon: Two trumpets pilewise between three crosses paty. Probably an abbreviated version of the arms of TRUMPINGTON, Azure crusily and two trumpets pilewise Or, either for Roger, a knight of John de Vescy, 1280, d.1289, or his s. and h. Giles (who bore the same arms), summoned to serve against the Scots, 1298 and 1301, living in 1324 (Brault 1997, vol.2, 423). On the reverse, a thick integral circular-section spike projects, 4mm in diameter as it leaves the shield. It then tapers and becomes rectangular in cross-section towards the blunt point. It is now at an angle to the shield so that the total thickness front to back is now 19mm, but was probably originally more like 21mm. It weighs 4.2g. Similar heraldry can be seen on other objects at NMS-03C571 and KENT-CD7403.

NMS-26F8F3: CLOTH SEAL
Incomplete lead cloth seal of post-medieval date. Part of Disc 1 survives, with stamps visible on both faces. On the larger flat face it is stamped XXV, perhaps within a circle; on the rivet face it is stamped with XX above TH or perhaps IH. If IH, this stamp could be read the other way up, as HI above XX. The letters are neat and have small serifs. The die-axis is about 2 o'clock; the seal is oval, about 15 x 13mm at most, and is 3mm thick. It weighs 2.7g. It is just possible that the IH XX face may be stamped with a merchant's mark or privy mark similar to that on LON-A51F12; the I may be the central stem of the mark. XXV is likely to refer to the weight or length of the cloth (compare Egan 1994, no. 257). It is likely to be late 16th or 17th century.

NMS-2A4E47: SPINDLE WHORL
Lead spindle whorl of early-medieval or medieval date, circular and plano-convex with flat base and rounded top. It is neatly made, 21-22mm in diameter and 10mm thick, with a central circular perforation which tapers from 11-11.5mm diameter at the base to 9mm diameter at the top. On the top, one side of the perforation has been scraped and crushed. On the base there is a groove around the perforation. It weighs 23.9g. Lead spindle whorls seem to have been in use from the 10th to 14th centuries, c. 900-1400 AD.

NMS-2A8EBE: THIMBLE
Copper-alloy thimble of 15th-century date, made of thin sheet. The rim is straight and unthickened, with no decoration. It has two cracks and is slightly bent in on one side. The straight sides taper slightly to a curved top, and are covered with a left-hand spiral of small punched dots. The layout of the dots is a little haphazard, with slightly wobbly rows. The spiral continues onto the top; it ends before the very centre with a tiny bare patch which is marked in the middle with a single dot. The rim is no longer perfectly circular and measures about 16-17mm across. It is 13.5mm tall and weighs 2.4g. A flimsy thimble with small dot indentations such as this one might be thought of as 14th-century, but setting the indentations in a spiral is a 15th-century innovation, so this thimble probably dates to c. 1400-1450 AD.

NMS-2AD12E: WEIGHT
Thick flat circular 2oz lead weight. It is crudely made and not quite circular, about 36mm in diameter, and 5mm thick. One face is undecorated, and the other has two circular indentations 3-4mm in diameter. Below these, roughly in the centre of the weight, are the highly simplified arms of the Commonwealth; two conjoined shields with straight tops and rounded bases, one with a cross and the other apparently blank, within a circle. These arms were in use between 1649 and 1653 and may have been used up to 1660. It weighs 53.3g (1.88oz).

NMS-2AF4DE: SPINDLE WHORL
Small conical lead spindle whorl of early-medieval or medieval date, circular with flat base and top, and almost straight sides. It is 17-18mm diameter at the base and about 12mm in diameter at the top. with a central cylindrical perforation 7-8mm in diameter. It is 8mm tall and weighs 12.2g. Lead spindle whorls seem to have been in use from the 10th to 14th centuries, c. 900-1400 AD.

NMS-2B395F: BUCKLE
Copper-alloy plate from a 14th-century composite buckle. Sturdy and well-made, it is 36.5mm long and almost rectangular, flaring from 18mm wide at the frame end to 19mm at the attachment end. The attachment end is incurved, and at its centre has a circular cut-out which breaks the edge and has a tapering groove running a short way into the middle of the plate. This is known as a 'grooved aperture'. To either side of the aperture is a separate copper-alloy rivet, each 4mm long. The other end is cut straight across to accommodate the start of the buckle's frame. The upper surface of the plate is decorated with fine rocker-arm engraving which is now difficult to see. There is a row running down each long edge, and a saltire cross running from corner to corner. On the reverse the surface is covered with a shiny silvery coating which is probably solder. The plates on these composite buckles were soldered to a spacer plate cast in one with the buckle frame. It weighs 5.9g. Similar to, but larger than, the plates from three buckles from contexts of the mid to late 14th century in London (Egan and Pritchard 1991, nos. 322-324).

NMS-407B4D: VESSEL
Part of a handle lug from a medieval or post-medieval copper-alloy cooking vessel, circular in cross-section. About half survives, running from one end which is wider (a maximum of 22mm across) and whose very end retains the very smooth interior surface of the vessel; this is at right angles to the edges of the lug. It then has a faint hint of a circumferential moulding, and tapers to 17mm diameter. At the other end, it is broken across the corner, which appears to have been angled. The break is worn and sooted; there is sooting on all surfaces, apparently including the scrap of interior. Length 54.5mm, weight 81.87g.

NMS-4174BD: BRIDLE BIT
Fragment of circular lead bridle boss with relief decoration. Originally c. 80mm in diameter, less than a quarter of it survives. The flat rim is about 10mm wide, at an angle to the centre, and is decorated with a group of four pellets within an oval border, separated from two other similar motifs by groups of three radial ridges. Within this, the base of what is probably the domed centre is a zone of about the same width which is decorated with closely spaced radial ridges, outside a ring of pellets, and then inside there are similar ridges but at an angle, not neatly radial. On the reverse, the junction between rim and dome is reinforced by a thick ridge, but there is no decoration or visible means of attachment. The fragment measures 48mm long and 30mm wide, is 2mm thick in most places and 5mm thick at the ridge on the reverse. It weighs 24.75g.

NMS-41CDAF: FURNITURE FITTING
Copper-alloy and iron object, probably a Roman furniture knob. The copper-alloy part is spherical, 15.5mm in diameter, and now smooth and featureless. The surface is a corroded brown with patches of bright green. From one edge projects a mass of corroded iron, probably a means of fixing it to the furniture. This brings the total length up to 21.5mm. It weighs 11.24g.

NMS-423493: PURSE
Copper-alloy loop from a late medieval or early post-medieval purse. It is small, rounded at the top and rectilinear at the bottom, only 10.5mm wide but 7mm thick from front to back. In cross-section the loop is a long thin biconvex shape. At the base of the loop a shank projects, with a thickened collar at the top; it ends in a spike rather than a rove. The surface is corroded and rough. The total length is 31mm and it weighs 4.42g. This form of loop was used on many different classes of purse.

NMS-424F53: VESSEL
Small cast copper-alloy leg from a cooking vessel of medieval or post-medieval date. It is triangular in cross-section, 17mm wide and 11mm thick at the break, flaring to 19 x 15mm wide at the base. The edges and arrises are all rounded and the flat base is set at an angle; there are traces of sooting. It is 24mm long and weighs 25.95g.

NMS-535838: SPINDLE WHORL
Lead spindle-whorl of early-medieval or medieval date. It is circular, 20mm in diameter, and only 7mm thick, with slightly curving sides. The central perforation is relatively large, 11mm in diameter at the top and 12mm at the flat base, where there is a slight groove around the perforation. It weighs 11.57g.

NMS-53DDDE: STRAP END
Small copper-alloy strap-end of 14th-century date, made from two pieces of sheet. Both are cut into an almost-rectangular shape, 10.5mm wide at the attachment end (which is bent and incomplete) and tapering to 9mm wide at the other end, just before it sharply tapers and then ends in a long flat pointed terminal. The total surviving length is 30mm. There is a separate copper-alloy rivet joining the two sheets at the closed end, and there was probably a second rivet at the open end but this area is now missing. It weighs 1.84g. Similar to Egan and Pritchard 1991, nos. 696 and 698. On the PAS database, see PUBLIC-A994A4 and SUSS-8C59A2.

NMS-AA4DA3: STRAP FITTING
Copper-alloy mount or strap-end with bar-mount attached, probably for use with a strap-clasp. It is made from a piece of sheet, probably originally of 'shield-shaped' form with one curving end, one straight end and a narrowed central waist; it is now broken on most edges with just a scrap of semi-circular cut-out on one side. It has two copper-alloy rivets, one at each end; at the straight end, the rivet retains a bar-mount made from thicker copper-alloy sheet curved in cross-section. This has a small rectangular notch cut out of the centre of one long edge, on the rear side. Surviving length 17mm, width at bar-mount 12mm, thickness with rivet and bar-mount 4mm, weight 1.0g. Compare Egan and Pritchard 1991, no. 737, and notch as on no. 738, both from contexts of 1350-1400.

NMS-AAD5B3: STIRRUP
Copper-alloy and iron stirrup-strap mount of 11th-century date, now worn. It is basically pentagonal and largely flat, with a rounded apex below which are two small rounded projections. The apex is pierced with a circular hole. The mount then has straight edges flaring to its widest point, 28mm wide; below this are short incurves making a waist, with a small sideways projection at the bottom. Below this are straight edges slightly tapering to a base which is 25mm wide. On the reverse, the straight base turns a right angle to form a flange which is probably not full-width, but detail here is obscured by a mass of iron corrosion held in place by two iron rivets. The front has no surviving decoration, but has much iron corrosion over its lower part. Despite the loss of decoration, the distinctive shape means it can be identified as of Williams's Class A, Type 1. It is 445.5mm long, 8mm thick at the base, and weighs 19.4g.

NMS-AB4F59: BUTTON
Solid copper-alloy button of 15th- or 16th-century date. The head is circular, 12mm in diameter and 8.5mm thick, and biconvex or flattened globular. There is no decoration and there is no sharp carination between front and back; the whole of the button is softly rounded. In the centre of the back is a loop, cast in one piece with the head; this is drop-shaped, circular in cross-section and with a drop-shaped perforation. Total length 17mm, weight 5.9g. Compare SF7798, LVPL-C7AF45 and DOR-82351E.

NMS-ABAE64: BROOCH
Copper-alloy annular brooch of 13th- or 14th-century date, now very worn. The frame is sub-circular or sub-hexagonal, 24mm between corners and 22mm between edges, originally set with two stones at opposite corners. The cells for the settings are circular and both have traces of white adhesive or cement; the base of one has worn so much that it has perforated through to the reverse. These cells are not raised above the frame but rather sunk into it, so are not really collets. There is a constriction on which the pin would have swivelled, exactly halfway between the settings. The rest of the frame is uneven and a bit lumpy; the pin is missing. Maximum thickness 2mm, weight 2.3g. When originally made, the brooch may have resembled PUBLIC-890BA8 or the slightly smaller HAMP-40FBE2.

NMS-AC26F4: BROOCH
Copper-alloy zoomorphic or horse-head terminal from an early Anglo-Saxon cruciform brooch of Martin's type 3, late 5th or early 6th century AD. It is broken just above three moulded ridges that separate it from the rest of the foot (worn break). There is a short transversely rounded brow beneath these mouldings, then the head becomes more trapezoidal in cross-section and here the large pellet eyes are set, right on the edge of the brooch. Below these the nose flattens and softens to become more rounded again in cross-section, although this may be the result of wear. The nose tapers and is then waisted to accommodate two large flat oval nostrils. These are separated from the nose by grooves; one with a straightened, perhaps worn outside edge. Below these the nose flares again to a small spatulate extension. At the top of the fragment on the reverse (behind the mouldings and down to the eyes) there is a concave hollow with a ridge down the centre which is the remains of the bottom of the catchplate. Below this the reverse is flat. The fragment is 49mm long, 23.5mm wide at the nostrils, 12mm wide at the moulded ridges, 13mm wide at the eyes. It is 5.5mm thick at the ridges and weighs 15.8g. This terminal must be of Martin's type or group 3 because of its spatulate extension. It is fairly close to one from Little Wilbraham 171 and one from North Luffenham (Martin 2015, pl. 13 no. 689 and pl 14 no. 699), both of which are Martin's type 3.2.1. A good parallel can be found on the PAS database at NMS-87FB3C.

NMS-BB42DC: SEAL MATRIX
Flat circular 13th-century lead seal matrix. The central motif is a hammer and tongs; on the impression, the hammer is longer and on the left, the head with one blunt and one pointed end. There is a dot between the two tools. The tongs are shown by two curved intersecting lines, longer and straighter for the handles and shorter and more strongly curved for the gripping arms. There is another dot between the gripping arms. The motif is enclosed in a plain circular groove with the inscription outside reading + S'. WILL'I FABRI. FIL'. ADE. (Seal of William Faber son of Adam). The lettering of the matrix is very distinctive, with the two As having long unseriffed left-hand arms (on the impression), the D having a long tail to the top left, and the E being square. A scrape has removed parts of the B and R of FABRI. It is 30mm in diameter, 2mm thick, now slightly bent. The reverse is undecorated; a 3mm wide stub at the top is the remains of a lug or loop. It weighs 18.4g. Faber is the Latin for Smith, so this distinctive central motif is a rebus (an allusion to or pun on the seal-owner's name).

NMS-BB9D8E: BROOCH
Complete copper-alloy brooch of back-turned animal type, Weetch type 1, dating to the 10th century. It is now bent, but otherwise in relatively good unworn condition, albeit with the rough green-brown corroded surface most of these brooches share. Around the edge is a narrow undecorated rim, then a ring of probably 28 rectangular or trapezoidal pellets or bosses (perhaps two are obscured by the bend). Within this is the animal in relief, seen in profile facing left with its head turned backwards. The head is trapezoidal, with an open mouth but no added eye and no obvious ear; it sits on a narrow neck which expands into the body. The body is long and thin and four legs extend from its underside. Each has a foot with toes; the front leg runs into three of the surrounding pellets and the rear leg similarly uses two pellets as its toes. The second foot may have two or three toes; the third foot clearly has three. The body turns a sharp angle after the rear leg to form a thick tail with pointed end up by the animal's head. On the reverse are two well-preserved pin fixings. Behind the first and second feet of the animal is a pin lug cast in one piece; this is H-shaped and consists of two slender prongs joined by a cross-piece. The two prongs are set across the line of the pin. On the reverse of the base of the tail is the catchplate, made from a lug cast parallel to the line of the pin and turned over to the left (when the brooch is viewed from the reverse with the pin lug uppermost). When the brooch is viewed from the front with the beast the right way up, the pin would have run from the bottom left to the top right. 27.5mm in diameter, thickness away from lugs less than 1mm, thickness at catchplate 5mm, thickness at pin lug 6mm, weight 5.9g.

NMS-BCCD84: HARNESS FITTING
Complete copper-alloy dropped-bar terret of early Roman date, c. 50-150 AD (Lewis 2015, 76, 84, fig. 4.1 xix). It consists of a main ring and an attachment loop, with a small knob at the apex of the main ring. The main ring is oval both externally and internally, and is oval in cross-section. It is bottom-heavy, so is wider and thicker in cross-section towards the base (the junction with the attachment loop). It has a maximum thickness of 11mm at the base but is 8mm thick at the top; the internal dimensions are 17 x 14mm and it is 34mm wide externally. At the top it has a circular-section cylindrical knob projecting upwards, which is decorated with two circumferential grooves before expanding to a flat top. This top is 7mm in diameter and has bevelled edges decorated with radial grooves. The attachment loop is rectangular externally and internally, and thinner in side view than the main loop. It is 21.5mm wide externally and 13.5 x 5mm internally. The total length is 45mm and it weighs 55.7g. Parallels on the PAS database include SWYOR-908CB2 and LVPL255 (both with knob) and WILT-69FCF1 (with similar massive proportions).

NMS-D42B2D: UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT
Copper-alloy zoomorphic unidentified object in the shape of an animal head, perhaps a dog. The animal's head is at the end of a tapering conical socket, now slightly distorted but originally c. 14mm in diameter, with a single circular rivet or nail hole in one side (the right when the animal head is in front). The socket is 12mm deep and the rest of the shaft is solid, a total of c. 37mm long and tapering to 10mm in diameter. The tapering shaft forms the neck of the animal and the object then flares out to form the head. This is well modelled and naturalistic, with long conical swept-back horn-like ears on top of the head and a vertical groove on the brow. The drop-shaped eyes fit in below the brow; these are slightly rounded and each have a paler dot in the centre, perhaps corrosion filling up a small indentation. The long, tapering muzzle has a low ridge running down the centre, and ends in two slightly uneven blind-drilled nostrils. The jaws are slightly apart to allow a wide and very long pointed tongue to project. The projecting part is as long as the muzzle, and bends up smoothly as it leaves the mouth. It may perhaps be the tail of prey rather than a tongue. Total length 70mm, width of head 15mm, weight 56.7g. Close parallels are difficult to find. A similar item found in 2013 from Erpingham (NHER 28524; not on PAS database) has a cylindrical socket with single nail hole, but a much more schematic head; this was thought to be a Roman staff terminal. The dog statue from the Gloucestershire Roman founder's hoard (GLO-BE1187) also has some stylistic similarities. Among objects thought to be medieval, WILT-9FFDA7 is thought to be the terminal of a Romanesque drinking horn; it has a clearly medieval head with protruding tongue and a similar conical socket but with four attachment holes. GLO-EE5348 has an animal head which is closer to the present example, but instead of a socket this is part of a complicated three-dimensional object thought to be the pommel from a knife handle. Marsden discusses a group of similar socketed terminals with animal heads from Norfolk (2014, 62-64; fig. 2, no. 48 and fig. 7, no. 49), thought to be Roman.

NMS-A017A6: CUFF LINK
18th-century silver cufflink element. It is octagonal, flat with a down-turned rim, and has engraved decoration. This consists of a double incurved line along each side, and a four-petalled flower or quatrefoil in the centre. Each of the petals is emphasised with a short curved groove just inside each outer edge, and there is a small secondary petal or sepal peeping out from behind in the angle between each petal. The centre has a circle filled with cross-hatching. On the concave reverse is a D-shaped loop with some internal wear. It measures 11.7mm square and is 4.8mm thick including the loop. It weighs 0.8g. Compare similar cufflinks BUC-E76AC2 and single elements BERK-F633CA, NARC-853675, BUC-F95239, IOW-E6DCF6, SF-A50FDD etc, all of which have been given dates of 1725-1800 AD.

NMS-105B02: KEY (LOCKING)
Small copper-alloy key, with the bit set at right angles to the bow. The bow is oval and has a small rounded knop opposite the circular-section stem. The stem has a double-ridged collar at the top, and tapers slightly to a pierced end. This end appears incomplete, and it is possible that some of the bit is missing too; it appears to have a cleft at the top of the rear edge and the bottom of the front edge. Grey-green patina. Length 34mm, width of bow 11mm, thickness including bit 9mm, weight 5.69g. The grey-green patina, and the orientation of the bit, extending from the side of the stem rather than the lower edge, both suggest a Roman date; compare SOM-391D25, HAMP-515186, etc.

NMS-22C16B: BULLA
Lead papal bulla, probably of Gregory IX (1227-41), cut across in antiquity and very worn since. Originally circular, the bulla has been chopped horizontally just beneath the upper line of text on the obverse. There is an off-centre vertical line of bending and cracking on the obverse, and a neat groove in the corresponding position on the reverse, suggesting that the cord has been removed either by bending and cracking open the bulla, or by cutting and the bulla later bending at this weak point. On the obverse, only the worn and damaged letters G R E can be seen, within a border of pellets. The letter between the G and E is now represented by a vertical downstroke only (looking like an I), as the rest of the letter has been worn away and obscured by the cracking of the metal along the vertical cord line. The reverse is similarly worn and, because of the chopping, the legend SPA SPE within a border of pellets is all that survives. The fragment measures 18.1mm long, 42.6mm across, and c. 3.5 mm thick; it weighs 19.645g (0.7oz). As the G and E are both worn, it is difficult to be certain that this is a bulla of Gregory IX (1227-41) rather than of Gregory X (1271-6). Two features, however, favour this interpretation. First, the ring of pellets around the edge of the obverse has three pellets directly above the E, whereas bullae of Gregory X fit four smaller pellets in this area. Second, there is a larger space between the pelleted borders and the edge of the bulla; bullae of Gregory IX all have a large outer blank area of the flan. Thus this bulla is cautiously attributed to the more common Gregory IX group. The cutting of the bulla is common, but normally is done vertically in half. A horizontal cut so high up the object, so that it is not a full half of the bulla, is unusual.

NMS-B8F268: LOCK
Tiny silver plate with key hole in centre. It is basically rectangular, 13.7mm wide and 14.3mm long, with the lower corners cut off to make short angled edges. It is decorated with an octagonal border consisting of a groove with counter-relief circles, each one of which has a tiny sunken crescent on top. The border is edged with a narrow groove to either side, but that on the outside is coincident with the edge and is almost invisible. The upper edge has been cut off, perhaps an original feature or perhaps a modification, along the inner edge of the border. The keyhole is only 4.0mm tall, and is surrounded by a similar narrow groove. The plate is flat, but at the bottom a side has been attached, perhaps with solder, to form a hollow box-like construction (but without a backplate) 2.9mm thick. The hollow interior of the lock has iron corrosion within it. On one of the angled corners, the edge turns out again to form a thin, flat sheet (again probably soldered to the side) which extends the line of the object slightly but which is then broken on all edges. This sheet fragment extending from the side gives a total maximum length of 15.4mm, width of 14.5mm, and thickness of 4.1mm. It weighs 1.2g. The decoration of circles with small engraved crescents is also found on cufflinks, such as one from Suffolk, NMS-CD4498, and a very worn example from Cambridgeshire, NARC-86C6EA, both dated to c. 1725-1800. A similar silver plate with keyhole is recorded at BERK-13A71A. It is possible that the object is part of a decorative locket, but perhaps more likely that it was a functional lock from something small, like a tea caddy. From the parallels, this object is likely to date to the mid to late 18th century. It is therefore less than 300 years old and does not fall within the provisions of the Treasure Act 1996.

NMS-96FA95: BUCKLE
Copper-alloy late medieval or early post-medieval buckle frame in the shape of a five-petalled rose, with the loop of a copper-alloy pin wrapped around the central bar. The frame is flat and shaped into five slightly projecting petals, each of which has rounded corners and either a straight or slightly incurved edge. The bar has a slim circular cross-section, 1.6 to 2.2mm in diameter, and the loop of the pin is flat and 2.5mm wide. The surface is corroded to a dull pale green with brown patches, and no relief decoration survives. Overall dimensions 26.0mm parallel to pin, 26.4mm perpendicular to this, and a maximum of 2.2mm thick. It weighs 3.1g. This shape of buckle frame is thought to allude to the Tudor dynasty, and should probably be dated to c. 1485-c. 1600.

NMS-97CB51: BUCKLE
Post-medieval copper-alloy buckle frame, both loops rectangular or slightly trapezoidal, flaring slightly from the central bar. The bar is narrower than the frame, and projects slightly beyond it. The frame has bevelled edges and sharp corners, and one loop is now bent up slightly, causing stress to the metal. Length 37.4mm, maximum width 30.6mm, width at bar 27.7mm, thickness 2.2mm, weight 7.3g. Compare Whitehead 2003, nos. 506 and 507. 16th or 17th century.

Half of a large copper-alloy post-medieval double-loop buckle frame, one loop missing with just stubs surviving (worn breaks). The surviving loop is oval, with a flat angled outside edge with traces of relief decoration. The circular-section bar projects slightly beyond the frame, and is now bent. Width 36.6mm, surviving length 26.1, weight 7.3g. Compare Whitehead 2003, no. 423, and BH-E6C73B; Whitehead dates them to c. 1550-c. 1650.

NMS-63B84D: UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT
Description: Pair of flat lozenge-shaped objects made from thin silver sheet, with engraved decoration. One is complete, with two acute angles cut off to make squared ends, and two more obtuse angles. The squared-off ends each have an oval perforation. Decoration comprises a border line along the straight edges and shaped to run around the inner edge of the perforations, with a series of short straight lines within. In the very centre is a small lozenge filled with cross-hatching; around this, parallel to the edges, are four pairs of short dashes. The obtuse angles each have short radiating dashes, making a sunburst pattern. This complete example is bent at the holes at either end, suggesting that they were used as links but have been wrenched apart. The second object has exactly the same decoration. One end is less bent and has an intact oval perforation, but the other end has been torn across at the perforation. The reverses of both objects are undecorated. Dimensions: Length of complete object, 19.3mm; width, 10.7mm; thickness, 0.4mm; weight, 0.6g. Surviving length of incomplete object, 18.4mm; width, 11.1mm; thickness, 0.4mm; weight, 0.5g. Discussion: These neatly made little objects appear to have no very close parallels in terms of their form, although they can perhaps be compared with NLM-5DA67A, an incomplete silver lozenge with a central strip of engraved criss-cross decoration. In contrast, the decorative style is known from other objects. Hand engraved linear borders and cross-hatched lozenges occur on spoons (IOW-8C65F7), thimbles (LEIC-EEA64D and SWYOR-405340) and; panels of cross-hatching and radiating dashes occur on bodkins (NMS-D9BAB1) and cufflinks (BUC-E76AC2 and SUSS-329742); also compare vervel WMID-80903E, hooked tag PAS-3BD8B2, and cosmetic set BERK-E69CA8. Date: The parallels cited date from the 16th to early18th centuries. The most likely date-range is perhaps in the second half of the 17th century or the first decades of the 18th, c. 1670-1720 AD.

NMS-63C0C5: HOOKED TAG
Description: Gilded silver composite hooked tag. It is made in at least four parts; a lozenge-shaped backplate, a soldered-on hook, a decorative three-dimensional front element, and a central rivet in the shape of a Tudor rose. All but the hook have neat relief decoration. The backplate is a symmetrical flat lozenge, with a raised edge which is decorated with a longitudinal median groove. It has a knop at each corner, the knop at the top now missing. In the centre of each edge is another knop, generally slightly smaller and decorated with radiating grooves, some of which appear worn. The reverse is flat and ungilded; two of the smaller knops, in the centres of the upper edges, have rough, hollowed reverses, where a loop (either soldered on, or cast in one piece) has broken off. Behind the lowest knop, a sturdy sharp hook has been soldered on; this has a wider rectangular-section end which tapers and thickens into the circular-section hook. The hook is ungilded, and is now bent to one side. The second element is cast in relief, and consists of four arms ending in trefoils, alternating with four shorter simple arms. The arms of the trefoils are decorated with median grooves, and the central arm overlaps the edge of the backplate, sitting slightly to the side of each of the knops. The frontplate is fixed to the backplate by a silver rivet with a neatly made and detailed head in the form of a five-petalled rose. All three of the relief-decorated elements are gilded, but much of the gilding has now worn off, but all Dimensions: Surviving length 25.2mm, width 22.2mm, thickness of plate including rivet 6.8mm, weight 5.6g. Discussion: As a lozengiform hooked tag with (originally) a transverse loop on the reverse, this hooked tag falls into Read's Class D, Type 3, but Read (2008) does not include any close parallel. On the PAS database there are several fairly close parallels, such as SF-05C16E, LVPL-45D51B, NMS-116943, NMS1677 and the incomplete WREX-2380E1 and LVPL-B16A24. None of these have five-petalled Tudor roses as a centrepiece, although there are hooked tags and hat-hooks of different design that use this motif such as ESS-E98B12, DENO-176938, SF-2B7792, YORYM-68E976, GLO-778714 Date: 16th century.

NMS-D53905: FINGER RING
Gold ring, probably a finger-ring of unknown date. It is made from thin gold strip, consistently 4.3-4.5mm wide and 0.6mm thick. It is flat on both faces, but more polished or worn on the exterior. There is no obvious seam but there is a slight tear on the inside in one place which might indicate a point of weakness at a join. When found, it was flattened, but has since been bent out to its present irregular shape. It fits neatly and comfortably on a finger, and is approximately 20mm in external diameter. It weighs 2.3g. The ring does not obviously appear modern but there is no evidence of ancient date. As it cannot be securely dated to pre-1722, it falls outside the provisions of the Treasure Act 1996.

NMS-583EA6: STRAP FITTING
Enamelled copper-alloy circular mount or strap fitting. It is roughly 22mm in diameter and 2.7mm thick, but has a bar on the flat reverse which measures 3.75mm wide, with a broken stub projecting towards the rear at each end, suggesting that there may originally have been a rectangular strap loop on the reverse. This bar is very slightly longer than the diameter, bringing the width up to 24.3mm. The front is slightly convex, and has the remains of enamel decoration; there is a blue background around a five-lobed shape or five-petalled flower. The flower has lost its enamel, leaving a corroded copper-alloy surface, but there are traces of red enamel along the lines between the petals and around a central circle. Maximum thickness 7.0mm, weight 6.9g. The technique of enamelling in different colours with no cell wall between suggests a Limoges product or at least an object in the Limoges style; compare FAKL-713547. The design can be paralleled on other medieval and early post-medieval objects, such as WAW-54B266and FAKL-A92BBB, but the bar across the reverse is difficult to explain except with a Roman date (see SF-8498A5 OR NCL-7F13A4).

NMS-8001AD: UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT
Unidentified object made from silver (ungilded, despite the colour in the photograph). The upper part was originally hemispherical, but is now crushed. It is decorated with a ring-and-dot design which is in fact closer to a repoussé pellet within a double circular groove. In between are meandering lines of rocker-arm or wriggle-work, with pairs of parallel lines forming strapwork in places. The hemispherical upper part has a ridge at its rim, then a separate soldered-on collar made from similar silver sheet. This is undecorated except for a slighter ridge near its open edge. There is a very similar item recorded at SWYOR-4D00F0. The function is uncertain, but may be a decorative mount from the top of a cane or riding crop. Both are thought at present to date from the 18th or 19th centuries, and so do not qualify as potential Treasure under the Treasure Act 1996.

NMS-D3682E: SEAL MATRIX
Copper-alloy seal matrix with hexagonally faceted conical handle rising to a flattened rounded pierced top with no collar; height 18.7mm. Hexagonal die measuring 15.2mm edge to edge and 16.0mm corner to corner, engraved with a central motif of a six-point star made from three interlocking double-strand triangles (Star of David) orientated with each corner towards a corner of the matrix. In the centre of the star is an engraved motif which appears to be possibly a bird seen in profile right (on the impression) with its head turned to look backwards. In the angles between the corners of the star's points are single symbols or letters, reading * LEL SV (I am loyal). The die has a beaded edge, apparently worn away at each corner. 4,8g. 14th century.

NMS-D3F648: FINGER RING
Post-medieval copper-alloy signet ring. The hoop is biconvex in cross-section, 4.0mm wide directly opposite the bezel and 2.0mm thick here. It then narrows slightly to either side, to a minimum of 3.2mm on one side and 3.4mm on the other, and 1.7mm thick, before flaring out to triangular shoulders and a flat oval bezel. The bezel measures 14.4mm wide and is about 16mm long. It has a grooved, slightly beaded border around a stylised, cartoon-like bird drawn with short strokes, perhaps a cockerel. It is seen in three-quarter view looking right on the object, left on an impression. The bird has a rounded body, long neck, and long straight tail; the wings are held out and curve up then down. There are long legs ending in large splayed feet; each leg has a dot behind it, perhaps indicating a spur. Although the head is difficult to see (perhaps worn) it seems to have a curving beak. External diameter 21.0mm, length from top of bezel to the other side of the hoop 20.6mm. Weight 5.8g. This is a relatively small signet ring and seems quite worn. The design seems 17th- or 18th-century in style; compare HESH-562057. It may be a rebus for the surname Cock or Cox.

NMS-D44EE6: SUNDIAL
Fragment of copper-alloy pocket sundial. It consists of a rectangular strip of copper alloy 11.5mm wide, bent into a curve and broken at both ends (slightly worn breaks). About a third of a ring of c. 30mm diameter (perhaps distorted) survives. The outer face has a central longitudinal rectangular-section recess, with engraved capital letters between setting-out grooves above and below the recess. These letters should be the initial letters of the twelve months, but they are worn and very hard to read. The inner face has four fine longitudinal setting-out grooves which are crossed at one end by three parallel and slightly oblique lines. Within both sets of lines are two lines of numbers which appear to have been punched. The upper line reads 1 2 and the lower 11 10; the number 12 is set in the otherwise empty line between, a little to the left. The metal is 1.7mm thick at most, and the fragment weighs 5.0g. From parallels (e.g. LEIC-06DBA9 and SWYOR-78BDC6) this fragment is likely to have broken at a slot within the central recess. They consisted of two parts, this and a sliding ring, which would be adjusted and hung from a loop to allow the position of the sun to shine through a hole to give an approximate time. This type dates to the 17th or 18th century.

NMS-D4A253: BROOCH
Foot of an early Anglo-Saxon copper-alloy small-long brooch, now very worn. The fragment is broken at the bottom of the bow (very worn break) and consists of the flat panel and terminal. The flat panel is 8.1mm at the top and tapers slightly downwards. It has narrow bevelled edges and the remains of a high polish, but no discernable decoration except for a fine transverse groove at the top, at the junction with the missing bow. On the reverse is a catchplate, now missing its curl but set slightly to the right (as viewed from the reverse) to allow for a left-hand curl. There is iron corrosion staining the surface on the left-hand side of the catchplate, and again traces of a glossy polish. The junction of flat panel and terminal is marked on the front with two square relief mouldings divided by a broad transverse groove; the brooch is 6.5mm wide here. The remains of five fine transverse grooves are visible at the sides of each moulded panel, but they are worn away in the centre. Below these mouldings, the terminal is flat and flares slightly before the sides curve out to form a T-shaped end 24.1mm wide. This is now asymmetric, with the right-hand side (viewed from the front) longer and squarer than the other, but this may be the result of wear. The flared end of the terminal is worn and corroded, but there are traces of double-crescent stamps in the upper curve to the right-hand side, and similar stamps (or possibly half-ring and dot stamps) along the very bottom of the brooch. The reverse of the terminal has a greyish patina and the whole brooch may originally have been tinned. Surviving length 45.7mm, surviving thickness from back of catchplate to front of relief panel 7.8mm, weight 8.1g. Similar terminals are found on small-long brooches from Lincolnshire (LIN-93123A) and Oxfordshire (BERK-20E8A4). They date from c. 450 to c. 550 AD.

NMS-D4F278: STRAP END
Copper-alloy strap-end of unusual form. It consists of a rounded or heart-shaped plate which is split for almost all its length to hold the strap. One half is missing (old break) but the other, probably the front, survives complete. It has low-relief openwork decoration with minute traces of gilding in the recesses. The design is symmetrical, with an outer frame containing six central rounded lobes (two vertical rows of three each). The central lobes each have a pair of tendrils or spokes emerging from them to join the outer frame, forming three holes down either side. The top pair may have been used as rivet holes. In addition, there are small solid side projections where the surviving frontplate and missing backplate join. The plate takes up about half of the strap-end's length, and below this is a long pointed circular-section terminal which may have been intended as an animal head; it is now very worn, but has a collar above mouldings that might be ears and a brow. Surviving length 40.2mm, width of plate 18.5mm, maximum thickness (at top of terminal, just below collar) 5.9mm, weight 6.8g. Compare the very similar but more complete WMID-6C0EF1, with an extra projecting loop at the top which has probably broken off in this example. This was thought to be an unusual version of a Thomas Class G strap-end, but on these the openwork element is the terminal. The symmetrical branching shape, and the gilding, may instead suggest an early post-medieval date.

NMS-B821E8: BROOCH
Copper-alloy headstud brooch of Roman date, with hinged pin and enamel inlay. It is now corroded, but the details are reasonably clear. The wings are short and rectangular; they are worn and incomplete, but two vertical (transverse) ridges remain on the right-hand wing as viewed from the front. On the reverse of the wings there is a tube holding a copper-alloy axis bar, and the stub of a copper-alloy pin hinges in a slot in the centre of the tube. On top of the head is a circular chain loop, now broken. The bow tapers smoothly to the bottom, where there is a footknob. At the top of the bow is a stud consisting of a pellet within a circular ridge; below this are five square or rectangular cells filled with blue enamel, alternating with empty cells which may once have contained enamel, making eleven cells in all. The footknob has a pair of grooves dividing it from the rest of the bow. On the reverse of the lower bow are the remains of the catchplate, with a slight curve to the left (as viewed from the reverse). The brooch is now bent. Current length is c. 37mm, width at wings 15.3mm, weight 8.9g. Mackreth (2011) illustrates three similar examples, nos. 7196 (with spring), 7229 and 11860. The last of these, no. 11860, is very close, with the same number of cells on the bow and a similar lack of decoration on the head between the wings and the stud. It falls into Mackreth's Headstud type 4, which he dates to the half-century between 75 and 125 AD; he comments that most are from the east of England south of the Humber, and north of Essex (2011, 107). Worrall (2016) notes that the sprung form is more common north of the Wash, and the hinged form more common further south.

NMS-B88A6E: BRIDLE BIT
Complete copper-alloy cheekpiece of late early-medieval date, now in three pieces. The plate is lozengiform, with an incurved lower edge and a central circular perforation c. 11mm in diameter across which the cheekpiece is broken. There is one arm, with a prominent squarish boss; the arm has a sub-square end with a D-shaped perforation forming a loop with a small triangular solid area at each upper corner. There are two side projections, each long and tapering with low rounded bosses half way along and at the rounded ends. The reverse is flat. The surface is now a rough brown and no decoration survives. Total length c. 44mm, width c. 69mm, maximum thickness 5.8mm, weight 19.6g. This object fits into Williams's Type 2, with long tapering projections (Williams 2007, 2-3), but the engraved ornament usually found on these is either lacking or has worn away. Compare similar examples at HAMP-2E86B2, WMID-CF5AA7, etc. They date to the 11th century. .

NMS-B9F566: MOUNT
Copper-alloy Roman mount. It is basically drop-shaped, with the rounded end torn and incomplete, although relatively little seems to be missing. There is an almost spherical knob at the pointed end; this knob has a small flattened area on the reverse. The rest of the mount is convex and hollow-backed, with an integral rivet ending in a neat transverse rectangular rove. It measures 23.0mm in surviving length, 13.0mm in maximum width and 10.6mm in thickness including the rivet; it weighs 2.5g. There is a good parallel at BH-D710F4, which also has the T-shaped rivet. As both also have the torn rounded end, they may be part of larger objects similar to (for example) BH-38B407.

NMS-BA656C: BUCKLE
Post-medieval copper-alloy asymmetric double-loop buckle frame with much iron corrosion, probably from a plate. One loop is rectangular, the other D-shaped. From what can be seen through the iron corrosion, the rectangular loop has slim edges, and at least the outside edge is decorated with a median groove, with short transverse grooves running outwards to the edge, forming a ladder pattern or sequence of squares. The D-shaped loop has thicker edges, with a relatively small D-shaped hole. The outside edge extends to form a long triangular projection with three neat circular perforations. Outside these is again a border groove with shorter grooves running from it to the edge, but this time the short grooves are oblique. The two loops meet at a bar, which projects slightly beyond the frame; both loops are angled up slightly about the bar. The bar is completely covered with the iron corrosion, which extends beyond the frame past the rectangular end. The length of the copper-alloy frame is 28.9mm and the iron extends the total length to 31.3mm; the frame is 14.1mm wide and just 1.9mm thick. The complete object weighs 4.4g. It has proved difficult to find a close parallel to this buckle. It is presumably related to the group of asymmetric buckle frames with triangular openwork lobes projecting from their D-shaped loops, such as WAW-AD2DC4 and KENT-85C6BB (Whitehead 2003, no. 593). Some of these have decorated outside edges to their rectangular loops. Another smaller group of buckles has a long decorated outside edge, sometimes with openwork; compare NMS-EE40D5 and WAW-0B1D9C (Whitehead 2003, no. 586). All of these date broadly to the 17th century, with Whitehead quoting a date-range of 1575-1700 AD.

NMS-BAB152: HARNESS MOUNT
Copper-alloy shield-shaped harness mount, probably originally enamelled. It has a straight top and sides curving to a point, and has heraldic decoration within a narrow raised border which probably served to keep the enamel in place. The heraldry is simple and consists of a cross engrailed. On the reverse, in the centre, is a stub of broken-off worn-down or ground-down integral rivet. Next to this is a secondary circular hole 3.2mm in diameter, showing repair or modification for re-use. The mount is 42.1mm long, 35.3mm wide and 2.5mm thick away from the stub of rivet. It weighs 17.1g. A cross engrailed appears on the arms of the Ufford family (Sable a cross engrailed Or). Compare pendants NMS-434AA4, SF-833BCB and SF-FEEB23, and mount SF-83310A, where the cross is also reserved against coloured enamel. They date broadly to the 14th century.

NMS-EAFD04: CROSS
Copper-alloy enamelled and gilded mount from a processional cross in very good condition. It is flat and T-shaped, depicting the eagle of St John. The wider end or bar of the T is at the top, with rectangular corners to the top of the bar but rounded concave corners below, curving in to a narrower stem. Around three edges, but not the narrow base, is a border of pale blue-green enamel with inset gilded squares forming a kind of ladder pattern; within this is a very narrow gilded inner border. The base has a crescent shape of mid blue shading to white enamel, with a dark green centre, now mostly missing. From the centre rises the long neck and slender upright wings of the eagle. These have engraved detail including grooves along the wings and a pointed-oval eye, and are gilded against a dark blue enamel background. The eagle's head is turned so that it is in profile looking right, with curved beak. Above the head are two spots of red enamel in a crescent of dark blue-black, and then this and the head is surrounded by a circle of green, shading out into an encircling yellow halo or nimbus. Above the head are two circles side by side, now rather poorly preserved and with lost centres. Originally they appear to have had raised gilded borders, with different coloured enamel rings within; white enamel shading into blue within and then dark green on the left, and yellow enamel shading into green within and then dark blue on the right. There are four circular rivet holes, two below and outside the wings and the other pair in the upper corners between the coloured rings and the border. The plate is now slightly bent. The reverse is undecorated, with patches of grey-black and red-brown corrosion. It measures 57.7mm wide, 55.9mm long and c. 2.5mm thick, and weighs 32.7g. The technique of shading or fading one enamel colour into another with no intervening metal edge to the field is characteristic of the Limoges workshops (active c. 1100-1350 AD). This mount would originally have been one of a set of four bearing the evangelist symbols, fixed to a crucifix, perhaps to the reverse. Those showing St John are conventionally (as here) the uppermost mount; compare NMS-0241D8, SOM-D7A414 and WAW-2EF3A7. Two of these St John cross mounts (although rather different in style) are published in the Metropolitan Museum's catalogue of Limoges-style enamels, and given late 12th-century dates; see Boehm and Taburet-Delahaye 1996, pp. 233, 235. It seems likely that Limoges-style crosses or crucifixes were in use in England in the 13th century, and some of them may have been made in England rather than in Limoges.

NMS-79B0CD: PENDANT
Description: Incomplete gold pendant of 7th-century date. Probably originally mushroom-shaped or pelta-shaped, about two-thirds now survives; the missing third includes the suspension loop. It consists of a thin flat backplate with beaded wires soldered to it. The original edge has a very worn beaded wire, and the centre point is marked by a loose anti-clockwise spiral beaded wire. This is flanked by a pair of lines making an inverted V shape; each line is made up of a thicker central beaded wire leading from the border wire andsurrounded by a long U of thinner beaded wire. The pendant is broken next to the right-hand line, but on the other side a circular hole comes next (with no wire border) with two further similar triple-strand lines, one springing again from the edge and the other set at a right angle to the first. This then meets a single length of wire bent into a drop shape, into which the border wire merges. Dimensions: 19 x 14mm, 1.12g. Discussion and Date: This pendant can be compared with a group of mushroom- or pelta-shaped pendants found in women's graves of the late 6th and 7th century AD. Gold filigree-decorated examples include YORYM-DF4851, DENO-E601A3, and an example from Gilton, Kent (MacGregor and Bolick 1993, no. 24.10); silver examples include one from Finglesham grave 57 and another from Buckland Dover grave 29, both in Kent. These tend to be hung with the curved edge uppermost, which seems not to have been the case for this one.

NMS-AD8C38: BROOCH
Fragment of late Iron Age or early Roman copper-alloy brooch, probably a Nauheim or Nauheim derivative. It consists of a flat, triangular bow, now a little bent, tapering from 7.5mm wide at the top with straight sides to a pointed tip with a tiny upturned bump. There is a groove down the centre and either edge; all the grooves peter out before the end of the brooch, and the side grooves have hints of ribbing or beading or punched decoration. Although the foot of the brooch appears complete, as there is absolutely no hint of a catchplate on the smooth reverse, it may be broken and worn very smooth. At the top, a central projection (the stub of the spring and pin) emerges and curves forward before ending in a worn break. The fragment is 34.8mm long and weighs The thickness of the bow varies between 0.8mm at the wider part, to 1.3mm thick at the foot just above the bump. It weighs 1.0g. This is likely to be either a Nauheim or a Nauheim derivative brooch. Although there is not enough surviving to be entirely sure which, the decoration suggests a Nauheim; compare Mackreth (2011) nos. 3936 and 3946 (Nauheims) and 3961 (Nauheim derivative), and on the PAS database, PUBLIC-4CBC3E and NMS-119D4A (Nauheims) and KENT-A13D7A (Nauheim derivative). Nauheim brooches date from c. 50 BC to c. 50 AD, and the derivatives from c. 10 AD to c. 100 AD.

NMS-AE3E72: BRACELET
Copper-alloy fragment, probably part of a late Roman bracelet (late 3rd or 4th century) with hook-and-eye fastening. Both ends are broken; the wider end is pointed-oval in cross-section, 8.1 x 4.9mm, with the outer surface faceted or strongly curved and the inner more gently curved. The break here is fresh. The fragment then tapers to a point, and flattens before thickening again at the point. In side view, the point is broken across a side-to-side perforation or possible hook; the breaks here are very worn, making it hard to distinguish between a break and an original edge. The fragment is decorated with a widely spaced pair of transverse grooves just behind the broken loop, and a pair of punched dots between the grooves; the effect is that of an animal head. Length of fragment as bent 20.6mm, weight 2.6g. Roman hook-and-eye bracelets normally have a loop or eye made from front to back rather than side to side, suggesting that this may be part of the hook end rather than the eye end. Compare BUC-3116A2.

NMS-AEAC9D: UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT
Fragment of flat copper-alloy plate, 1.3mm thick and approximately rectangular, 23 x 12 mm. One face is smooth and the other rougher. One long edge is cut into with four V-shaped notches, larger at one end and getting smaller towards the other. The other long edge has a partial circle (c. 6mm diameter) cut out of the corner closer to the smaller notches. Other edges appear to be broken (worn breaks). The zig-zag serrations are very slightly bevelled or rounded, on the smoother face only. There is a green patina and the object appears of some age, although precise date and function are unknown. It weighs 1.49g.

NMS-B63A45: BROOCH
Description: Fragment of gilded silver wide equal-arm brooch of early Anglo-Saxon date. It is thick, flat and roughly triangular, with one long straight edge, a complete corner, and the other original edge having a slight S curve which runs down to a tiny fragment of forward-projecting bow. This surviving part represents about half of the headplate of the brooch, and its front is decorated with a deeply engraved pattern which partly consists of a Greek key pattern, an angular interlace of interlocking squares. Gilding survives in the grooves. As the object tapers into the corner the key pattern is replaced by less regular, more wavy lines outlining relief curves. The curving edge is bordered by a groove. The bow tapers sharply but is quickly broken by a fracture which joins another at an angle, removing nearly half of the headplate; the breaks are fresh. The reverse has a short lug, looking like a brooch fixing, perpendicular to the complete straight edge, with a large patch of lumpy matt solder around it. The break is across what appears to be a drilled hole, suggesting that it was a pin bar lug. The positioning of the lug, quite close to the edge of the bow, suggests that it was one of two lugs; this arrangement is common on equal-arm brooches. Dimensions: Width across surviving headplate, 23mm. Length perpendicular to this, 14.4mm. Thickness 6mm. Weight 2.4g. Discussion: The size and shape, with straight top edge and curving side to tapering bow, can be compared with other relief-decorated wide equal-arm brooches such as SF-F10E65. Running spiral decoration is common on these brooches, but the Greek key (which is effectively an angular version of the running spiral) is unusual; a more angular design is found on brooches of Wehden type (e.g. Bruns 2003, fig. 36) but it is not the fully fledged design seen here. Date: Fifth century, perhaps c. 420-480 AD.

NMS-938FA7: VESSEL
Openwork hook-escutcheon from an early-medieval hanging bowl. Made from cast copper alloy, it consists of the hook and a fragment of plate. The plate was originally oval in shape with a central bar. The central bar is trapezoidal in cross-section, 3.8mm wide and 3.0mm thick at the break, with median groove. It runs up straight from the unworn break to a junction with the hook and a curving outer frame. One side of this frame is almost completely missing (an older break) but the other is trapezoidal in cross-section (4.6 x 2.9mm at the break) and also has a central longitudinal groove and a fresh break. The grooves meet at the junction of the bars, and form a lozenge which extends up onto the circular-section neck of the hook, which curves outwards, upwards and in again to end in a very stylised animal head. There are no decorative features visible (detail may be masked by corrosion) but the head is D-shaped in cross-section and has an upper jaw with a flat inner which would have fitted well onto the flat rim of the bowl. The lower jaw is considerably shorter. The whole object is corroded and it is hard to distinguish corrosion from possible solder. Surviving length 41.8mm, width c. 22mm, weight 9.1g. This mount or escutcheon is clearly from the same bowl as mount NMS-20B3C6, although the two do not join and must represent two different mounts. They combine to show that the mounts were oval in shape with a central bar running from the hook to a flat trefoil at the base, and were c. 67mm long and c. 32mm wide, with the hook taking up c. 25mm of the length. Openwork escutcheons were considered by Bruce-Mitford to be a large, coherent group (2005, 20-22) but this example does not conform very well. It is perhaps most like the circular openwork mounts with tripartite bases from Capheaton, Northumberland; these have flat decorated frames and were thought to have once had additional central discs (Bruce-Mitford 2005, no. 70; p. 227). It is possible that the Winfarthing example also had additional decorative elements held in place behind the openwork frame. The oval shape with trefoil base is paralleled among the 'long' escutcheon shapes, sometimes called 'bird' shapes; these can have circular, triangular or D-shaped 'tails' at the base (compare a bowl from St Paul in the Bail, Lincoln; Bruce-Mitford 2005, no. 53). On the PAS database, there are a few other parallels. SWYOR-61B8E2 seems to be a fragment of an openwork escutcheon with slender bars and median grooves, but also with enamelled decoration; YORYM-2DCE3A has a similar long hook and slender frame, although this is more likely to have had an additional decorated element within. The slender construction makes attachment by solder difficult, and the central bar would make the addition of a central mount problematic. Although there are no particularly good parallels, it is likely to be 7th century in date.

NMS-A2F957: CATCH
Small copper-alloy catch from a box or bag, of 7th-century date. It is now incomplete, but would originally have been symmetrical, with a rounded lobe at either end (one now missing). The surviving rounded end is 6.4mm in diameter and flat, 1.4mm thick, pierced to take a separate copper-alloy rivet which has a large, low-domed head and circular-section shaft (total length of rivet 7.2mm). In between, the rest of the object is T-shaped in section, with a rib down the centre bringing the maximum thickness of the plate to 3.5mm. All three edges (the two sides and the top of the rib) are decoratively shaped into a double curve with a V-shaped nick at the centre. Surviving length 20.9mm, weight 1.3g. Probably originally identical to (but better preserved than) NMS-88B788, which is from the same site (40m to the south) and very probably from the same box or bag. These small catches often have one end pierced for a rivet, and the other end with a cut-out to form a hook. Sixteen examples were listed in a sample of 1093 furnished graves studied in the 1990s (Geake 1995, chapter 4.38.2); their distribution is wide, from Kent to Yorkshire. They were identified as box fittings by Lethbridge (1931, 48) but their association with decoratively perforated leather at Bekesbourne in Kent and with textile at Painsthorpe Wold in East Yorkshire shows that they are more likely to be from flexible bags or pouches. There are now at least 26 examples on the PAS database. From associated grave-goods they appear to date from the mid to late 7th century.

NMS-9412B2: CHAIN
Copper-alloy figure-8 chain link with traces of iron in each link, of 7th-century date. It is apparently cast in one piece, with each half being drop-shaped and joined at the points. The cross-section is rounded, and there is iron staining at either end and, on the reverse, in the centre. Length 20.5mm, width of loops 8.1 and 7.5mm, thickness 3.0mm (without iron corrosion) to 5.1mm (with iron); weight 1.4g. Solid cast chain links in a figure-of-eight shape are known from 7th-century Anglo-Saxon chatelaines and 'workboxes', such as that from Didcot grave 12 (Boyle et al 1995, 228). Compare NMS-20E1A3, NMS-829655, NMS-FDD8D1, NMS-5797E7, SOM-4AABED, SF-A35C62.

NMS-A5B284: BUCKLE
Copper-alloy buckle plate made from a single piece of sheet folded in half to form a sub-triangular shape, with a gap at the fold for the frame and a rectangular slot cut for the pin. The slot is 4.6mm wide, and is placed off centre; the smaller hinge loop is now broken (worn break). The plate is long, tapering from the fold and rounded at the apex where there is a single corroded iron rivet. It has a pale green surface and no decoration. Length 23.6mm, width 12.0mm, weight 1.7g. Such a simple buckle plate is difficult to date, but the lack of frame recesses may indicate an early-medieval date and the small size is characteristic of the 7th century AD. Compare NMS-640970.

NMS-A7F711: UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT
Cast copper-alloy handle from an iron knife, razor or spatula. One end is sub-rectangular, 20.0mm wide, 8.8mm long and 5.5mm thick. There is a groove along the outer edge on both faces, but any other decoration is obscured by a lot of pitting where a corroded surface has been lost. The far side of the object has a scar from the iron blade; there is a tiny stub at each end, and a slim rectangular scar between measuring about 13mm long and 2mm thick. The iron is not obvious, but a magnet is attracted to the entire object, particularly at this end. The other long edge of this rectangular area has rounded corners and curves in and out again into a central baluster-like shaft, decorated with a central moulding flanked by a pair of horizontal circumferential grooves. The moulding is oval in cross-section (9.5mm wide and 8.4mm thick) and is decorated with vertical grooves or possibly, in some places, vertical lines of dots, but again much of the surface is missing. Behind this, the shaft tapers again and then flares into a tripartite or trilobate terminal, basically a transversely set oval shape 17.5mm wide and 5mm thick, with two semi-circular cut-outs at the very end. This terminal is decorated on both faces with an elaborate cast ring-and-dot motif consisting of a central dot surrounded by two concentric relief rings with a raised zig-zag between them. The total length of the handle is 34.4mm, width 20.0mm, thickness 8.4mm. It weighs 13.5g. It seems likely that this is Roman, and a handle from a knife, razor or spatula for wax, but parallels are difficult to find. The slim rectangular cross-section of the iron blade might imply that it was a spatula handle, but there is nothing similar in Feugère 1995. Two objects with some similarities have been identified as razor handles, WMID-386EA3 and NMS-B67731, both have three knops or lobes at their ends, but both also have stamped decoration and neither has the baluster moulding.

NMS-A48FB5: BROOCH
Foot from a copper-alloy Roman brooch, 33.0mm long. It is pointed-oval in cross-section, and tapers from 6.1mm wide and 2.9mm thick at the break (neither worn nor very fresh) to 3.5mm wide just above the bottom, and then tapers more steeply to a point. The front is decorated with three longitudinal grooves, one in the centre (which peters out about two-thirds of the way down) and one at either edge. On the reverse, at the bottom, is a solid triangular plate, the remains of the catchplate; the curled-over return is missing, but what survives brings the total thickness up to 8.2mm. The object has a brown patina and weighs 2.5g. It is probably a Colchester derivative, 1st or 2nd century AD.

NMS-A54B1C: RING
Cast copper-alloy ring. It is corroded, 22mm in diameter externally and 13.7mm internally, with an oval cross-section which tapers from a maximum of 4.5mm wide x 3.9mm thick to a minimum of 3.5mm wide x 3.7mm thick opposite this. It weighs 4.8g and has a grey smooth surface in patches beneath pale green hard, rough corrosion. It appears similar in character to hanging-bowl mounts NMS-938FA7 and NMS-20B3C6, found close by, and could have come from the same bowl, but plain rings have a variety of possible uses and this is conjectural. A date in the 7th century is possible, perhaps probable, given the other finds from the field.

NMS-A57DE1: RING
Neatly made copper-alloy ring. The ring has a circular cross-section, 2.6mm diameter around most of the circumference, but has an internal notch at two points opposite each other, taking the thickness of the ring here down to 1.4mm. The notches may be due to wear, but are neat and the ring may have been intentionally made with them. One has a pair of tiny nicks next to it on the external surface. There is a grey, polished surface obscured in places by pale green corrosion and brown iron staining. It measures 20.8mm externally between the narrower areas and 20.1mm externally at right angles to this, and weighs 2.2g. Date and function are hard to pin down, but it looks Roman to medieval.

NMS-A83C31: BUCKLE
Piece of decorated copper-alloy sheet, probably part of a buckle plate. It is sub-square, 17.6mm wide and 15.9mm long, and made from sheet just 0.6mm thick; it weighs 0.6g. One face is decorated with about eight ring-and-dot motifs, and there is a circular rivet hole in the best-surviving corner. Roughly in the centre of the opposite side is a rectangular slot 2.2mm wide, which could be a pin slot. It is hard to know if any edge is completely original, but it is currently approximately the right size and shape to be a plate from a small early Anglo-Saxon buckle. Compare, for example, the buckles in Norton Grave 35 and Polhill Grave 65 (Marzinzik 2003, pls. 116 and 136).

NMS-A85BCA: ROVE
Small square piece of copper-alloy sheet, probably a rove. It measures 9.7 x 7.9mm, and varies in thickness from 0.7mm at one edge to 0.5mm at others; it weighs 0.3g. There is an off-centre circular hole, 1.6mm in diameter, which has been pushed through from the slightly concave front to the slightly convex reverse. There is no decoration. It could be a fragment of a larger object, but is quite neatly shaped, so may be a complete rove from a rivet. Separate sheet roves are commonest in the medieval period, but are used from Roman times onwards.

NMS-A920BD: UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT
Sub-square piece of copper-alloy sheet, now bent at a slight angle across. It measures 38mm long (parallel to the bend) and at least 36.5mm wide, and has a circular hole 3.7mm in diameter at one corner. This and one adjacent corner are neat right angles, and the sides are also neat here, but two other sides are more ragged. There is no obvious decoration. The sheet is 1.2mm thick and a pale green colour with patches of a corroded surface; it weighs 9.3g. Function unknown, but likely to be of Roman to medieval date.

NMS-A4099C: BUCKLE
Small oval copper-alloy buckle frame, probably of 7th-century date, complete with pin. The frame measures 17.8mm wide and 9.2mm long, and most of it has a circular or oval cross-section. This is thickest in the centre of the outside edge, where it brings the maximum thickness to 3.3mm. It then tapers smoothly to the top and bottom before stepping down on one face only to a much thinner oval-section bar, just 1.7mm thick. On this bar is a copper-alloy pin, one end wrapped into a tight loop and the other curved to drape neatly over the outside edge. The cross-section of the pin at the loop is square, but along the shaft is D-shaped; the junction between the two has a neat but tiny rectangular moulding, with a couple of facets cut out of each side to give a square effect next to the loop and a flared triangle towards the shaft. The pin is 11.9mm long and the loop and moulding bring the maximum thickness up to 4.9mm. It weighs 1.7g. This type of small oval buckle is a type-fossil of 7th century burials, although it can occur occasionally in Anglo-Saxon graves earlier than this. The moulding on the pin is unusual.

NMS-A4D828: BROOCH
Copper-alloy Roman brooch of headstud type, now bent and very worn, of late 1st- or 2nd-century date. The rectangular-section wings are short and stubby, and taper to worn, broken ends; they have some vertical grooved or stepped decoration on the front, and a slim tube on the reverse which retains the copper-alloy axis bar. A fragment of copper-alloy pin loop survives in an off-centre slot. On top of the wings is a long rectangular moulding, probably the worn remains of a chain loop, and below this the bow emerges, rectangular in cross-section at first but quickly tapering and rounding to a D-shaped cross-section. The underside of the rectangular-section area is hollowed. At the junction of rectangular and D-shaped cross-sections is a rounded bump, the remains of a headstud moulding, and the front of the bow below this has traces of perhaps 7 or 8 lozengiform cells, originally for enamel, but this is now missing. The foot of the brooch is missing (worn break) and the end of the bow has been bent upwards towards the back of the head. Surviving width of wings 16.9mm, surviving length as bent 21.3mm, weight 7.5g.

NMS-A5D7A9: STRAP FITTING
Possible strap-fitting made from a strip of copper-alloy sheet folded in half, with a single rivet hole (diameter 2.4mm) at the open end. The strip tapers very slightly from 10.2mm wide at the open end, where it is c. 3mm thick, to 8.7mm at the closed end, which has a wide, rounded fold bringing the thickness to 5.7mm. It weighs 3.6g. There is no obvious decoration, although there is a roughly circular patch of corrosion around the rivet hole on one face. It has a dark grey patina underlying a mottled dark green surface. This cannot be a conventional buckle plate because there is no slot or hole for the pin, but it could be a strap-end or a plate from a strap-connector. It is difficult to date, but is probably Roman to medieval.

NMS-A9A693: KNIFE
Cast copper-alloy near-complete object, probably part of a knife handle. Made from cast copper alloy, one end is a short hollow tube, retaining some of the original edge at this end. In cross-section this end is heptagonal or seven-sided, with a narrow facet at the top and sides, and a pointed base. The junction between this and the other, flatter end is marked on either side with a ridge marking out a hexagon. In the centre of this, the cross-section is angled in and the base flares out, resulting in a long cross-section the shape of a knife blade, with a narrow flat top and sides curving to a sharp point. Again, some of the original edge survives at this end, showing that the length of 28.5mm is likely to be original. It wieghs 9.8g. The seven-sided handle end measures 15.6mm deep and 13.0mm wide, and the longer narrow blade end measures 19.2mm deep and 6.4mm wide. It would have functioned as hilt-plates or a bolster act, to protect the end of the (perhaps wooden) handle and the start of the iron blade. Similar objects are recorded on the PAS database at SF-099ED5 and SUSS-D11FE2. The likely date is 15th or 16th century, as the forged bolster was introduced in the late 16th century making solutions such as these obsolete.

NMS-11573E: BROOCH
Medieval copper-alloy annular brooch with circular frame 26mm in diameter. The frame is rectangular in cross-section, 3.1mm thick and 4.3mm wide, and is decorated on the front with a pseudo-inscription. This is divided into alternating panels with geometric grooves resembling lettering, and eight zones of fine rocker-arm engraving. There is a narrow pin constriction in one rocker-arm panel, in which a slender copper-alloy pin survives complete. It has a loop with butt joint at the end opposite the shaft, and a tapering D-section shaft. There is a ridged collar at the junction of loop and shaft, found both on the reverse (where it is larger) and on the front. It weighs 6.2g. It is smaller and thicker than Egan and Pritchard 1991, no. 1313, but otherwise quite similar; this was found in a context of c. 1270-1350. For other similar brooches with false lettering, see SF-25CD53, NARC-A9B613, etc. They date to the 13th or 14th centuries.

NMS-11E104: STRAP FITTING
17th-century copper-alloy mount from a sword belt, now missing a hook or loop. It has a flared end shaped into two concave curves or zig-zags forming a W shape, with a central vertical groove running down the front, interrupted by an iron rivet close to either end. The straight sides taper to a small V-shaped cut-out on either edge, above a semi-circular cut-out giving the effect of a pair of back-to-back crescents. Below these is a possible third iron rivet, at which the object is broken. On the reverse, there is a thickened square of copper alloy just above the break. Surviving length 41.2mm, width 20.4mm, thickness at break 4.0mm, weight 8.3g. Compare the very similar NMS-FD8A35, and two published by Read (2008, 217-218, nos. 782 & 783).

NMS-10EB32: HARNESS PENDANT
Copper-alloy medieval horse-harness pendant, now very worn and corroded. The body of the pendant is flat and oval, 28.7mm long and 32.4mm wide. The loop at the top brings the overall length to 37.8mm, and thickness to 6.5mm; it has a circular side-to-side perforation. The pendant is decorated on the front with an unclear asymmetric pattern of wide curves, possibly a bird or animal; compare Ashley 2002, nos. 187 and 188.

NMS-987C7B: PIN
Copper-alloy and iron object, probably a Roman pin. It consists of a near-spherical grey-green copper-alloy head, 10.5mm in diameter and slightly flattened, with an area of iron corrosion projecting from one side which could be the remains of an iron shaft. On the opposite side is a flattened circular patch of iron, c. 4mm in diameter, apparently the other end of the shaft as it passes through the head. This brings the maximum length to 10.8mm. It weighs 4.3g. Compare NMS-984F14.

NMS-984F14: PIN
Copper-alloy and iron object, probably a Roman pin. It consists of a grey-green spherical copper-alloy head, 8.1mm in diameter, with an area of iron corrosion projecting from one side which could be the remains of an iron shaft. This brings the maximum length to 11.0mm. It weighs 2.4g. Compare SF-A89A06.

NMS-44D06D: BELL
Fragment of copper-alloy clapper bell of probable Roman date. It survives to a length of 34.4mm, with part of the integral loop surviving and possibly a tiny part of the original edge, although the breaks are worn and it is difficult to be certain. It flares from a conical top to the rectangular-section open base. The top has two stubs from a loop, which spring from a narrow point that measures c. 10.5 x 6 mm. About a quarter of the body of the bell survives, with a vertical break on one of the larger faces running down to a worn oblique edge. Almost all of the other large face is missing, together with one of the side faces. Part of one angle survives between a larger and smaller face, and this is a rounded right angle; enough survives to suggest that the bell originally had slightly concave sides. On the partly surviving smaller face there is a vertical external casting seam running down to a worn oblique break. The bell is a maximum of 19mm in surviving width and is 20.4mm thick at most, just above where the conical top is broken away. The metal over most of the body is 1.5-2mm thick, and it weighs 8.8g. There is iron corrosion over a lot of the surface, internally and externally but particularly at the top, suggesting perhaps an iron clapper and/or suspension loop. There are also patches of a silvery grey surface, perhaps surface enrichment of a high-tin bronze (commonly used for bells and often known as 'bell metal'). The rectangular cross-section suggests a Roman date. Compare WAW-EB5D20, with casting seam; and CAM-7E65D5, SF-8B1864, KENT-12FD06.

NMS-FC71D1: SLEEVE CLASP
Chunky copper-alloy bar from a wrist-clasp of early Anglo-Saxon date. It is of the 'applied bar' type, cast in one piece. There are three square or rectangular bosses, interspersed with two areas of D-shaped section.. The bosses, one at each end and one in the centre, are all rectangular in cross-section; they decrease in thickness from one end to the other, and are also all of slightly different lengths. The two D-section areas are identical, each consisting of two broad transverse U-shaped grooves or flutes, with two narrow grooves between them and to either side of the central boss, and a single groove next to the outer bosses. The reverse is flat, with some very faint hints of grey patina, probably solder. Length 33.3mm, width 5mm, thickness 4mm, weight 3.4g. Similar detached bars are known, mainly as Norfolk finds; compare similar, but not identical, examples recorded at NMS-1E6503, NMS-BADE24, NMS-218F06, NMS-02F127, NMS-7FB396 and NMS-3B8533 (which is still soldered in place on the clasp). They may come from clasps of Hines (1993) type B13a, B14a or B17a, which all date to c. 470-570 AD.

NMS-0FDBA5: BROOCH
Fragment of foot from a Roman brooch, all breaks worn. The fragment is flat and triangular, with a straight lower edge, and apparently undecorated. It flares from a very narrow apex (2.3mm wide) to a straight foot 12.5mm wide and 0.9mm thick. On the reverse is a fragmentary catchplate that runs the full 20.2mm length of the fragment, but is not in the centre of the width, suggesting that the current shape may not bear much relationship to the original. The catchplate preserves part of a circular perforation in the centre measuring c. 1.7mm in diameter. This has a bevelled edge on the left (viewed from the reverse) where there is also a patch of iron corrosion in the angle of brooch and catchplate. The remains of the catchplate bring the total thickness to 7mm and the fragment weighs 1.3g. This is likely to be from a bow brooch. Perforated catchplates with circular holes are known from several brooch types, mainly Colchester derivatives of 1st- or early 2nd-century date. A wide or 'fantail' foot is also known from several brooch types of this date (e.g. the Aesica, Harlow type 5, Rearhook type 7 and most commonly the Colchester Derivative Hinged type 7 ) and later (e.g. Knee type 5, Alcester). Too little survives of this brooch to be certain of type or date.

NMS-372508: FINGER RING
Penannular finger-ring of late early-medieval date. It is made from a piece of circular-section copper alloy, maximum diameter in the centre 3mm and smoothly tapering to sharply pointed ends. This is bent into a circle, with the ends c. 12mm apart. It has a rough, green-brown patina and measures 22mm across externally and 18.7mm internally; it weighs 1.7g. Compare an example from Thetford; Goodall in Rogerson and Dallas 1984, fig. 110, nos. 17-21. They are Anglo-Scandinavian in style and date to the 10th to mid 11th century.

NMS-0550C9: BROOCH
Head and top of bow from a copper-alloy Roman brooch of Polden Hill type; not enough survives to allocate a Mackreth sub-type. What remains is very abraded, but it is possible to see that the wings are cylindrical, open at the reverse to hold a copper-alloy spring. The spring is wrapped around a copper-alloy axis bar which passes through a hole in a plate at the end of each wing; the chord of the spring appears to pass through a pierced ridge on the top of the head. This ridge extends down onto the D-section bow, which is fairly flat and soon ends in a very worn break. The brooch is 21.4mm wide and survives to 19.3mm long; it is 9.4mm thick from front to back at the head, and weighs 6.2g. Polden Hills date from c. 75-175 AD.

NMS-13EEBE: TOKEN
Lead circular uniface token of post-medieval date. One face has a partial raised rim around the relief letters R:E, the E round-backed. 21.5mm diameter, 1.4mm thick, weight 5.2g. Tokens with initials fall into Powell's type 2. This one probably dates to the 16th or 17th century.

NMS-1198BE: HARNESS PENDANT
Medieval copper-alloy suspension mount from a horse-harness pendant. It is T-shaped, and both bars are triangular in cross-section. The horizontal bar has an integral circular-section rivet at either end, one retaining a circular sheet copper-alloy rove. The vertical bar of the T is split, with both halves piereced to take a hinge bar. There is iron staining around this but the bar itself looks copper-alloy. The object is 19.2mm long and 18.0mm wide, with one rivet bent out slightly adding to this width. The better-preserved rivet gives a total thickness of 7.9mm. The sheet rove is 10.0mm in diameter and the entire object weighs 6.6g. Compare an example with pendant still attached at BERK-972ADC. 13th century.

NMS-138068: TOKEN
Lead weight or token, probably of 16th- or 17th-century date. It is flat and roughly square, 13.6 x 14.4mm, cast with a flat reverse and a relief capital A on the front. The A has a straight bar across the top and horizontal serifs at the base of each leg. It is 2.4mm thick in total and weighs 2.2g. This object may be an apothecary's weight (compare NMS-ECE01E, SUR-EB3067) or some kind of token (compare SOM-C04C49, DUR-0EE3FD, NCL-2F2207, HAMP-100287). The weight of 2.2g corresponds to 34 grains, which does not correspond to a round number of scruples (one scruple is 20 grains). The style of the letter suggests a 16th- or 17th-century date.

NMS-131983: THIMBLE
Small copper-alloy medieval thimble, probably dating to the 14th century, with bare crown and punched dot indentations. It has a straight unthickened rim decorated with two grooves. Above this are very gently curved sides covered with a fairly neat grid of small punched indentations in vertical and horizontal rows. The indentations continue in rings around the lower part of the domed crown, but are absent from the top. In the centre is a small hole, slightly larger than the indentations. Diameter at rim, 14 to 14.5mm. Thickness at rim, 0.9mm. Height 11.6mm. Weight 1.7g.

NMS-84B317: PIN
Description: Ring-shaped head from a silver proto-handpin. The head is oval, slightly wider than it is tall, and fairly flat, with both front and reverse slightly rounded, but the front more than the reverse. There is an oval perforation placed slightly above centre. The front has very well-executed decoration in two halves, an area of ribbing on the upper half and a sunken panel area of relief decoration on the lower half. The ribbed area is covered with wider and narrower transverse ridges, which could also be described as beads separated by fillets. There are 13 of the beads or wider ridges. At either end, at the junction with the relief panel, the narrower ridges carry ribbed or beaded decoration, but in the centre of the row (where the ridges are shorter) this beading appears to be worn away. The relief decoration is symmetrical, and enclosed within a raised border. It consists of a pair of long S-shaped scrolls to either side, the upper pair with a slim oblique line, and a roundel at either end with a dot in the centre of each roundel. The lower pair have an outer roundel (also with dot) and a triangular ridge tapering to a plain curve at the other end. These two plain ends of this pair are bound by a C-shape above, so that the effect is that of a central pelta with a lobed scroll or volute issuing from it, with a second shorter scroll above. There are greenish traces of an inlay around, probably a decayed enamel of unknown colour. The upper edge of the relief panel has a row of small notches giving a serrated effect. The undecorated reverse has the stub of a circular-section shaft emerging from the reverse of the relief panel, which turns a right angle downwards and then is immediately broken. The break is slightly worn. Dimensions: The pinhead is 17.6mm long, 18.9mm wide and 1.5mm thick at minimum, flaring in thickness to 1.9mm at the base. The perforation measures 9.2 x 10.4mm. The broken stub of shaft is 3.2mm in diameter and brings the maximum thickness to 7.5mm. It weighs 2.6g. Discussion: This type of pin is related to the wider group of Roman 'projecting ring-headed pins' (Cool's group 17) and is known as a proto-handpin. The 'near King's Lynn' example is similar to a slightly smaller silver example (12mm wide) found at Oldcroft, Lydney, Gloucestershire in 1972, now in the British Museum (1973,0801.1; Johns 1974, 295-7; Youngs 1987, 23, cat. no. 1; Youngs 2005). The Oldcroft pin's decorative scheme is very similar, with a ribbed upper half and relief panel in the lower half inlaid with red enamel; it also has the serrated upper edge to the relief panel. Proto-handpins were once thought to be distinctively northern, but the discovery of the Oldcroft pin added a western focus, and the 'near King's Lynn' example joins several finds from the east of England to extend this distribution further. A close parallel to the Oldcroft and 'near King's Lynn' examples, but in copper alloy, was found by metal-detecting at Little Cornard, Suffolk, and is now in the British Museum (2001,1202.1). A more distant silver parallel was excavated from the mansio site of Tripontium near Rugby, Leicestershire, and another was found by metal-detecting at Welton le Wold (PAS-E91188) and is now in the British Museum (2002,0704.1). They emphasise that this material is 'thinly but very widely spread in Britain' (Youngs 2005, 252). Date: The Oldcroft pin was found in a hoard with coins dating to AD 354-9 at the latest, and the example from Tripontium was found in rubble under the collapsed roof of a 4th-century building which was still standing in the 5th century (Youngs 2005, 251 and 253, quoting Lucas 1997, 28). How early the pins could have been made, or how late they were buried, is uncertain, but scholarly opinion is at present tending towards a date of manufacture in the second half of the 4th century or the early 5th century (Youngs 2005, 253).

NMS-10AE56: STRAP END
Complete copper-alloy outer plate from a large medieval composite strap-end. It is flat and sub-rectangular, with the closed end shaped into a shallow point with a small flat knop, now bent. The rectangular attachment end has the remains of a copper-alloy rivet at each corner, and a near-circular cut-out in the centre. The front has decoration, with a short groove running inwards from it (known as a grooved aperture) and the remains of rocker-arm engraving where the surface survives. Too little remains of this to be certain of the pattern. On the reverse are marks from a cast forked spacer plate. It measures 46 x 20mm, is 0.7mm thick and weighs 4.0g. Compare Egan and Pritchard 1991, nos. 664 and 670, from contexts of c. 1270-1350 and 1400-1450 respectively.

NMS-7093CB: BROOCH
Copper-alloy brooch with traces of partial white-metal coating, probably tinning. The brooch is in the shape of a cross, with the angles between the arms almost circular and the end of each arm bifurcated with a central fork. Each arm is decorated with a flat-topped ridge along the centre and around either edge, and these areas are tinned. In between, each arm has decoration of a pair of transversely ribbed ridges. Finally, running out from the centre to meet the cut-outs between the arms are four pairs of ridges each separated by a groove and forming the arms of a diagonal cross or saltire. All of the ridges come together at the centre in a raised conical boss. One arm has lost one of the forked, curving-round tips (a fresh, unworn break). On the reverse, there is a central hemispherical depression, with filemarks on the flat surfaces around. The reverse of the damaged cross arm has a double pin bar lug, one lug broken across the hole for the hinge bar and the other blocked with corrosion from the bar, probably of iron. The opposite cross arm has a bent-over lug on the reverse, forming a catchplate. The front of the brooch measures 24.7 mm square, but the bend of the catchplate protrudes a little from the side to bring this measurement up to 25.3mm. The brooch front is about 1.5mm thick but the complete pin lug brings this up to 8.9mm. It weighs 4.6g. The brooch is a neat and well made example of a Weetch type 28 cross-shaped brooch; these date from the late 8th and 9th centuries AD (Weetch 2014, 129). More specifically, it is an unusual form of a Weetch 28.A brooch, which more normally have simple cast decoration, a lozengiform central boss, and central projections at the end of their arms. Field WE2

NMS-70C554: STRAP END
Early-medieval copper-alloy strap-end of Thomas's class A, type 1. Long and narrow, with very slightly curving sides, its split end is roughly shaped around two rivet holes that retain their copper-alloy rivets. Below this is a drop-shaped panel of ornament, the point of the drop shape just under the rivets, containing three lines crossing to make a six-point star. There are traces of an inner border as well, but the panel appears worn. The split end and drop-shaped upper panel take up about a third of the strap-end's length. Below are hints of extremely worn relief decoration in a main panel, perhaps a Trewhiddle-style animal looking back over its shoulder. The animal appears to be the right way up when the rivets are held to the viewer's left, At the other end is a worn animal-head terminal, starting with two long rounded ears that each have a curved groove defining their inner edge. The ears spring from a transverse ridge, and here the object tapers before flaring out slightly to accommodate an eye on each edge and a rounded, tapering nose. The reverse is undecorated and worn smooth, with a few corrosion bubbles. It measures 59.7mm long and is a maximum of 10.0mm wide; it is 2.8mm thick at the terminal and 4.0mm thick at the rivets. It weighs 8.4g. Class A type 1 strap-ends belong broadly to the 9th century AD. Field WE2

Early-medieval copper-alloy strap-end of uncertain Thomas class A. It is long and narrow, with slightly outcurved sides and an animal-head terminal. At the top is a short split end which is shaped around two small circular rivet holes. Below this is a rounded area of unclear decoration, with an undecorated frame around it. Then comes a long main panel of decoration, again within an undecorated frame; the upper edge of this panel is incurved to fit around the upper rounded panel. Although the upper panel's ornament is difficult to decode, the main panel is fllled with neat, relatively loose interlace with traces of niello inlay. Below this panel are two rounded ears in low relief, each with a curved groove in the centre; then the strap-end widens out into the rest of the animal head. On top of the flattish head is another panel of unclear decoration, probably with a criss-cross pattern. The head then narrows, with a short bevel or facet to either side which forms the brow then stops to give a rounded snout. The reverse is flat and undecorated. It measures 50.2mm long and a maximum of 9.5mm wide in the centre. The animal-head terminal is a maximum of 8.7mm wide and 2.9mm thick. The strap-end weighs 5.9g. The long narrow proportions and the slightly wider terminal suggest that this should be classified with Thomas's Class B strap-ends, although Class A gives better parallels for the decoration. It dates broadly to the 9th century AD. Field WE2

NMS-8F5338: SCABBARD
Small copper-alloy chape from a dagger sheath or sword scabbard, made from sheet rolled into a cone and the seam (up the reverse) soldered. The narrower end has been cut into triangular points or notches which have been bent in to close the end. The wider end has decoration on the front, of a horizontal groove a few millimetres from the top, with vertical closely spaced grooves above this forming a ribbed edge. Some of this decoration has broken away along the horizontal groove. The reverse is undecorated. There is a single small rivet hole on the reverse, on the side opposite the damage; the damage could have removed a second rivet hole. Maximum length 26.8mm, width at top 15.1mm, maximum thickness front to back 9.1mm, weight 3.2g. The technique of cutting a zig-zag and then bending the points in to close the end is found in the late medieval period. In York, this type belongs to the late 14th and 15th centuries (Ottaway and Rogers 2002, 2904). Compare SUR-F5042C, SWYOR-04EF5F, IOW-D9E42D, etc (all undecorated). Occasionally there are traces of decoration around the top, such as solder on SWYOR-A4D9C6 (and on Ottaway and Rogers 2002, no. 12891), or decorative cut-outs on SF-38FC02, but grooved decoration is rare.

NMS-8E5AA0: STRAP END
Copper-alloy strap-end in the shape of a bird, with projecting neck and head. It is made from a cast front plate and a sheet backplate, fixed together with two small copper-alloy rivets. The cast front plate has a U-shaped body, with oblique V-shaped notches at the upper corners which define a small, V-shaped flaring tail. The rest of the body of the strap-end is a low triangle in cross-section, and is decorated with bold criss-crossing grooves which form two Xs and a V, or alternatively two lozenge shapes below a half-lozenge that includes the tail. One of the rivets is in the centre of the lowest lozenge, the other (well concealed) runs through the tail, at the open end. At the closed end of the strap-end, the neck and head project upwards. The animal's head has a small projection at the back and slightly open jaws forming what may be a smiling mouth. There are no added details such as eyes or ears, and the neck and head look functional, perhaps working as a hook or catch. On the reverse, there is a straight step or rebate across the object near to the neck, to accommodate the backplate. This is slightly narrower than the front plate, and the metal is greener. The other end of the backplate, at the open end, is outcurved. Length of strap-end not including the animal head, 34.2mm. Total length c. 41mm. Width 15.5mm, thickness including animal head 12.7mm. Weight 12.0g. Compare YORYM-20BBD9, which also has a heavy cast front plate with oblique grooved decoration. SWYOR-590253 is also in this tradition, but has a more demonstrative tail which recalls the fleur-de-lis terminals on 13th- or 14th-century buckle plates. Other examples have simpler, triangular bodies (e.g. FAKL-0CEAEA, WAW-8B7F7C and SWYOR-BA96E5) which seem to have been cast around three sides and given a sheet-metal backplate; this form of construction is seen on strap-ends of the late 14th century (e.g. Egan and Pritchard 1991, no. 614). The parallels suggest a date in the 13th or 14th centuries.

NMS-8DE329: BUCKLE
Corroded copper-alloy buckle or brooch frame, of unusual type. The frame is circular (if now bent), with a tall rectangular cross-section. The top of the frame has decoration of a groove containing a beaded ridge, which has worn or corroded away in many places. There is a rectangular notch or recess on the reverse at either side, to hold a now-missing separate bar. Two projections, one at either outside edge, are both bent upwards to form hooks; one is then broken (worn break) but the other is tightly bent back on itself to end in an animal head which looks back towards the frame. This head is wide, with two small ears, a high brow and a slightly upturned nose; it looks like a dog. Where it overlaps the frame slightly, it has preserved the beaded dot decoration. Surviving length, 51.4mm. Width across frame, 24mm. Maximum thickness of frame (at junctions with projections), 4.5mm; maximum thickness of object (at animal head), 9.9mm. Weight 7.9g. A similar object identified as a brooch was found in an early to mid 13th century context at Abingdon (cited in Saunders 2012, 92, no. 8, fig. 13.8). Compare SF-DFC8CF, LVPL-99D70B, NMS-4A8FC1, NMS-168991, NMS-293287, etc; sometimes both of the projections are bent into hooks, but sometimes only one is. Also see NMS-D2B5E6 for an example that is more likely to have been used as a brooch; and see SWYOR-1CB26C for a discussion of the type. Estimates of date have ranged from the 11th to the 15th centuries.

NMS-8D6837: THIMBLE
Copper-alloy ring-type thimble made from copper alloy sheet, now squashed almost flat. The sides are straight and the walls are relatively thin. The upper and lower edges are unthickened, and each decorated with a single groove. In between, five groups of three parallel oblique lines and one pair of lines are set in alternating directions, forming a kind of strapwork that frames triangular panels. The lines are each made up of closely set double lines of small triangular punchmarks. The triangular panels in between are filled with hand-punched dots set in lines that run parallel to one of the edges of the panels; these lines of dots are not particularly neat. Surviving height c. 16mm; width at top (as flattened) 22.3mm, width at bottom 26.5mm. Thickness of walls 0.7mm. Weight 3.1g. A sheet copper-alloy ring-type thimble on the PAS database (SUSS-7F3724) also has triangular panels with oblique blank areas, and is the best parallel yet found. Several ring-type thimbles with hand-punched dots and grooves top and bottom are known from late 14th- or early 15th-century contexts in London (Egan 1998, nos. 815-20). The technique of making lines from double rows of triangular punchmarks is found on many late-medieval artefact types (e.g. mirror cases), and this thimble is likely to be of the same date, c. 1350-1450 AD.

NMS-77CBA2: WEIGHT
Conical lead object, probably a weight. It is crudely made and perhaps now damaged, with a flat sub-circular base c. 21-23mm in diameter and sides which slope up to a pointed top. There are three evenly spaced indentations just below the top. Two join up to make a possible suspension loop. One of these also joins with a hole that passes vertically through the weight to emerge close to one edge of the base; here it is sub-square, with each side c. 4mm across. It is 16mm tall and weighs 29.3g. Objects such as this are difficult to date. It is perhaps most likely to be medieval or early post-medieval.

NMS-63312A: CUFF LINK
Description: One element from a silver cufflink. It is circular, and would originally have had a down-turned edge, but most of this is neatly broken off and now missing. Around the surviving edge is a reserved border with a scalloped inner edge consisting of about 28 small conjoined circles. Within this, the centre of the cufflink is sunken and stippled. A reserved, raised design within consists of a crown with three crosses alternating with two arches above a pair of clasped hands; there is additional engraved detail on both these motifs. Below the pair of clasped hands, which stretch across the centre of the object, are two small hearts, each with a pellet above which may signify a flame. The reverse of the cufflink is flat, with a loop of circular-section wire. Dimensions: Maximum diameter 14.7mm. Thickness of the front of the cufflink, c. 0.8mm. Total thickness including loop, 5.8mm. Weight 1.0g. Discussion: This cufflink element falls within Lewis's type C, crown above clasped hands with two flaming hearts beneath (Lewis 2013, 6). Compare LANCUM-9F0203, DOR-630A3B, YORYM-C228D3, NMGW-6D6BF4, etc. Buttons and cufflinks featuring similar designs are thought to have originally been produced to commemorate the marriage of Charles II to Catherine of Braganza in 1662, but the design continued to be used as a general symbol of love and marriage. Date: These cufflinks seem to have been used from the Restoration into the first decade or two of the 18th century, so c. 1660-c. 1720.

NMS-7CF888: CUFF LINK
Description: Silver cufflink element, now slightly crushed. It is circular, and has a down-turned edge, most of which is now bent. The front of the cufflink has a raised border; within this, the centre of the cufflink is sunken with raised relief decoration of a crown above a pair of clasped hands apparently wearing gloves; there is a pair of grooves across each slightly flared wrist. Below the pair of clasped hands, which stretch across the centre of the object, are two small hearts, each with a pellet above which may signify a flame. The reverse of the cufflink has hollowed reverses of the hearts, showing that they were made by pressing or stamping. There is an integral or soldered-on D-shaped loop of circular-section wire. Dimensions: Diameter 15.4mm, thickness 4.6mm, weight 0.7g. Discussion: This cufflink element falls within Lewis's type C, crown above clasped hands with two flaming hearts beneath (Lewis 2013, 6). Compare NMGW-6D6BF4, NMS-63312A, etc. Buttons and cufflinks featuring similar designs are thought to have originally been produced to commemorate the marriage of Charles II to Catherine of Braganza in 1662, but the design continued to be used as a general symbol of love and marriage. Date: These cufflinks seem to have been used from the Restoration into the first decade or two of the 18th century, so c. 1660-c. 1720.

NMS-1DE894: UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT
Copper-alloy object, perhaps a mount. It is thin and flat, and consists of a rectangular plate 17.7mm x 15.0mm with a 7.2mm wide tab projecting from the centre of one long edge. The rectangular area has three decoratively shaped edges, each with a long convex curve in the centre. The long decorated edge has two small nicks to either side of this curve, creating three smaller outcurving scallops; the short decorated edges each have two nicks above and a single nick below. The undecorated long edge has the projecting tab, which is decorated with six parallel grooves running to the edge, which appears to be original and unbroken, although with a slight transverse curve which may be damage. It brings the length of the object up to 20.1mm. All of the decoration is made from one face only; the reverse is undecorated. Close to the middle of the decorated long edge is a neat circular perforation, probably an attachment hole, 1.9mm in diameter which appears to have been pushed through from the reverse to the front. The sheet from which the object is made is 0.6 to 0.7mm thick, and the object weighs 1.4g. The function of this object is uncertain. The style of decoration suggests a Roman or early Anglo-Saxon date. It is possible that it comes from an early Anglo-Saxon bucket, as these can have grooved or 'reeded' projections.

NMS-1CC76D: UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT
Piece of copper-alloy strip, flat and rectangular in cross-section, decorated on one face with a row of small stamped annulets, c. 1mm in diameter. They are evenly spaced, about 1.5mm apart, and flanked by a shallow border groove down one edge of the strip. At one end, the strip is bent forward and broken; the other end may be original. There is damage to the surface about halfway along, suggesting further front-to back bending has taken place. The strip curves very slightly to one side (so that the grooved border is along the convex curve) but this appears to be an original feature. It has a mid grey-green patina, and measures 5.2mm wide at the broken end, 4.7mm wide at the other end, 1.0mm thick throughout, and c. 33-34mm long. It weighs 1.1g. It is difficult to say what object this strip has come from; it could be part of a pair of tweezers of early-medieval date, 5th to 9th century.

NMS-9EBBDC: KNIFE
Copper-alloy sheet fragment, possibly part of an end-cap from a late medieval knife handle. The surviving part is slightly convex and sub-rectangular, with at least two surviving corners (and possibly a third) cut off at an angle. Perhaps around half survives, with an incurved V-shaped worn break which has pitting around. This is probably simply the remains of corrosion bubbles, but it could possibly have once been decorated with punched dots. There is no trace of an original central perforation, and as the concave reverse is almost completely covered with the remains of solder, it may have been soldered in place rather than riveted or directly fixed to the iron tang. Surviving length, 15.2mm; width, 14.0mm; thickness of sheet, 0.9mm; overall thickness, 1.7mm; weight 0.79g. Compare SF9172, SF-FC3893, SUR-81703C, SUR-60C544, NMS-4957C1 etc; probably 15th century.

NMS-9E59E5: UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT
Piece of bent copper-alloy strip, roughly rectangular but tapering from 8.9 to 7.6mm in width along its length, which is c. 38mm. Both ends are probably broken, but the breaks are neat and worn. The surfaces are not flat but appear hammered. On one face, the narrower end is covered with fine parallel closely spaced oblique grooves. On the other, there is a zone of similar grooving in the centre, but here there are two orientations of grooves crossing each other; a group of closely spaced oblique lines, and over the top a few more widely spaced grooves following the same oblique direction but being more slanted. The effect is like tally marks, one slanted line crossing several more upright lines. It is 1.4mm thick and weighs 3.11g. It appears ancient, but the date is uncertain; it could belong to any period from Roman to medieval.

NMS-DF3D67: BROOCH
Head of tiny cruciform or small-long brooch of early Anglo-Saxon date (c. 450-550 AD), made from copper alloy. The headplate is rectangular (14 x 11mm), and has a raised trapezoidal panel in the centre which flares from the top to the bottom. This panel is decorated with a vertical row of three deeply drilled dots which each have a faint ring around them. Three integrally cast knobs survive around the headplate, all half-round, narrow, tapering and undecorated. The top knob is slightly larger than the side knobs, and has a raised ridge at its junction with the headplate. The bow is broken off; the break is granular and while not fresh, is also not particularly worn. On the reverse is a single pin bar lug with the remains of an iron pin bar and spring. Surviving length 18.0mm, width 22.9mm, thickness with lug 8.4mm, weight 4.8g. Ring-and-dot motifs are much more common on small-long than cruciform brooches, but this brooch otherwise is more like a cruciform, with a raised panel on the head and half-round knobs. It is a rather idiosyncratic brooch, but see NMS-8915C2, LIN-D196E5, NLM-8439E4 and SF10006 for some similar examples.

NMS-DF6845: BROOCH
Part of the head of a small copper-alloy cruciform brooch of early Anglo-Saxon date, probably of Martin's type 2 (c. 475 to c. 550 AD). A small fragment of headplate survives, with part of a central raised panel; no decoration survives. It has an integrally cast half-round top knob, now rather worn, with a base that projects in front of the headplate and is decorated with two grooves. Above this is a broad waist, then a high, rounded dome (rather more than half round) with a groove around the bottom. On the reverse of the headplate is a single pin bar lug. The breaks are quite worn. Surviving length 23.4mm, surviving width 13.0mm, thickness including lug and top knob 13.0mm, weight 5.5g.

NMS-E0BBDF: BROOCH
Largely complete copper-alloy Colchester one-piece brooch of late Iron Age to early Roman date (c. 20-c. 65 AD). The bow is oval in cross-section, with no decoration surviving. At the top are a pair of rectangular, flat-section wings, with a long forward-facing hook above. The hook still retains the chord of the spring, half of which survives, with three coils on the right (as you look at the reverse). The left-hand end of the spring, and the pin, are missing along with any axis bar. The bow tapers downwards towards a missing foot (fairly old break), with a stub of catchplate on the reverse. Surviving length 44.0mm, width across wings 11.2mm, surviving width across spring 13.4mm, maximum dimensions of bow 5.2 x 3.5mm, weight 5.8g.

NMS-E38C5E: BROOCH
Fragment of copper-alloy late Iron Age or Roman bow brooch, consisting of the very end of the foot only, with part of a perforated catchplate. The rounded-section bow is very narrow at just 2.4mm wide. On the reverse, the catchplate could be described as perforated (or pierced) or framed, in that the (now incomplete) triangular perforation neatly follows the line of the edge of the catchplate. One side is turned over to the left (when viewing the brooch from the reverse). The breaks are worn. The surviving length of the bow is 10.7mm, less than that of the catchplate; the total surviving length is 16.5mm and the thickness, including catchplate, is 12.9mm. The turned-over end of the catchplate is in fact wider than the bow, at c. 3.5mm. It weighs 1.1g. There is so little left of this brooch that it is hard to assign a type, but it is likely to be a Colchester brooch, in theory dating to c. 25 to c. 60 AD.

NMS-E31D90: BROOCH
Head and top of bow from a copper-alloy Roman brooch of Langton Down type, dating to c. 25-c. 60 AD. The head is formed from a thin sheet cylinder, complete on the left side (looking from the front) but the front missing on the right. There is no trace of decoration on the front of the head, but a seam can just about be seen along the reverse, with the slot for the pin in the centre. The inside of the head is filled with hard corrosion products, probably from an iron spring bar. The D-section bow tapers from 11.2mm wide at the top to 7.2mm wide at the broken end. It has a ridge curving around the top, and the bow beneath has a longitudinal groove to either side (often called a 'reeded' bow). The lower part of the bow is missing (worn break). Surviving length 23.1mm, surviving width of head 19.2mm, weight 4.5g.

NMS-E0F8D8: BROOCH
Fragment of copper-alloy Roman bow brooch, consisting of the foot only. The bow is fairly even in width, tapering from 4.2mm at the break to 3.6mm wide at the bottom; the surviving length is 19.7mm. It is roughly triangular in cross-section with a central longitudinal rib. On the reverse is a pierced or perforated catchplate, consisting of a triangle springing from the centre of the bow, with the end turned over to the left (when viewing the brooch from the reverse). It has two circular perforations, one above the other, the lower one very tiny. This is likely to be a Colchester derivative, dating to c. 40 to c. 175 AD.

NMS-F39CB4: MOUNT
Complete cast copper-alloy medieval mount in the shape of a crowned facing head. The crown is very schematic, being a triangle with oblique grooves suggesting a central trefoil. Below this, the face is convex, rising to a central point between the eyes, and equally schematic; it consists of a pair of triangular grooves, bases facing each other, forming eyes (half-obscured by corrosion) and two diverging oblique grooves indicating the nose. Below the chin is a tiny stub of neck. The reverse is hollowed, and has a spiked rivet in the centre. Rivets on mounts such as these are normally separate, but this cannot be confirmed for this one due to the corrosion on the front. It is 16.6mm long, 11.0mm wide, 5.5mm thick with the rivet and c. 4.3mm thick without it. It weighs 1.6g. Better-preserved crowned head (or king's head) mounts have three trefoils or fleurs-de-lis on the crown, but this example is either poorly cast or has lost the side fleurs. These mounts are thought to date from the 14th or early15th centuries, as they are similar in design to strap clasps with crowned heads, one of which was found in a context of c. 1350-1400 in London (Egan and Pritchard 1991, no. 568). They were probably used on belts or other straps.

NMS-778F6E: HARNESS PENDANT
Gilded medieval copper-alloy horse-harness pendant. It is heart-shaped, with a lug at the top pierced from side to side to form a suspension loop. The rest of the pendant is thin, and slightly convex on the front and concave on the reverse. It has engraved decoration, with a line close to the edge with oblique grooves outside forming a cabled frame. Within this is a design which is hard to read but which appears to be an animal in profile looking left, with a head with open jaws in the upper left-hand lobe (viewed from the front) and a bifurcated tail in the right-hand lobe; both halves of the double tail have deep lines running into it from the edge, creating a feathered effect.Similar curved grooved lines run into the chest. There is possibly a crest on top of the head and there are certainly a pair of feet in the point of the heart. The pendant is 51mm long, 33mm wide and the loop brings the maximum thickness up to 7mm. It weighs 14.3g. This is not a common shape for horse-harness pendants and there are no very close parallels, but compare LVPL1750 and HAMP-F5F061.

Incomplete Roman brooch of Colchester derivative rear-hook type, missing its foot. The wings are semi-cylindrical, open at the back, with some slight encrustations within which might be iron corrosion or the remains of solder. Each wing is decorated on the front with a transverse groove near its end. In the centre, on top of the bow, is a stub of a rear-facing hook. The bow is D-shaped in cross-section, relatively straight and short. It is decorated with a pair of grooves along its length, close together on the very front of the bow. It tapers from 8mm wide and 6mm thick at its junction with the wings to 4mm wide and 3mm thick at the break, which appears unworn. The lower 12mm of the surviving bow has a ridge on the reverse, the remains of a catchplate. The total length from top of hook to break is 36mm and the width of the wings is 27mm. It weighs 9.1g.

NMS-06D11A: FINGER RING
Small fragment of copper-alloy medieval finger-ring with probable glass setting. It consists of a raised sub-conical bezel with a sub-circular sunken centre in which there is an incomplete shiny turquoise setting, probably glass. There is a broad groove or step across the bezel to either side of the setting, making a kind of shoulder, after which the hoop tapers to the breaks. The entire object, including the breaks, is worn. Surviving width from side to side, 13.0mm. Surviving length parallel to this, 6.7mm. Thickness (width of bezel) 5.1mm; depth of bezel (thickness from top of bezel to inner surface of ring) 3.3mm. Weight 0.7g. When complete, this was probably a 'stirrup-shaped' ring. The step or groove across the shoulder can be paralleled on a few other stirrup-shaped rings; compare SUR-E51E68, SWYOR-1DAF49 and CAM-6A19DE. These rings were is use throughout most of the medieval period, from c. 1150 to c. 1500 AD.

NMS-9D862F: TOILET ARTICLE
Copper-alloy fragment, probably part of a toilet implement known as a 'probe', of Roman date. Circular in cross-section, it is 2mm in diameter at one end, which has a fairly fresh break. It then curves through a right angle, after which it flares to a swollen area about 15mm long and a maximum of 4.8mm in diameter in the centre. Length as bent 24.3mm, weight 1.73g. Probes were used in much the same way as cotton buds are today, and were often combined with a spoon or spatula at the other end. Compare SF-914C8C, BH-E9F8AF, etc. Several from Colchester are illustrated by Crummy (1983, 60-1, fig. 64).

NMS-0710FF: MOUNT
Large Roman copper-alloy mount with integral rivet. The front is conical, now a little bent. The sides are slightly concave in side view, and rise from a circular edge 25mm in diameter to a rounded point. The reverse is hollow, and the integral rivet projects from the centre. Its circular-section shaft is 3.3mm in minimum diameter and ends in a large integrally cast disc 10mm in diameter. The object is 15.0mm in total height with the front and the rivet each making up about half of this. It has a pale green surface and weighs 6.0g. The integral rivet with large flat rove is characteristic of the Roman period. The conical shape is paralleled at NMS-130954, SF-3ED7A5, HAMP-985260, NMS-5E0E99, NMS-728415, etc. A similar (but much smaller) one came from a 2nd- to early 4th-century context at Butt Road, Colchester (Crummy 1983, 119, no. 4034, fig. 123).

NMS-9F1F6A: STUD
Disc-headed nail or stud made from copper alloy, of uncertain date but perhaps Roman to medieval. The head is flat and an irregular circular shape, 10.3-11.1mm in diameter and c. 2mm thick. The edge is perhaps damaged in places but it was originally rectilinear; the cross-section is not quite rectangular, as the reverse seems to be slightly thicker where the off-centre shaft emerges. This is roughly circular in cross-section and tapers at first gently and then more steeply to a point. It has a shiny brown patina. Total length, 9.2mm. Weight, 1.4g.

NMS-E05328: BROOCH
Bow of a worn copper-alloy early Anglo-Saxon brooch, probably a cruciform but alternatively perhaps a small-long brooch, dating to c. 450-550 AD. It measures 21.0mm long, weighs 5.2g, and tapers from 11.0mm in the centre to 10.0mm wide at one end and 9.2mm wide at the other. The wider end has a very short flat panel that is probably also the broken springing of the bow, and the narrower end has a longer flat panel that is decorated with three transverse grooves. In between, the body of the bow is arched so that it is 9.1mm thick. It has a flat band down the centre, which is decorated with grooves (probably a pair) at top and bottom, but which is worn smooth in between. On the reverse the bow is hollow. The breaks are worn.

NMS-E36337: BROOCH
Fragment of copper-alloy late Iron Age or Roman bow brooch, consisting of the foot only. The D-section bow is very narrow but fairly even in width, tapering from 2.9mm wide and 1.7mm thick at the break to 2.2mm wide at the bottom. On the reverse is a pierced or perforated catchplate, consisting of a triangle springing from one edge of the bow, with the end turned over to the left (when viewing the brooch from the reverse) and a slot made at the curve to hold the end of the pin. It has a lozenge-shaped perforation, less neatly shaped than the rest of the brooch, The break is worn. The surviving length is 25.3mm, thickness including catchplate is 10.7mm, and it weighs 1.6g. This is likely to be a Colchester or Colchester derivative brooch, in theory dating to c. 25 to c. 175 AD, but more likely to be towards the earlier part of this date-range.

NMS-BF3F19: BUTTON
Copper-alloy button cast in one piece, of late medieval or early post-medieval date. The head is circular, solid and slightly domed on the front with a flat reverse. The front is decorated with a relief design of a central pellet and what Read (2005, no. 112) calls an 'eight-bladed impeller', i.e. eight radiating ridges turning into anti-clockwise scrolls towards the edge of the button. This is within a ridged border with oblique grooves giving a cabled effect. The back of the button has a lug attached by a waist and pierced with a circular hole. The front is 13mm in diameter and from front to back it measures 14.5mm. Weight 3.57g. Similar to, but in much better condition than, SUR-521807. Read dates this design to the late 15th or 16th century (2005, 30).

NMS-537B2E: BROOCH
Description: Gilded silver annular brooch, complete with gilded silver pin. Although the brooch is small, the slightly domed frame is wide, with an inner circular aperture and an outer edge shaped into eight points with concave curves between them. The front is covered with relief decoration consisting of a beaded ridge around the inner edge, and plant decoration and pellets filling the rest of the space. Eight stems spring from the central beading and run radially towards the points; they bifurcate near the top, each half curling outwards and downwards to end in an oval flower or fruit, perhaps a bunch of grapes or a pomegranate. Above the fork is a single pellet, and more pellets, arranged in threes, fill the space around the bases of the stems. A circular pin hole cuts through the base of one of the stems, just above the beaded ring. In it a complete gilded silver pin survives, D-shaped in cross-section with an open loop and plain shaft tapering towards a point. There is no provision for a pin rest. The gilding on the front of the brooch is worn away in places and the silver is corroded. The smooth, slightly concave reverse is covered with thick gilding in good condition and the reverse of the pin is also gilded. Dimensions: Length parallel to pin, 21.0mm. Width perpendicular to pin, 20.7mm. Thickness of domed frame without pin, 2.0mm. Weight 1.6g. Discussion: No very close parallel has been found, but there are other slightly convex annular brooches in the shape of eight-point stars known; compare a slightly convex copper-alloy example at NLM-4853D8, an inscribed silver example at WILT-CFEC24, and a complicated example with collets at NMGW-174E11. A similar, but much larger, brooch in the form of an eight-point star was found at Billingsgate in London, and made from a lead-tin alloy in imitation of silver (Egan and Pritchard 1991, 258-9, fig. 167). Beading, pellets and other elements of filigree are found on some circular-frame brooches on the PAS database, including SUSS-9A73C2, SWYOR-53EEC4, DUR-E515A5, NMS-4C1582, NARC-B96E0C, etc. Date: 13th or 14th century.

NMS-F56E67: BROOCH
Description: Two gilded-silver plates from an annular brooch frame. The frame was made from silver wire, and the plates are both roughly square or lozengiform. The larger plate has a short length of frame still soldered to the reverse, consisting of a curve of slim circular-section silver wire running between opposite corners. The smaller plate has a scar from a similar soldered-on piece of frame. Both plates have identical decoration on the front, of four raised lines crossing to form an eight-point star. The lines are not evenly spaced and the effect is of a cross with triangular arms; each arm ends in the centre of one of the sides of the square plate. The edge of each plate is also slightly raised. The smaller plate is gilded on the reverse, but the larger plate appears ungilded here, as does the short length of frame on its reverse. Dimensions: The larger plate measures 11.9 x 12.2mm, is 0.9mm thick, and weighs 1.66g; the wire frame has a diameter of 2.3mm. The smaller plate measures 9.1 x 9.4mm, is 0.7mm thick and weighs 0.46g, giving a total weight of 2.12g. Discussion: It is likely that both of these plates are from a single annular brooch. Similar brooches with alternating plates of different shapes are fairly common; compare, for instance, WILT-9BD946, NARC-0C27CE. Date: 13th or 14th century.

NMS-DC3BDB: DRESS FASTENER (DRESS)
Description: Gilded silver eye or catchpiece from a dress fastener, cast in one piece. The solid centre is triangular, with a raised (perhaps plain wire) border and sunken centre; this is filled with three raised or plain wire circles around a central pellet. At each corner is a partial rosette or trefoil, with a central pellet and three petals with sunken centres; where the fourth petal would be is taken up by the corner of the triangle. In the centre of one of the triangle's edges is a large loop forming the eye; this is D-shaped externally and almost circular internally. On the other two sides, offset towards the apex, are smaller more circular loops for sewing the catchpiece on to the clothing. The reverse is flat and a little scratched. Dimensions: Length 13.5mm, width 11.6mm, maximum thickness (at central pellet) 2.6mm. Weight as recorded by finder, 1.09g. Discussion: This dress fastener appears to have been cast in one piece, but is related to composite examples made from wire filigree soldered to backplates, such as NMS-57F66D (2014T597). NMS-5BF876 (2018T231) is a close parallel, though incomplete; other slightly more distant parallels include SUSS-3C97C2 (2011T520) and ESS-D07BAE (2014T724). Date: Parallels, and the three-circle motif, all date to the 16th century AD.

NMS-F06C53: EAR RING
Description: Gold earring of Roman date, probably of Allason-Jones's type 11. It appears to consist of two layers of thin circular sheet backplate, both now crumpled but originally 14mm in diameter. In the centre of the front is a smaller circular sheet element which may once have been three-dimensional but is now crushed flat. A circular-section wire hook emerges from the reverse. It tapers as it curves out and around to form an apparently well-preserved hook in the shape of an open loop; the wire has a blunt end which is slightly recurved. Dimensions: Diameter of backplate, 14mm. Diameter of wire hook, 1.1mm maximum tapering to 0.8mm minimum, weight (provided by finder) 1.22g. Discussion: This ear-ring is likely to be of Allason-Jones's type 11, defined as having a frame surrounding a gem, and a wire hook extending from the centre of the reverse. There are several examples on the PAS database, but most have square or rectangular backplates (such as SF-EE2DB1, SF-F53D92 and SF-D990A5; WAW-C55D85; and LIN-F9B9C2). The only good parallel with a circular backplate on the PAS database is YORYM-7CB0A7 (2009T716). Date: Type 11 ear-rings tend to be dated to the 2nd or 3rd centuries, c. 100-300 AD.

NMS-F44B98: FINGER RING
Complete small Roman finger-ring, of Guiraud's type 2f and Henig's type VIII, probably made from silver (needs confirmation by XRF). The hoop is oval internally (16.6mm in width and 14.7mm deep) but angled or 'keeled' externally. The hoop flares gently from a rectangular-section area at the back to the angled sides, and then flares more strongly to decorated shoulders. These have a V-shaped groove emphasising the flare, with the space above the groove ending in two small projections next to the bezel. Below the groove, there is a further tiny nick in the edge which creates the impression of a flat volute curling out to either side. Above the shoulders, the hoop is then angled again to a flat, or very slightly domed, oval bezel (9.1 x 8.2mm) which has no obvious decoration. The metal is pitted and corroded and has a dark grey surface. Length from top of bezel to back of hoop, 19.9mm. External width, 22.1mm. Maximum thickness (width across shoulders) 11.5mm. Weight 5.6g. The type is well known, but each example is individually distinctive; compare other silver examples such as NMS-C3EC5D and SOM-9899B1. Guiraud dates type 2 rings in north-east Gaul to the 2nd or 3rd centuries AD (1989, 181) and Henig dates Type VIII to the 3rd century (2007, 13), so a date-range of c. 100-c. 300 AD is probably appropriate.

NMS-A663EC: COIN HOARD
Three worn William III shillings. 1) Minted 1696 in Bristol (B below bust). Weight 5.58g. Spink 3498. Far left on photo. 2) Minted 1697, worn bust, weight 5.61g. Spink 3505. Centre on photo. 3) Minted 1697, less wear on bust, weight 5.71g. Spink 3505. Far right on photo.

NMS-D5BD87: STIRRUP
Copper-alloy 11th-century stirrup-strap mount of Williams's Class A, Type 14, consisting of a cross-shaped top and a flaring triangular plate. The upper arm of the cross is short and wide, and the two side arms are long and thin, the right-hand arm (as viewed from the front) being distinctly longer and thinner. There is no surviving decoration on any of the arms, but they are very worn, so decoration may have been lost and the arms may have been damaged or modified. Where they cross is a circular rivet hole 4.1mm in diameter. The sides of the mount then flare out to form a triangular plate which is decorated with engraved lines, forming a trapezoidal border around seven or eight lines which radiate from the direction of the rivet hole. The base of the mount has an angled flange, and just above this is a central iron rivet which retains half of a corroded, but still recognisably rectangular, plate on the reverse. Length 36.9mm, width 33.6mm, thickness of arms 3.5mm, thickness of plate at top 4.2mm, maxmum thickness of flange and rivet 8.0mm, weight 15.9g.

NMS-D6903A: HARNESS PENDANT
Medieval gilded copper-alloy horse-harness pendant, now very worn. It is in the shape of an upside-down fleur-de-lis, with a suspension loop projecting from the top (the centre of the stem). The loop is pierced from side to side, although the small hole is now blocked with copper-alloy corrosion. The body of the pendant is thin and flat, slightly convex on the front and concave on the reverse. Much of the edge is missing, but the fleur shape, with side lobes incurved on their undersides, is clear. No decoration survives apart from small patches of gilding. Length 36.1g, surviving width 19.5mm, thickness at loop 4.6mm, thickness of plate 1.1mm, weight 1.9g. This is not a particularly common shape, but compare NMS-4F3FE1, NMS-31BC95, PUBLIC-FFDAB9, and (rather chunkier in proportions) PUBLIC-A3A5F5 and SUR-73D3C1. It is possible that such flat and flimsy pendants are relatively early in the sequence of horse-harness pendants, perhaps late 12th or early 13th century.

NMS-EBCACA: BROOCH
Gilded copper-alloy Roman plate brooch of dished cone type, with white-metal coating on the reverse. Originally circular, all edges are now broken and worn. It has concentric decoration around a concave-sided cone in the centre, which is broken or badly worn on top so that any detail is now lost. The lower part of the central cone is more straight-sided, and around it is a concave dished ring. Beyond this is a circular ridge, and then a flat outer zone which is decorated with U-shaped or crescentic stamps, the points outermost. Apart from the top of the central cone, all parts of the front have thick yellow gilding which survives well in patches. On the reverse are two worn stubs in line with each other, the remains of the pin lug at one end and the catchplate at the other. There is a thick shiny white-metal coating surviving over most of the reverse. It measures 22.2mm long between the stubs of pin fixings, and 18.8mm wide perpendicular to the pin; it is roughly 9.5mm thick in total and weighs 5.0g. The 'dished cone' is one of Mackreth's British Plate types, his type 5, which he dates to c. 80-250 AD. In Hattatt's typology it would probably be called a tutulus brooch. Similar examples, with stamped decoration, include NMS-B44FA0, NMS-474D34 (with tinned reverse), NLM-5C58F0 (with gilded front and white-metal coating on the reverse).

NMS-E9DBAE: BROOCH
Early-medieval copper-alloy disc brooch of Kershaw's East Anglian Series, type I. It is flat and circular, now missing part of the edge, but with enough surviving to give a diameter of 28.2mm. It has cast relief decoration of a central sunken circle, surrounded by a raised double-strand concave-sided lozenge, with each of the four corners extending to form a loose clockwise knot of double-strand interlace. There is a slight raised rim around the surviving edge. On the reverse are the stubs of a double lug, perpendicular to the edge of the brooch, which formed the pin hinge. Opposite this is a broken drilled lug, parallel to the edge of the brooch, which formed the catch. The brooch is now worn overall, including the breaks. It is 1.2mm thick away from the lugs, and a maximum of 4.9mm thick including the best-preserved part of the pin hinge. It weighs 4.5g. The double pin lug set perpendicular to the edge of the brooch is thought to be Scandinavian in style and is unusual for this more Anglo-Scandinavian brooch type (Kershaw 2013, 56, 63-64). They date broadly to the late 9th or 10th century.

NMS-D815F6: BUCKLE
Medieval gilded copper-alloy buckle plate, now incomplete. The flat D-shaped upper plate survives, broken at the hinge loops and now bent. It is decorated with a border of engraved ladder pattern made up of a double border with transverse lines between, forming squares. This border runs in a straight line across the plate behind the pin slot, and then hugs the curved edge. Within the border are three rivet holes, two of which retain copper-alloy rivets with slightly convex round heads. The plate has a rough brown surface with patches of green, and traces of gilding. Length c. 20mm, width c. 38mm originally, thickness of plate c. 1mm, thickness of rivets c.5mm, weight 4.5g. Compare LIN-568DE8 SF-9EBB23, HAMP-5BBC74, etc. Probably 13th century.

NMS-EC89F6: VESSEL
Cast copper-alloy leg from a medieval cooking vessel. It is roughly rectangular in cross-section, 32 x 14mm at the break, with a very slight midrib down the centre. It flares smoothly to the out-turned foot, and there is no break between the two. The foot is triangular in side view, with a trapezoidal base 39mm wide at most and 22mm deep. It is 47mm long and weighs 109.5g. There is no particularly close parallel in Butler and Green 2003; it is fairly similar to one from a 14th-century context in Winchester (Biddle 1990, no. 3386).

NMS-1EC88D: STEELYARD WEIGHT
Incomplete bi-conical lead steelyard weight of Roman date. It is oval in cross-section, 27.4 x 24.5mm at the centre, with one near-complete conical half tapering to a point at which an iron rod emerges and is turned over, probably originally to form a D-shaped loop which is now crushed. Some of this half is missing, with an irregular gouge out of one side. Most of the other half is missing, with a square depression or gouge at the break revealing the corroded iron rod, which originally would have run from one end to the other and be used for suspension. There are hints of a second length of iron next to the first, suggesting that an oval iron loop might have run all of the way through the weight, emerging at either end. Surviving length, including iron, 22.4mm. Weight now 62.3g.

NMS-EC471B: STRAP FITTING
Part of a medieval gilded copper-alloy strap fitting, probably from horse-harness. It consists of a single rectangular plate, 9mm wide and 2.5mm thick, slightly rounded on the front and flat on the reverse, with half of a rounded loop at one end which appears to have worn through. The plate has two circular rivet holes through it, one at either end. The object is very corroded, but the angle between plate and loop has preserved some surface, and there is a little around the upper rivet hole, and some on the reverse too. There are traces of gilding around the rivet hole. Total length 43.2mm, weight 5.8g. Compare SF-790245, and two similar iron examples from Winchester, from a late 12th- to 13th-century context and a 14th century context (Biddle 1990, fig.334, nos. 3895 and 3897).

NMS-A03A04: BUTTON
Description: Small hemispherical or plano-convex gold button, now incomplete. The circular front is domed and has a few shallow dents, showing that the button is hollow. The back was flat, but is now slightly concave; a soldered seam is visible in a few places around the edge. Two stubs of a loop survive in the centre of the back, with a crack around them suggesting that the broken loop has been pushed a little way into the hollow interior. Dimensions: Diameter 11.8mm, thickness of button without loop c. 5.0mm, height with remains of loop 5.4mm. Weight 1.60g. Discussion: This is a neatly made but completely undecorated button, and it has not proved possible to find a close parallel in gold. There are several similar examples in silver (e.g. NMS-E5BA68, NMS-313FF1, GLO-F8B585, NCL-482A15), often with makers' marks indicating a 17th-century date, but they normally have a pair of circular perforations or blow-holes in the back. Small decorative gold buttons are known from the 16th century, but they have elaborate decoration. Date: From the parallels cited, a 16th- or 17th-century date is most likely.

NMS-ADCD92: BRACELET
Probable bracelet fragment consisting of a piece of curved copper-alloy rod. It tapers from 6.6mm wide at an original squared-off end to 3.6mm wide at a fairly fresh break, and increases in thickness from 1.4mm at the original end to 3.4mm at the break. It is therefore sub-circular in cross-section at the break, but for most of its length the fragment is D-section with a flat inner surface. The slightly convex outer surface has traces of possible decoration, including areas with bevelled edges, but it is worn and there is a casting flaw (a rounded depression) which makes the original intended appearance uncertain. Unbent length c. 47mm, weight 3.5g. Probably Roman, late 3rd or 4th century.

NMS-1C6F16: BRACELET
Fragment of two strand, cable twisted copper-alloy wire, probably part of a late Roman bracelet. Around 55mm (unbent length) survives, bent into a U-shaped curve so that it now measures 27mm long by 26mm wide. The two strands appear to have been originally round-section but to have been hammered together after they were twisted, to form an oval-section hoop 4 x 3mm in cross-section. The strands are now each c. 2.5 to 3mm wide on the hammered surface. At one end, one strand is neatly finished and the other is more circular in cross-section (c. 2.4mm diameter), suggesting that this may have been an original terminal, perhaps a hook or loop. At the other end the strands have come apart, and they are both more circular in cross-section, tapering to points, suggesting that this is a very old, worn break. It weighs 3.1g. Compare HAMP-8A417E, GLO-BE4BF1, etc, and several examples from Period 2 contexts (c. 320-c. 450 AD) at Butt Road, Colchester (Crummy 1983, 38-9, fig. 41, nos. 1610, 1611 and 1613).

NMS-9E31C5: BRACELET
Copper-alloy fragment, probably part of a Roman snake-headed bracelet. The fragment is flattish and 45.4mm long, with one end broken across (old break). It measures 4.9 x 1.6mm at the break, and then flares both in width and thickness to 6.7 x 2.5mm before tapering again to a point. This forms a pointed-oval area which could be a snake's head, and which is slightly D-shaped in cross-section with a flat reverse. The surface is corroded and pitted, and no decoration is visible. It weighs 3.41g. Compare NMS-0CEB4D. 2nd or 3rd century.

NMS-C0CE06: BRACELET
Fragment of possible Roman bracelet or armlet, of wide-cuff early type. It is 14mm wide and c. 107mm in surviving length, with both ends missing. It is now bent out of shape and has a battered appearance with a coppery patina, characteristic of a beach find. The shape is still a gentle curve, but the external face is now the undecorated one. The internal face has decoration of five equally spaced longitudinal rows of neat, closely spaced rectangular punchmarks, giving the impression of longitudinal grooves with transversely ribbed bases alternating with ridges of roughly the same width as the grooves. It weighs 21.8g. Crummy (2005) has classified bracelets of this shape into four types according to the number of bands of decoration (one, two or three). None of Crummy's examples have five bands, and both this and the lack of terminals means that the identification as a Roman bracelet (or armilla) is uncertain. For similar examples on the PAS database, see SUR-FE892C (with four bands of decoration) and BH-A2BCB2 (with five bands, but grouped together in the centre), They date to the first century AD.

NMS-E432BD: PENDANT
Near-complete copper-alloy Roman pendant in the shape of a phallus. It is long, thin and straight, the penis measuring 31.6mm long and the single surviving testicle slightly offset to bring the total length up to 32.1mm. It tapers with straight sides from 5.0mm wide at the rounded base of the penis to 3.0mm wide at the rounded tip, which is accentuated with a transverse groove. The surviving width is 8.6mm and it weighs 2.8g. The pendant has a flat reverse, so that the penis is D-shaped and the testicle a low dome in cross-section. On the reverse is an integrally D-shaped loop with large circular perforation (4.1mm internal diameter), set about a third of the way up from the base. The loop brings the total thickness to 7.8mm. The surface is pitted and the break where the second testicle has been lost is rough. Phallic pendants are not common, and most are shorter and stubbier than this one (Plouviez 2005). Although there are several parallels for this long, thin shape with a suspension loop on the reverse, most are curved and few have this very flat reverse. Compare SF-4EA7C4, SF-5B3285, SUR-4DAF82, NMS-11BE9A, NLM-B66F77, BH-C4D229, SUR-AF2387, NLM-070B64 and WILT-FCEBC1, nearly all of which are more or less curved. They are thought to be good luck charms intended to protect the wearer from harm, and to date mainly from the 1st century AD. Plouviez comments that they are "very definitely Roman rather than indigenous in character" (2005, 161) and that they tend to cluster around urban sites, with fewer occuring as rural accidental losses.

NMS-CF923E: FINGER RING
Description: Gold finger-ring with rectangular-section hoop. The exterior is engraved with a mix of Roman and Lombardic capital letters, reading + SALVZ DE LVI. DVNT. IO MVI. + (Greetings from he whose.....). The letters all have small serifs, and are slightly clumsy in execution. The Z is reversed (like an angular S); the As have straight bars across the top and downward-angled central bars, the E is round-backed; and both the Ds are unusually shaped. The Ts and Ms are Roman in style. Dimensions: The external diameter varies slightly, but is around 19mm. The hoop is 2.3mm wide and 0.8mm thick. It weighs 1.5g. Discussion: The inscription is in Norman French, and may be a rhyming couplet. Alternatively, it may be read as Saluz De Lui Dunt Iomul (Greetings to him whose twin [you are]), as iomel is 'twin' in Norman French. It can be compared both in style and content with the lettering on a more elaborate finger-ring, NARC-2F37E3. The ring can also be compared with simply shaped finger-rings engraved on the exterior such as YORYM-0A0FD2 and NMS-ED74C3. Date: The style of the lettering suggests a medieval date, probably 13th or 14th century, possibly a little later.

NMS-067EC8: FINGER RING
Fragment of copper-alloy Roman finger-ring of Guiraud type 3c. The bezel is oval, curved on the interior to fit around the finger, and sunken on the top to hold what was probably enamel; traces of a brownish material survive. One shoulder survives, with a narrowed concave waist at the junction with the bezel, then a short D-section length tapering to the fairly fresh break. The bezel is 10.0mm long, 7.3mm wide and 2.0mm thick in the centre; the surviving width of the entire ring is 14.5mm and the length from top of bezel to break in hoop is 7.6mm. It weighs 1.1g. Guiraud dates type 3 rings to the end of the 2nd century and most of the 3rd, c. 170-270 AD (1989, 185).

Medieval gilded copper-alloy buckle plate with worn, corroded decoration, probably of a wyvern. It is roughly square (20.8mm wide and 19.0mm long) with two projecting hinge loops, both of which are broken. The front is decorated with a bird-like animal in profile facing right (towards the attachment end) originally apparently engraved and gilded, but not enamelled. Much of the surface is now missing, but the remains of oblique or zig-zag lines can be seen at either end, probably the remains of rocker-arm engraving. The centre of the plate is filled with the bird or animal, which is probably the right way up when the hinge loops are held to the left. Although it is difficult to work out which body part is which, there are better-preserved similar examples on the PAS database (especially NMS-40D817, but also NMS-3DF456, NMS-7D683E and NMS-BCD863) which have helped identify the elements. A long thin triangular wing (or possibly tail), with engraved detail, can be seen running downwards towards the outer corner, with a rounded shoulder or body, again with detail suggesting scales or feathers, in front of it. A ridge emerges from the front of this and runs upwards and backwards; this may be a long thin neck, but the head cannot be clearly seen. A probable tail emerges from beneath the top of the wing and tapers steeply before turning a sharp angle upwards; this is decorated with oblique grooves. There is corrosion around the bird or animal, and although no enamel now survives, it may have been on an enamelled ground originally (compare NMS-40D817, which has Limoges-style enamelling). CAM-DB88D7 and SF-8F88A2 also appear to have rocker-arm or interrupted rocker-arm at at least one end of the plate. The hinge loops bring the surviving length to 21.3mm. There are two rivet holes, one at each corner of the attachment end, and one retains a small neat copper-alloy rivet 5.2mm long and 2mm in diameter at the centre. The plate is 1.2mm thick and the object weighs 2.7g. A similarly decorated buckle plate was found in a context of 1400-1450 AD in London (Egan and Pritchard 1991, no. 530) but was thought to have been of earlier date, probably 13th century. The best parallel on the PAS database, NMS-40D817, has also been dated to the 13th century.

NMS-09AD0E: FINGER RING
Silver strip, probably a finger-ring, now in two pieces (broken during discovery). It is bent out of shape but appears to originally have been circular, with half of the circle surviving (c. 20mm in original diameter). The strip has a consistent width of 4.5mm to 5mm (perhaps depending on how worn the edges are) and is a low D-shape in cross-section, 1.0mm thick. There is no decoration on either the convex exterior or the flat interior. One of the ends (on the smaller fragment) is neatly cut across and finished, and although the other is more rounded and possibly worn and with a corner missing, both could be original, implying a penannular ring. The unbent length of both fragments together is c. 68mm (17mm for the shorter plus 51mm for the longer piece) and it weighs 2.2g in total. This ring could have been complete in itself, with a butt joint either left open or with a soldered seam; alternatively, both ends could have been soldered to a separate bezel. The lack of decoration makes it hard to date. Although there are rings of similar dimensions that can be dated to the 15th to 17th centuries from their decoration or inscription (compare NMS-EB01C1, SUSS-4C2B28, SUSS-9B1A74 and SF-FBB922), and similar rings with soldered-on bezels of perhaps 15th-century date (e.g. HAMP-EF0FF6 and SOM-01346D), a detached undecorated hoop could equally be of later date, perhaps as late as the 19th century.

Incomplete late Anglo-Saxon strap-end of Thomas Class E Type 1, with openwork relief decoration on both faces. The attachment end is missing (worn breaks). The openwork decoration consists of a central stem running down from the break, with lateral stems branching off and curving around a series of holes before curving up again to meet and form a solid outer border to the strap-end. Three circular holes survive on each side of the central stem, with another single hole at the end where the central stem ends in a bifurcation; beyond this hole is a projecting knop terminal, thicker than the rest of the strap-end, now very worn but perhaps with a groove forming a collar. The curling ends of each lateral tendril end in a slight bump, more noticeable on one face than the other. Surviving length 33mm, width 17.5mm, thickness of projecting knop 4mm, thickness elsewhere 3mm. Weight 5.53g. The decoration is ultimately in Winchester-style, but is very simplified. The strap-end is similar to the more complete NMS-1D99B4, and a little like Thomas 2004, no. 24.

NMS-BC06EB: STEELYARD WEIGHT
Large biconical lead steelyard weight with stubs of iron loop at either end, of probable Roman date. It is crudely made, measuring 40 x 43mm at the widest point where the two halves meet, and 32mm long at most. Neither half is quite conical; the cross-section is oval at the central point, and the highest point is not central on one half. There are two iron stubs at either end, both oval in cross-section. It weighs 198.6g.

NMS-339BF2: PURSE
Fragment of late medieval or early post-medieval purse bar, of Williams class A. It is circular in cross-section, at most 7mm in diameter, with one end a little smaller and oval in cross-section (6 x 6.5mm). A thin flat attachment-plate extends from the underside, now fragmentary; it has one complete circular hole and is broken across another. The bar is decorated with double-strand niello-inlaid lines, which cross each other to form two saltires on the top of the bar; one line is triple-strand. This panel of decoration is bordered by a single niello-inlaid line at either end, and is not set in the centre of the fragment; the niello line is c. 5mm from the thicker end and c. 13mm from the slimmer end. The total length is 59.7mm and the fragmentary flat attachment tab brings the total width up to 12mm. It weighs 17.1g.

NMS-7671D6: PURSE
Incomplete copper-alloy purse bar of Williams class A1. The arms and central block survive, together with the two flat tabs to which the fabric of the purse would have been attached. The surface is corroded. The arms are roughly circular in cross-section and are both broken at the end of the tabs, so their terminals are missing. One has faint traces of engraved decoration probably originally inlaid with niello, consisting of a circumferential line just outside the inner edge of the tab, then a series of double-strand saltires or lattice decoration. The inner 13mm or so of the arm, next to the block, is undecorated. This arm tapers markedly at the end, best seen when viewed from below, almost as if the terminal has been cut off with a pair of pincers. The two tabs are flat and project from the lower surface of the arms. Each is pierced with two circular holes about 2mm in diameter. One tab is broken through both holes; the other projects from the arm for a maximum width of about 3mm, and is a maximum of 25mm long. The central block is 13mm thick and 15mm in external diameter. It has a hole from top to bottom of c. 7mm diameter. There are faint traces of what may be long engraved lines inlaid with niello, on one face only. Surviving length 95mm, width from top of arm to base of tab 12.5mm, from top to bottom of block 13mm. Thickness of arms 8mm, of block 15mm. Weight 47.62g. Late 15th or early 16th century. Compare the very similar but better preserved SWYOR-A810F5, which is published as Williams 2018, fig 2.

NMS-762EF0: BUCKLE
Copper-alloy buckle frame of medieval date. It is rectangular, made from a single piece of thin sheet folded in half with frame recesses and a pin slot cut. The two halves were originally held together by a pair of small rivets at the attachment end, but both are now missing and the two halves have sprung apart slightly. Both outer surfaces, upper plate and under plate, have a shiny white-metal coating, probably tinning. Any decoration is hard to see, but one face appears to have a grooved border at least down each long side and perhaps some further grooved decoration within; it is possible though that these are simply scratches or damage. Length 26mm, width 15mm, weight 2.45g.

NMS-8C4C7C: FINGER RING
Description: Small silver finger-ring, a simple hoop with D-shaped cross-section and no visible join. The exterior is convex and undecorated. The interior is flat with a posy inscription in lower-case italics reading I wish you well with some curved scrolly lines after the lettering, and then a space. The s is long. Dimensions: The hoop is 18mm in diameter externally, 3.6-3.7mm in width and 1.2mm thick. It weighs 1.83g. Discussion and Date: The lettering can be compared with that on GLO-A3D4AA, SF-CB9A5C and SF-91A843, all of which are simple hoops with undecorated exteriors. It suggests a date of c. 1650-1750. The same inscription can be found on thimble CAM-8A9FB5 and (in capitals) on finger-ring NMS-E25BF2, both of which have been dated to the 17th century.

NMS-476AD2: CUFF LINK
Description: 17th-century silver cufflink with crowned hearts. The cufflink consists of two circular elements linked by an oval wire loop. The circular elements are identical; each has a flat centre and a shallow downturned edge. The flat area has a ridged border, and is decorated within this with two heart shapes, one next to the other, and a crown over both. The crown has a wide lower band decorated with a row of dots, and a flaring vertical central lobe above, flanked by a pair of arches with serrated upper edges and perhaps trefoils within each arch. The down-turned edges are concave, with an out-turned rim. There is no evidence of stippling on the background, but the metal is matt here, with the raised elements being polished. The reverse has faint traces of the design, showing that it was pressed or stamped. In the centre is a rounded loop of circular-section wire. The two rounded loops are linked by an oval loop of similar wire, with a soldered seam at one end. Dimensions: Diameter of each element 14.1mm, thickness including loop on reverse 5.1mm. The wire loop measures 15.3 x 6.5mm, and the wire is 1.3-1.5mm in diameter. Total weight 2.2g. Discussion: This cufflink falls into Lewis's Form 1, Type A, and is in fact very close to one illustrated by Lewis (2013, 5, fig. 8; LANCUM-9E82B6). Buttons and cufflinks featuring similar designs are thought to have originally been produced to commemorate the marriage of Charles II to Catherine of Braganza in 1662, but the design continued to be used as a general symbol of love and marriage. Date: These cufflinks seem to have been used from the Restoration into the first decade or two of the 18th century, so c. 1660-c. 1720.

NMS-5A6F3E: BROOCH
Copper-alloy cruciform brooch of Martin (2015) type 1, narrow in shape but large and chunky. The headplate is small, almost square and undecorated, without wings and with sharply right-angled side edges giving a rectangular cross-section 3.4mm thick. Above is a large full-round integral top knob, with a circular base decorated with a circumferential groove, a concave waist above, and then a faceted dome. This has a lower half with eight triangular facets, alternately apex-up and apex-down, and an upper half that is a square-based pyramid. On the reverse of the headplate is a single central pin bar lug with iron staining within and around. There is no trace of the side knobs. The bow springs from the lowest part of the front of the headplate, and is slightly narrower than the headplate here. It starts with a flat panel which has a V-shaped facet or notch cut out of each side. Below this the arched bow gets very slightly wider at the centre. It is faceted with a flat reverse, so that it is triangular in cross-section; the reverse has transverse polishing marks. A pair of fine engraved longitudinal grooves run down the centre of the bow. At the base is another flat panel, with a bolder horizontal groove at the top and another across the centre dividing it into two. Each half has a similar facet or notch cut out of each side. The foot begins with a short flat panel with a groove across the centre and another close to the lower edge, mirroring the flat panel at the base of the bow. Again, small facets or notches are scooped out of the edge of each half, but on one side they are mere concave scoops and on the other they have been removed by corrosion. Below this, the main part of the foot is faceted but with a broad flat band down the centre, so the cross-section is trapezoidal. Each edge is decorated with tiny triangular or D-shaped stamps, and where these are best preserved it seems that one row runs down each edge of the front, and another row runs down the side of the foot. Below is a D-section area with a transverse ridge at top and bottom (the upper ridge decorated with an engraved groove) and a broad concave flute between. On the reverse of this area is a catchplate, made from a plate integrally cast towards the right of the brooch and curled over to the left (when viewed from the back). The edges of the catchplate are corroded and fragmentary. The whole foot tapers slightly towards the terminal, which is in the shape of a horse's head, with moulded eyes, a triangular-section nose and oval nostrils, and a flat reverse. Length 110.6mm, width 13.1mm, weight 50.1g. The details of this brooch are closest to Martin's type 1.1.2 (2015, 24-26). It is much larger than most examples (although compare NMS-CD95AF, which is of similar size and also has a faceted top knob). A smaller version with faceted top knob and punched decoration is known from Ixworth, now in the Ashmolean Museum (MacGregor and Bolick 1991, no. 12.2; Martin 2015, 26, no. 27) and there is another from Miningsby in Lincolnshire (NCL-EF51D5; Martin 2015, 26, no. 32). Another close parallel was found at Reepham, Norfolk (NMS-F01A8C). Type 1.1.2 brooches are dated to c. 420-c.475 AD (Martin 2015, 128).

NMS-BB92BD: MOUNT
Openwork cross-shaped mount made from gilded copper alloy. One arm of the cross survives intact, if bent; the other arms are all broken off short (worn breaks). The surviving arm is flat, c. 14mm wide, and has a square end with a circular rivet hole 3.7mm in diameter. The rest of the arm has decorative perforations formed from double-strand interlace; this seems abstract, with no obvious naturalistic detail, just a median groove indicating which strand crosses over or under. The other three arms appear to have had similar decoration. The centre of the cross is a flat circle 21mm in diameter, also gilded and with engraved decoration. Some of this is obscured by corrosion from a large solid dome-headed iron stud or rivet head c. 12mm in diameter. The reverse is flat and ungilded, and there is little trace of the rivet's shaft. Held with the surviving arm uppermost, the length as bent is 41mm; when complete, it would have been c 90mm long. The surviving width is 32.5mm; the thickness increases from 1.5mm at the end of the surviving arm to 3.2mm thick at the centre, and the iron dome increases this to 10.5mm. It weighs 16.6g. It has proved difficult to find a parallel for this large mount, although there is also heavy gilding with openwork and simple engraving on 11th- or 12th-century mounts such as NMS-3FAED3 (with further examples cited there). It is therefore probably of early-medieval or medieval date, perhaps from a box.

NMS-8188B9: BROOCH
Incomplete copper-alloy Roman plate brooch of umbonate or domed boss type. The circular boss has a empty sunken dot in the centre, surrounded by a single ring of 12 small triangular champlevé cells (apex inwards) which are inlaid alternately with red and with blue enamel. These cover the dome, and around it is a deep, wide groove, then a flat ring forming a border which now has a fragmentary worn edge. Two flat triangular projections from this border survive, one wide and shallow with the double hinge lug on the reverse and the other (longer and more triangular) with the remains of a catchplate; there is a slight groove between the flat flanged border and these projections. The dome has a hollow reverse, but the rest of the reverse is flat. Surviving length (parallel to missing pin) 31.6mm, surviving width 22.5mm, thickness including hinge lugs and dome c. 10.5mm, weight 7.0g. This is Mackreth's type 6 (2011, 164-6) but it does not quite fit into any of his sub-divisions. It probably dates to the 2nd century AD.

NMS-81D353: FINGER RING
Incomplete Roman copper-alloy finger-ring of Guiraud's type 1b. The hoop is largely missing, with breaks worn down to points. What survives of the shoulders rises steeply to a thick oval bezel, measuring 14 x 9.5mm at the top, and a minimum of 5.3mm thick at the centre. It has an oval setting of uncertain material, now much decayed. In the centre is a flat, shiny, glassy, purplish circle sitting on the base of the cell, flanked by a thicker dull brownish material. Perhaps it was originally a glass or enamel. Total surviving width, 19.4mm; total length from top of bezel to broken ends of hoop, 12.2mm. Weight 5.2g. Guiraud dates this type to c. 50 BC to c. 100 AD, but most of the examples on the PAS database are given a rather later date-range, from c. 43 to c. 300 AD.

NMS-24BD8C: UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT
Unidentified object made from at least partly gilded copper alloy, with decoration characteristic of the 8th century AD. The object is a truncated cone, now bent out of shape at the open base and with part of the base missing (slightly worn break). It tapers from an original c. 20mm diameter to a flat closed top c. 15-16mm in diameter, and is 25.5mm tall. The top has a circular hole c. 4mm in diameter set slightly off centre. The dimensions at the base, as now bent, are 23.0mm from the outside of the loop to the side opposite (17mm excluding the loop), and 27mm perpendicular to this. The thickness of the wall is c. 1.0mm at the base, and it weighs 10.8g. The sides slope outwards and are decorated with sunken panels filled with chip-carved interlace. There are eight T-shaped panels, set four above and four below with the stems of the Ts facing each other. In between, set in the spaces, are four smaller square panels. The reserved strips in between form a pattern of borders around the panels, with (at least in one area) a line of tiny punched dots visible along the centre. The relief decoration of the upper panels consists of two motifs, in adjacent pairs. One pair has an identical motif, a simple triskele knot, squared off at the three corners to fit the T shape; both panels have an extra pointed arch within the knot in the base of the T. The other pair of panels has more complex decoration which is not perfectly identical. One has two diagonal crosses set in the stem of the T and framed by a relief border, with another line across the top ending in a D-shaped lobe (probably a leaf) at either end of the bar of the T. The other has more rounded lobes, and is more clearly made from two interlacing lines, one with the lobes at either end and a simple twist forming a loop in the stem of the T, and the other forming two right angles at the base of the T, crossing in the centre of the loop, and leaving loose ends at the top. Three of the square panels in the centre have simple diagonal crosses (or saltires) within square frames, but the fourth is more complex, with a rounded loop over a pair of saltires; this panel is set below and between the upper panels with simpler motifs. One of the lower set of T-shaped panels does not survive complete, but from what can be seen there are two adjacent identical pairs, one pair with the rounded-lobe design from the upper panel, and one pair with multiple lines that cross diagonally, interlacing with a rounded loop in each of the three arms, and with a triangular loop that fills the squared end of each arm. All of this decoration - the reserved strips, the punched dots and the chip-carved interlace - are characteristic of Anglo-Saxon work of the eighth century AD, but the square and stepped patterns of the reserved strips, and the simplicity of the interlace, are also reminiscent of Irish objects such as the Copenhagen reliquary (also known as Ranvaik's casket; Youngs 1989, no. 131). There are the remains of four circular holes near the base, all c. 2.5mm in diameter, and a projecting D-shaped loop. The loop is .1mm tall and has a circular perforation 2.5mm in diameter. It appears from the outside to be cast in one piece with the rest of the object (but see below), and is neatly set vertically below one of the square panels. The holes are neatly made but appear secondary. One is right next to the loop and cuts through the corner of a panel, and the next (partly surviving) is between this panel and its neighbour. The other two are a little closer together on the other side of the object, one in between two panels and the other cutting through one panel. It is possible that the missing piece, which is roughly rectangular, has removed another hole as well as nearly all of a decorated panel. There is a well-preserved dark patina over most of the object, with gilding surviving in the recesses of the relief decoration. The flat top and the very top of the wall are instead green and corroded; there is a straight line between the two areas, with traces of a groove. The loop also has a similar corroded green surface. The interior appears to have the dark patina, except for one area on the reverse of the loop. Here there is a triangular patch of lighter green (partly cut through by the adjacent hole) as if the loop has been separately made in a different metal. There is some cracking around the top on the inside, making it possible that the corroded top was also made separately. This object has some similarities in size and shape to a series of relief-decorated objects made from gilded silver. One is recorded on the PAS database at LEIC-15A132; two others were published in Leahy 2007, a smaller 'cone' from Louth and a hemispherical 'pomade' from Wrawby (p. 146, fig. 50.3 and p. 148, fig. 53). All are more curved in shape than this rather angular copper-alloy version, but the Wrawby object has a similar vertically-set loop. All have decoration characteristic of the 8th century, and their function may be akin to the sword pyramids of the previous century.

NMS-4D5537: CUFF LINK
Silver cufflink element, missing all of its edge. What survives is the flat centre, decorated in the middle with a crudely engraved hexagon, with very short lines radiating inwards from its concave edges. In the centre is a circle with even shorter, finer lines radiating outwards; the two sets of short lines do not meet. The circle has another circle, or possibly heart shape, within it which is filled with parallel grooves. Surrounding the concave-sided hexagon are hints of eight dished areas, one of which retains a tiny fragment of original edge. This is straight, suggesting that the cufflink may originally have been hexagonal. On the reverse is a silver loop, now bent out of shape. Maximum surviving diameter 12.4mm, thickness including loop 4.4mm, weight 0.4g. The central motif looks as if it is based on the flower designs found on many octagonal cufflink elements, some of which also have dished areas around the rim outlined with curved grooves (e.g. SWYOR-81619B, NARC-DDBECA, etc.) These tend to be dated to c. 1725-1800 and therefore, although this object is made from silver, on the balance of probabilities it is less than 300 years old and does not count as Treasure.

NMS-CED7ED: FINGER RING
Description: Gold and gem finger-ring, the gemstone held in place by four claws. The circular-section hoop is slender, generally 1.4mm in diameter. It flares upwards and flattens in thickness to a tall stirrup-shaped bezel which is just 0.9mm thick. This has a rounded cut-out at the top which wraps around the gemstone at little to form a pair of claws. At right angles to these are two more claws which are apparently integrally cast with the rest of the hoop. When viewed from the underside, there is no back to the bezel nor any kind of collet wrapped around the stone; the two claws at right angles simply run down to join the hoop in a cross shape at the base of the stone. The hoop is now slightly bent out of shape. The stone is dark blue with a lighter centre, an irregular sub-triangle when seen from the top, rounded on all surfaces and polished smooth. The polishing seems to cover some chips and dents, including a dent in the top whose edge is under the tip of a claw. Dimensions: length as bent c. 25mm, width 21.6mm, thickness at bezel 8.5mm, distance from interior of hoop to top of gemstone 6.0mm, weight 2.7g. Discussion: This ring is of unusual design. The stirrup shape, with a tall bezel, is characteristic of medieval finger-rings, and four claws are not uncommon on these. The complete lack of any kind of collet, or any backplate to the bezel, is more difficult to parallel. The closest example on the PAS database is a ring from Burrough Green, Cambs (SF-D84781, 2011T681) with a similarly lightweight construction; there is another similar, but with decorated shoulders, in the British Museum, AF.1881 (Dalton 1912, no. 1844; on line at The BM dates this to the 13th or 14th century (see https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/H_AF-1881). A slightly more distant parallel from Handbridge, Cheshire, has a sturdier construction (WREX-848E6F, 2019T982) and is also dated to the 13th or 14th century. Date: From the few parallels available, this ring is likely to date to the 13th or 14th century.

NMS-FB9AE3: BODKIN
Description: Fragment of silver bodkin or head-dress pin. One end survives, with a small rounded scoop; apart from the scoop, the pin or bodkin is rectangular in cross-section. It narrows to a waist below the scoop, then flares out again to a D-shaped area pierced with a small circular hole c. 2mm in diameter. Below this is a collar of two transverse grooves which run right around the object, There is then a short undecorated area, then the bodkin is decorated on both the larger faces with identical decoration. There is a series of nine longitudinal grooves running up towards the scoop, the central groove longest and the grooves at the sides shortest to form a triangle; these grooves spring from the upper of a pair of transverse grooves. Below the lower transverse groove is a different motif, bordered at the bottom with the upper of a second pair of transverse grooves. This comprises a set of short V-shaped tapering longitudinal grooves, set alternately upwards and downwards to give a zig-zag effect. Below this motif the pin is broken across the top of a rectangular slot, and groups of oblique lines can just be seen next to the slot. The break looks fresh. Dimensions: The fragment is 41 mm long, 6 mm wide and 3 mm thick. It weighs 4.82 g. Discussion: Bodkins or pins of this form are relatively common finds, mainly of silver but occasionally of copper alloy. Each has individual decoration, but there are many similar examples which have been reported as Treasure and recorded on the PAS database, including NMS-89C281 (2019T1219), ESS-ED2B51 (2016T413), LEIC-6A9087 (2015T979), SF-A020C5 (2013T549) and NMS-8FFC76 (2018T1018). They may have had several uses. Early 17th-century Dutch portraits show them being used in the hair or to secure a head-dress, with ornaments hanging from the circular hole (Margeson 1993, 8-9, nos. 21-23), and they were at one time thought to be imports serving a Dutch expatriate market. There are now so many known from England and Wales that they were clearly also made and widely worn here to, and Beaudry (2006, 66-68) has recently re-evaluated the evidence from both Britain and North America, suggesting that they may have had a variety of uses here including threading bands or cords through corsets and bodices. Date: 1600-1700 AD.

NMS-3B5DA9: RING
Description: Gold ring or oval loop, now squashed flat in the centre, but probably originally roughly circular. Each end has a slightly concave exterior, but the rest of the hoop is rectangular in cross-section. The top and bottom faces of the hoop have fine oblique scratches, probably from finishing with a file; the interior also has less tidy longitudinal striations. The exterior has an irregular central line of scattered indentations, probably peck marks, running along either main face; one edge has two cut marks and two possible peck marks, and the other has some possible pecking. The peck marks consist of small U-shaped gouges and tiny triangular shapes made with a pointed instrument. Dimensions: The object is 33.0mm long and 8.3mm wide. In total it is 8.0mm thick at one end and 7.8mm at the other; it is 3.7mm thick in the centre. The gold it is made from is 1.8 to 2.0mm thick. It weighs 17.5g. Discussion: Various dates and functions were considered for this object, but a Viking association seems most probable. Plain gold rings are known both individually, and within weight-adjusted groups of interlinked rings of different sizes. Whether such items were ever used as finger-rings is uncertain, but the size is certainly consistent with that use. However, the weight is also consistent with a weight-adjusted piece of bullion. At 17.5g it is two thirds of a Viking ounce of c. 26.6g, which is one of the main suggested weight units for the Viking Age, while the ertog (one third of an ounce) appears on the basis of both textual and archaeological evidence to be one of the most common sub-divisions. The secondary testing is also characteristic of metalwork from Viking hoards. Both edge-nicking and surface pecking appear to have been widely used on Viking objects, probably primarily to check that the object was not plated, or alloyed with another metal, although some scholars have suggested that the process may have had more of a ritual function, validating transactions. The edge nicking here does seem typical of the Viking Age. The pecking is less characteristic, judging from the photographs alone, but could have carried out the same function. Date: Probably late 9th or 10th century.

NMS-E248A4: VERVEL
Description: Silver vervel (or hawk-ring) of Lewis and Richardson type C.i, with ring attached to a shield-shaped plate. The shield has a straight top, right-angled upper corners and angled lower corners leading to a point. All of the corners are gently curved. The plate has engraved decoration of three roughly drawn circles (two above and one below) each with a central annulet; all circles and annulets are drawn freehand and not made with a compass or stamped. There is an engraved border around the edge, again drawn freehand, with barely-visible groups of short lines or nicks leading inwards from the border at the centre of the top and just above the lower corners. The ring is D-shaped in cross-section, with the interior convex and the exterior flat; it is set horizontally, and bears the inscription Iohn Riches in italic script. Dimensions: The shield measures 8.5 x 9.9mm. Width of ring 2.8mm, internal diameter 5.4mm. Total thickness from front of shield to back of ring, 7.7mm. Weight 1.01g. Discussion: The type C.i, with a ring set horizontally, is less common than the vertically set type. Most comparable examples are decorated with crests rather than shields of arms (e.g. NMS-D15F32, BH-D703D3, KENT-91B046, DUR-775EF0) but one is known with the royal arms (PAS-EA634F). The arms of Three annulets (2, 1) are listed for the family of Riches in the sixteenth-century Visitations of Kent (Bannerman, 1923-4, 2 vols., (2) p. 23). Riches is also a fairly common East Anglian surname; in 1626, a John Riches left £10 for the poor of Stalham parish (20 miles to the east) and his son, also John, lived from 1646 to 1688. Compare NMS-312C0B (2022T885), found in the same parish. Date: 17th century.

NMS-312C0B: VERVEL
Description: Tiny silver vervel or hawking ring of Lewis and Richardson type B. The hoop is nearly circular in shape, and D-shaped in cross-section with a flat exterior and convex inner surface. The exterior is engraved with the name John Rychers in italic script; the letters of the forename are much more tightly spaced than those of the surname, and the inscription fills most of the space available. Dimensions: External diameter 8.3-8.6mm. Width of hoop 2.2mm. Thickness of hoop 0.9mm. Weight 0.29g. Discussion: Type B vervels (cylindrical in shape) are relatively uncommon compared to other types, and this is a particularly small one. Good parallels on the PAS database include NMS-584F18, NLM-1A695D and SF-D2253D. The Richers family (also spelled Rychers) owned Swannington Hall from at least the late 15th century (John Richers's will of 1501 makes it clear that the family had lived there for some time) to before 1851, when it was owned by the Bladwell family. The precise John Rychers mentioned on the vervel, and his dates, have yet to be identified, but two John Richerses are baptised at Swannington in the 17th century: the first on 14th April 1608, the second on 30th March 1628 (son of William, marriage possibly 1616). Compare NMS-E248A4 (2021T629), found in the same parish. Date: The script indicates a 17th-century date.

NMS-F58EF7: WHISTLE
Description: Small silver hawking whistle. It is tubular, flaring from an open D-shaped mouthpiece to a closed, convex end. A D-shaped sound hole has been cut out of the front, with neat filing on the curved edge. There is a maker's mark above the sound hole, probably reading ED within a shield-shaped cartouche; this is the right way up when the whistle is viewed from the front, mouthpiece uppermost. A circular wire loop has been soldered to the reverse, with a silver wire ring surviving in the loop; the ring is made of circular wire with the ends soldered together. There is a small dent in one side, near the convex end. Dimensions: Length 31.4mm, maximum diameter (width) 7.7mm, maximum thickness (including loop) 11.5mm. Ring diameter 10mm, total weight 3.8g. Discussion: Compare the very similar HESH-CED3B4 (2007W21) and a decorated version, HAMP-CC76B9 (2022T249). The maker's mark ED has also been noted on a small jug made in Norwich in c. 1660, but the maker has not been identified (Jackson 1905, 318, 321). Date: Probably 17th century.

NMS-CD6871: BROOCH
Terminal from the foot of an early Anglo-Saxon cruciform brooch, now very corroded and battered about. It is broken (worn break) across some transverse grooves, and on the reverse here a line of a catchplate can be seen as a very slight raised and corroded line in the otherwise smooth brown patina. Below the grooves are two broad transverse mouldings, and then comes the simple horse-head terminal. The front of this is covered in corrosion bubbles, and very little detail can be seen, but it appears to taper slightly from where the eyes would have been, then flare out again to slim pointed-oval nostrils. The whole terminal is fairly narrow at 11.0mm wide. The reverse of the terminal is slightly hollowed and has a shiny brown patina. Surviving length 36.1mm, thickness 4.6mm, weight 6.67g. This is probably from a Martin type 2 brooch, dating to c. 475 to c. 550 AD.

NMS-0385C4: SPINDLE WHORL
Circular lead spindle whorl. In shape it is almost globular, 18mm in diameter, with top and bottom slightly flattened. They are not parallel but at a slight angle, so the whorl is 14mm thick at most and 11mm at least. The sides are convex and the central perforation tapers slightly from 6mm to 4mm in diameter It weighs 25.4g. In general lead spindle whorls are found from the 10th to the 14th century, c. 900-1400 AD.

NMS-33E456: PENDANT
Description: Probable reliquary pendant of early post-medieval date, made from silver with traces of gilding. It is circular, and consists (probably) of two discs joined by a short cylindrical wall, with reinforcing rings and frames. One end of the cylinder is cut into tiny crenellations, and looks neatly made and original; the other end is roughly torn away. Around the outside of the wall is a reinforcing ring, circular or D-shaped in cross-section and c. 1.6mm wide, which appears to be soldered on. This ring has a rather clumsy joint at one point, with some gilding surviving here. Within the cylinder is a flat circular area, probably two discs pressed together, decorated with detailed and neat engraving on both faces. One (at the torn edge of the cylinder) shows a male human face, and the other has an Agnus Dei (or Lamb and Flag). The disc is slightly concave on the face with the man's head, and slightly convex on the Agnus Dei face. The human face has a beard divided into two points, but no moustache. The man's hair is shoulder-length and wavy, issuing from a rounded widow's peak in the centre of the forehead. Below the forehead are squarish but well-drawn eyes, two nostrils hinting at the nose, and a short straight stroke for the mouth. The ears are not shown. The head is sitting on undecorated shoulders demarcated by a groove. Above the shoulders, behind the head, two triangles project which run right to the edge, and combine to look like a tall collar. The background between the shoulders and collar is filled with cross-hatching. Short grooves radiate from behind the head onto these triangles and around the whole of the top of the head. Just above the disc is an oval-section ring, c. 1.8mm wide, which fits neatly inside the cylinder to form a frame or border, but which is not apparently soldered in position. It has a straight joint just above the head's right eye (to the viewer's left). Where the wall of the cylinder is torn away, a gap can be seen between ring and disc. The upper surface of the ring seems to be slightly knobbly. The other face of the disc (at the crenellated end of the cylinder) is decorated with an engraved Agnus Dei (lamb and flag) motif on a cross-hatched background. The lamb is shown in profile right, from the upper legs upwards, with short horizontal stabbed punchmarks indicating wool. The neck, shoulders and haunches are shown by grooves and there is no tail. The head is turned to look left over the animal's back, and has large erect ears, an oval eye and a muzzle (with nose and mouth) separated by another groove. The flagpole rises from the animal's back and bears a banner-like flag just below the top. This has a square area decorated with a cross, and two pointed streamers. The cross-hatching all around is rather messy, with different areas on slightly different alignments and with irregular spacing. This face also has a ring around it just inside the cylinder, this time more neatly fixed in place to form a kind of inner bevelled frame. The decoration on the two faces is aligned with a die-axis of 6 o'clock. There is no trace of a suspension loop; the joint in the encircling ring is not at the top of either face's decoration, being at 5 o'clock on one face (the head) and 1 o'clock on the other (the Agnus Dei). Dimensions: Diameter 22.8mm, surviving thickness (length of cylinder) at most 12.2mm, weight 8.3g. Discussion: This object is probably a crushed reliquary pendant. Complete examples of 15th-century reliquary pendants are a similar size and shape, and are decorated with similar engraving on both faces; compare SWYOR-0B1A32, NCL-E3FFD5 and SF-0EDFA7, and a single disc at YORYM-736814. The reinforcing ring around the wall of the object is paralleled on 17th-century reliquary pendants; compare SWYOR-817B56 and the parallels cited there. Although the object is now fairly flat, it is possible that it was originally hollow, and that the disc with the head was crushed onto the Agnus Dei disc, causing the concavity in the disc with the head, and leading to the damage to the torn edge of the cylindrical wall. The use of crenellated edges and framing rings is not paralleled on any reliquary pendant yet recorded on the PAS database. Alternatively, circular mounts with very similar beaded or crenellated edges and soldered-on ring frames are known, from a variety of objects.There are five with engraved decoration on a book-binding of 1504, several with black enamel decoration on Bishop Richard Fox's crozier (he died in 1528) and four on a 'coconut cup' given to Eton College in the early 16th century (Williamson and Marks 2003, nos. 30, 104 and 190). On the PAS database there is NMS-C9BD37, with a cross-hatched background. These mounts are, however, all uniface. Taking all the options together, the object seems most likely to be a reliquary pendant. Date: The difficulty in finding precise parallels among the reliquary pendants so far recorded on the PAS database may be due to their date. All have been given dates of either the15th century, or the 17th century. The mount parallels may suggest a date in the early 16th century instead.

NMS-C98E64: MOUNT
Piece of copper-alloy binding strip or mount, probably from furniture, a box or casket, or similar. It is D-shaped in cross-section, with a flat reverse and curved top. It is broken at both ends and has vaguely zoomorphic decoration. Surviving length 75mm, width of wider part 13mm, maximum thickness 5.3mm, weight 16.3g. At one end it is broken across a circular rivet hole c. 3mm in diameter; here the break seems fairly fresh. The hole has punched dots around it and there is a trace of an oblique groove. There is then an undecorated area c. 25mm long, with a similar rivet hole near the other end. This is off centre and has broken through to the edge of the mount. Beyond this is another arc of dots around a V-shaped groove, then a crisp set of three mouldings cut through by oblique grooves to form what should probably be interpreted as an animal head. First comes triangular mouldings which are probably ears, then a rectangular moulding with V-shaped groove which is probably the brow, then a rectangular moulding with double V-shaped groove which is probably the snout. From the snout issues a narrower, lower D-section rod which turns smoothly to the side before being broken (worn break). These mounts are common finds but are hard to interpret as they seem never to have survived in situ, still fixed to an object. Compare NMS-3952B1 and NMS-C31E31, which also have the dot decoration. DENO-E1A243, NMS-07252C and NMS-7094D4 also end in narrowed bars (DENO-E1A243 being similarly bent to one side). NMS-AA890D has a pierced terminal, and NMS-B81351 and NMS-2B4205 are broken at lozengiform flattened areas. These features suggest that they may have had functions beyond that of decoration. They have usually been dated to the 12th to 14th centuries.

NMS-AB83CA: FIGURINE
Chunky lead figurine, showing a woman and child. The woman is sitting on a low seat, concealed by her long skirt, with her legs stretched out to the viewer's left; her right (upper) knee appears bent and from the reverse can be seen within the skirt. Her left arm is around a small standing child with rounded head and bare legs, who is facing left (from the viewer's point of view). The child has its head against the woman's shoulder and chest, but there is a scrape down the centre of the woman's body, just in front of the child, so details here have been lost. The woman's left leg may be shown in front of the child, again with bent knee, and her right arm appears to be bent in front of her body. Her face has also been affected by the scrape. The reverse has more detail, with long hair tied back and what looks like a waist belt and possibly a shawl over the woman's right shoulder. The irregular oval base is flat, allowing the figurine to stand upright in a stable position. It measures 35.5mm long, 37.5mm high and the base is 18.6mm wide; it weighs 92.9g. It is very like SUR-13C64C, which suggests that these figurines (whatever their use) may have been mass-produced. Because of this, and the general feel of the item and its subject matter, it is likely to be post-medieval (18th or 19th century) rather than Roman in date.

NMS-8488EE: MIRROR CASE
Part of one half of a medieval copper-alloy mirror case. It is circular, 31mm in diameter, with a flange around the edge 3.3mm thick. Within the flanged inner face is a thin grey coating, with a patch of white corrosion in one part of the angle that probably represents the cement originally holding the glass. The flat outer face is decorated with grooves made up of punched dots, although detail is unclear as the surface looks like it has been dissolved away, with bare metal in places. The grooves form a central simple cross within a circular border, with an L shape in each angle giving the effect of a triple-strand cross; in each small quadrant formed by the L there is a radiating line. At the end of one of the cross arms there is a double pierced lug surviving, but the opposite lug is missing together with part of the circular plate. The breaks are not particularly fresh nor particularly worn. Total surviving length 35.2mm, weight 8.6g. These mirror cases seem to have a fairly restricted date-range of late 13th to early 14th century.

NMS-85810F: HARNESS PENDANT
Incomplete medieval copper-alloy horse-harness pendant. It is crescent-shaped, points downwards, with a sturdy oval suspension lug in the centre of the convex edge, pierced from side to side by a small hole and with a ridge running across the base of the lug at the front. The body of the pendant has lost either end (worn breaks) and in between has a zig-zag lower (incurved) edge. It is decorated with double parallel lines of punchmarks forming a border around the upper edge, and a zig-zag pattern springing from the base of the lug, with each of the lower points of the zig-zag joined to the border by a short radial line. The reverse is undecorated, slightly concave, and with a rough surface. Surviving length from top of lug to centre of zig-zag edge 18.9mm, and to broken-off points 26.5mm; surviving width 33.5mm. Thickness of plate c. 2.3mm, thickness of lug 7.5mm. Weight 6.2g. The sturdy lug and concave shape sugggests a Roman date, but the decoration suggests a medieval date. Compare SF-C7F222, BH-CB6CE4, which have been given medieval dates, but also HESH-24A5E7 and SWYOR-B03244, which are thought to be Roman. It may in fact be Romanesque, and 12th century.

An unusual copper-alloy buckle frame, probably early post-medieval in date. It is square, 27.5mm wide, with a roughly trapezoidal bar. The sides (or top and bottom edges) are a curved in cross-section, forming a quarter-circle, hollow on the reverse. They are decorated with a ridge across the ends close to the bar. The outside edge is semi-circular in cross-section, also hollow on the reverse, with bevelled ends; it is decorated with a ridge across each long edge. The outside edge has a notch on its inner edge for a pin rest, and on its outer edge is a hollow-backed lozenge-shaped projection with a flat top and two concentric steps around; the junction between lozenge and outside edge is marked with another ridge. Length 39.3mm, maximum thickness 4.6mm, weight 9.8g. It resembles a post-medieval buckle frame published by Whitehead (2003, no. 153) and dated to c. 1500-1650, although this has its bar set in from the ends of the sides. It probably dates to the 16th century AD.

NMS-75A915: STRAP END
Incomplete copper-alloy strap-end of early-medieval date. It is rectangular, 24.4mm wide, and at 4.8mm thick, quite solid and heavy. The attachment end is much thinner (2.2mm) and now incomplete, being broken through at least two circular attachment holes. These are towards the middle of the width, and there is room for them to have been flanked by two others, making four in total. The rest of the strap-end is complete apart from a small part of one lower corner. The front steps up to the thicker area which has relief decoration of plants, probably flowers. Three stems spring downwards and outwards from a flat-topped rectangular boss at the top, and end in oval bosses each with three leaves or petals extending in fleur-de-lis fashion. At the other end of the strap-end is another rectangular boss from which two stems spring, each leading to an oval boss after which they split into two more stems which follow the edge of the strap-end, one up and one down, to end by each rectangular boss in another flower made up of an oval boss and a lis shape. The decoration fills the available space very neatly. The reverse is flat, undecorated and more corroded than the front. The surviving length is 36.1mm and it weighs 16.4g. This is the type of Carolingian-style strap-end which gave rise to the fairly common Winchester-style openwork strap-ends with three tendrils springing from the top, such as WILT-7B9CED and SUSS-254428. Rectangular strap-ends with this style of decoration are, however, not particularly common on the PAS database, and examples such as HAMP-9E6A09, WILT-6E9825, BH-0DBE37, SF10145 and ESS-D80727 (all copper alloy), or NARC-10F5B2 and SF-1E8422 (both silver) are all rather differently decorated. They date to the ninth or tenth centuries AD, which is probably also appropriate for this strap-end.

Attachment end from a copper-alloy late Anglo-Saxon openwork strap-end, 24.5mm wide. The split end is closed down one side, so was presumably made by folding a wide strip in half. It is closed by two small copper-alloy rivets, each in an upper corner. The base of the split area is perforated by three circular holes each about 4mm in diameter, and below this there is a transverse ridge on both faces; one retains a hint of a groove along its length. Below this there are worn stubs of four vertical bars, one at either side and two in the centre, dividing the main body of the strap-end into three equally sized perforations or apertures, all probably originally rectangular. The surviving length is 21.0mm, and the strap-end is a maximum of 5.2mm thick at the ridge. It weighs 8.3g. The strap-end has a brown surface which looks as if it has been stripped by chemical action, and all possible decoration has been lost apart from the hint of a groove on one face. If this is the front, then the closed side of the split end is on the viewer's right. This fits well into a group of blunt-ended rectangular strap-ends with two or three rectangular apertures ending in a thicker bar at the end, published by Rogerson and Ashley (2021). They can have either split ends or sockets. A close parallel on the PAS database is NMS-DE557B.

NMS-9E18ED: DAGGER
Copper-alloy quillon from a knife or dagger guard, probably of medieval date. The object is cast in one piece, and is broken across the end of the hole through which the iron tang would have passed (fairly fresh break). Beyond this it turns a right angle downwards, and then there is a C-shaped curve, points upwards. The rearmost point, where it springs from the rest of the object, is a flat oval platform. The curve then acts as a neck, because the other end is shaped into an animal or possibly human head, with dots on the sides for ears, dots on the front for eyes, and a V-section mouth that also helps to form a nose above. It is tempting to see the irregularities on the side of the oval platform as evidence for wings, making this a dragon, but they are probably just casting flaws. Overall length 26.0mm, maximum width (at broken end) 9.6mm, weight 5.3g. Compare other quillons with heads at ESS-456C06 (much larger), LIN-1B00B5, NMS-8FD066 and SF-E5CF33; none are particularly close parallels. ESS-456C06 is dated to the 17th century; the others have all been dated to the 13th or 14th centuries, and the head on this example is more reminiscent of medieval art.

NMS-84FA3A: BROOCH
Incomplete Roman headstud brooch, now in poor condition having lost all its surface back to bare metal. The rectangular swept-back wings each retain a patch of blue enamel at their ends and a patch of red enamel further forward. On the reverse, the head is deeply hollowed in the centre, and has a long (but spindly) pierced lug or loop to hold the axis bar or tube around which the spring was coiled. On top of the head is a crest with a central hole that has worn through to the exterior, which would originally have held the chord of the spring. At the end of this, at the top of the bow, are the remains of the stud. This has a central dot and the remains of an encircling groove with a fragment of red enamel. Below, the bow curves and tapers smoothly to a rounded cross-section and then a break above the foot, with no decoration surviving on the bow. On the reverse of the bow, filling the curve, is a thin projection which is all that remains of a long catchplate. Length 41.5mm, width across wings 20.4mm, weight 11.8g. Headstud brooches were made from 75 to 200 AD; there is not enough decorative detail on this brooch to narrow the type down further.

NMS-9DAFF0: BOOK FITTING
Book clasp of Howsam's type A.3, probably 15th or 16th century, now slightly bent. It is made from two sheets of copper alloy, a front sheet with flared end and hook, and a shorter rectangular backplate, joined by a copper-alloy rivet. The front plate is mainly 9.1m wide, the flared end broken across a rivet hole which is surrounded by a groove. There is decoration of neat transverse grooves, perhaps in pairs, now hard to see; other decoration may now have vanished. The hook is 3.6mm wide. Length 44.0mm, maximum width 10.7mm, thickness of front plate 0.7mm, weight 2.4g.

NMS-84154F: COSMETIC MORTAR
Copper-alloy centre-looped cosmetic mortar dating to the late Iron Age or Roman period (50 BC to 200 AD). It is smoothly curved along its length with slightly thickened rounded terminals. The U-section groove retains a shiny green patina, but this is missing over most of the rest of the surface meaning that the decorative details have been lost. The loop is simple, with an internal diameter of 6.8mm and a surviving external diameter of 15mm. Traces of a slight groove or flute can be seen along the exterior, just above the loop. Length 53.1mm, height from base of loop to centre of upper surface 23.1mm, maximum thickness 13.1mm, weight 21.5g.

NMS-9D7BFC: FURNITURE FITTING
Globular knob handle from furniture, made from copper alloy, now very corroded. It is basically spherical, 25.0mm in diameter, with one end tapering into a waist and then flaring out again into a cone. This then steps in to form a blunt-ended attachment shaft c. 4.5mm square in cross-section. The opposite end probably has a small boss, but this is covered with bubbly corrosion. There are small patches of smooth surface visible, mostly green or grey-green. These handles are found in both the Roman and post-medieval periods, but the patina suggests a Roman date for this one. Length 44.0mm, weight 61.5g.

NMS-71E134: STIRRUP
Copper-alloy stirrup-strap mount of Williams Class B,with engraved decoration. The main part of the mount is large and rectangular with straight sides, 35.9mm wide, with an obliquely angled flange. The flange runs the full width of the mount and has a central hole with iron rivet, which retains a rectangular patch of iron corrosion around it on both front and reverse. The upper part of the mount is rounded and shaped into three concave curves or scallops on either side and one at the apex, making seven in all, and giving a roughly pentagonal shape to the mount. There is a circular attachment hole at the top of the mount, slightly off centre. The very neat decoration comprises an engraved border following the edge of the mount on all sides, and a single vertical line running up the centre and forking below the attachment hole to form a Y shape. This vertical line is crossed over (interrupted) by two pairs of horizontal lines which probably ought to be read as a ribbon, or strap-work; they run across at about a third, and about two-thirds, of the way up. They in turn are crossed over and interrupted by symmetrical ribbons again formed by double lines, consisting of an oblique line on either side with a loop at the base and another curve at the top. The effect is of a V with roundels either side of the base and curves within the top, and could be read as an animal head with tapering muzzle, nostrils and eyes. There may be more engraving on the lowest part of the mount, perhaps a V shape joining the nostrils, but corrosion here makes this unclear. The reverse also has a lot of corrosion. The plate gets thinner towards the top; its maximum thickness is about 2.4mm but it tapers to 1.3mm thick at the top. The overall length is 51mm and it weighs 24.5g. There are several solid flat straight-sided Class B stirrup-strap mounts that so far do not fit into any of Williams's types, but none very close to this example. They include Williams's no. 474, no. 476 and no. 479; no. 474, from Meols, also has the double-line ribbon or strap-work whereas no. 479, excavated at Waltham Abbey, has the same curving shapes as this one, although the other way up. On the PAS database there are several of the same shape as no. 474, with single deep concave curves to either side of the apex (e.g. NMS-78B015, HAMP-1BBA06, SF1890, and SUR-4D9E78); also compare incomplete examples NMS-974B64, HAMP1909 and PUBLIC-5D35E7, and the unusually shaped SUR-E6A723. They all date broadly to the 11th century AD.

NMS-99D011: DAGGER
Post-medieval dagger guard made from copper alloy, consisting of a central block with a quillon to either side. The block is flat, 6.5mm thick, with a rectangular hole measuring 9 x 6mm through its centre to accommodate the tang of the dagger. Viewed from the top or bottom the block is hexagonal, and viewed from the side each face has a central vertical ridge with another at either end where the block meets the quillons. These three ridges on either side divide the block into two panels, decorated in mirror-image with two central longitudinal dashes (short grooves) with pairs of oblique dashes above and below. The decoration is identical on both faces. The quillons are also identical, both octagonal in cross-section and flaring very slightly from 6.2mm wide to 7.0mm wide before stepping in to a narrower circular cross-section which is decorated with a ridge before ending in an end-flattened knob. The faces of the octagonal area are decorated with more short oblique dashes. Total length 84.2mm, maximum width of block (including ridges) 15.4mm, weight 24.5g. There is only one close parallel on the PAS database, ESS-45D9F7, which although half the length has similar short grooved or stabbed decoration; this has been dated to c. 1550-1750, but on what grounds is unclear. LANCUM-2E754A, SUSS-CF9FDC and KENT-31C8AA have the same basic shape, and the last of these is dated to the late 17th century from comparable objects in the Royal Armouries. None of the medieval quillon-daggers in Ward Perkins (1940) have a similar straight, flat guard, and although there seems no close parallel in the Royal Armouries either, straight flaring quillons are also found on X.260 which is dated to 1580 to 1620. In conclusion, it seems likely to date to the late 16th or 17th century.

NMS-75F0B1: SADDLE
Copper-alloy saddle pommel of post-medieval date (c. 1500-1700). It was apparently made in two halves which have been brazed together at a raised seam. Six further slightly lower ribs, each flanked by grooves, radiate from the midpoint of the seam, converging at a point which has a circular attachment hole just to one side. To either side of the point, both wings are lost (fairly old breaks) before there is another original curving edge at the back. It is 71mm tall, a maximum of 40mm in diameter, and weighs 116.1g. Compare LANCUM-CE4675 and YORYM-E3E676, which have the same decoration, and DEV-01E166 and LIN-696878, which show the original shape.

NMS-85E1C1: PURSE
Half of a copper-alloy purse bar of Williams's Class J. It is broken across the hole through the undecorated central block (worn break). The bar is oval in cross-section, 5.0 x 4.3mm in the centre, and the terminal is globular, decorated with perhaps seven worn curved, twisting ridges and grooves. Total surviving length 44.2mm, block 12.1mm tall, terminal 11.5mm diameter, weight 12.5g. Late medieval or early post-medieval, c. 1450-1550 AD.

NMS-2867A9: FINGER RING
Description: Small gold finger-ring with enamelled decoration on the exterior and an inscription on the interior. The hoop is D-shaped in cross-section and consistent in width. with a slim, flat border around either edge, which has broken away in places. The convex exterior is decorated with a design in panels, each filled with a reserved gold design against a background of black enamel; much of the enamel is now missing. The panels are separated by five slightly taller S-shaped motifs, set transversely so that they interrupt the flat border around each edge. Each S-shaped motif is made from a deeply engraved diagonal groove flanked by ridges, curling around a reserved circular disc at either end. The oblique groove runs out into the flat border around each edge of the hoop and seems never to have been filled with enamel, whereas the groove around the reserved disc occasionally retains some black enamel. The panels between are filled with reserved curling plant motifs, deeply keyed around for black enamel. The panels are all broadly the same, with a curving stem with a pair of leaves and a branching stem at the centre, and a pair of leaves at one end; the other end of the stem seems to run out with no space for another set of leaves. The flat inside surface is engraved in neat serifed Roman capitals with the inscription + MI [heart shape] IS + YOVRS (My heart is yours). There are traces of black enamel filling both letters and stops. The initial cross is larger and has splayed ends to the arms (a cross pattee), whereas the cross in the middle of the inscription is a small simple equal-armed cross. The heart shape has cross-hatched grooves filling the right-hand half. After the inscription is a space-filling engraved motif, a fine groove but otherwise similar in shape to the reserved motifs filling the panels, with a curving and spiralling stem ending in a leaf shape. Dimensions: The hoop is 17.3mm in external diameter, 3.6mm wide and 1.0mm thick. The ring weighs 1.9g. Discussion: The enamelled foliate decoration on the exterior can be compared with other posy rings of the 17th century, such as on HAMP-CD6223 (2020T970), SWYOR-4DC98F (2020T632), WILT-765627 (2008T592). The inscription or posy (My Heart Is Yours) is one that is known (with variations) on two others recorded on the PAS database, one of gilded silver (DUR-05020D, 2018T790) and one of gold (SUSS-58B078, 2011T435). The use of a heart shape to replace the word 'heart' in an inscription, emoji-style, is unusual. Date: The use of capitals suggests a 16th- or 17th-century date, and the style of decoration with black enamel suggests a date in the 17th or early 18th century. Taken together, a likely date-range would probably be the second half of the 17th century, c. 1650-1700.

NMS-75BFEA: FLAT AXEHEAD
Very corroded flat axehead of early Bronze Age date. Apart from the corrosion and total loss of surface, it appears complete. The butt is 27.5mm wide, and the axe then flares with very gently concave edges for most of its length. Close to the other end it flares out in a more noticeable curve, to rounded corners and a gently curving cutting edge which is 53.6mm wide. The cross-section flares from 2-2.5mm thick at the butt to a maximum of 13.0mm thick in the centre. The axehead is 88.5mm long and weighs 223g. It is slightly larger than, for example, LVPL-4DA982; and compares well with LANCUM-0B0E4D. It is likely to date to c. 2500 to c. 1600 BC.

NMS-74C3D7: STRAP FITTING
Hollow plate from a copper-alloy buckle or strap-end. It appears to have been cast with sides, front and back all in one piece, with a single circular rivet hole piercing both front and back in the centre of the open end. The backplate is about 1.5mm thick, thinner than the sides or front which are both c. 2mm thick. The plate tapers from a maximum of 18.0mm in external width at the open end, to 15.3mm wide at the closed junction with the body of the buckle or strap-end. The end of the plate is marked on the front by a transverse ridge, beyond which the object tapers and is broken (very worn break). The plate is undecorated, and is longer than it is wide; the surviving length of the object is 24.7mm, its maximum thickness (at open end) is 5.5mm, weight 9.3mm. There is no hint of a pin hole, perhaps suggesting that it is more likely to be a strap-end than a buckle, although the location and wear of the break might not be expected to preserve a hole. Strap fittings with hollow plates date from the very end of the 14th century into the second half of the 15th century.

NMS-64EF08: BRIDLE BIT
Incomplete copper-alloy bit link. It has an oval loop at one end (17.1mm in width) which is very worn towards the end. Where this meets the central shaft, there is a squarish boss with a hollowed reverse; the boss is 6.0mm thick. The central shaft is trapezoidal in cross-section, and ends in the worn stubs of another loop. Total surviving length 37.1mm, weight 6.7g. These items were used in the 11th century to attach the bit to the rein (Williams 2007, fig. 2, p. 4).

NMS-5F2BDA: SEAL MATRIX
Medieval lead seal matrix, flat but now slightly bent so that the front is convex. Broken stub of perforated lug at the top on the reverse, and small area missing to one edge. Pointed-oval, 33.4 x 22.5mm. Simple fleur-de-lis. + S' : hVGONIS: TUkkE: (Seal of Hugh Tuck). The engraving is neat and expert, with a double-barred N and a Roman E. The thickness away from the lug is 3.3mm, and the weight is 15.8g. 13th century. The surname Tukke (now Tuck) is recorded in Norfolk in the 12th and 13th centuries (Reaney and Wilson, Dictionary of English Surnames, under Tuck) and probably derives from a Scandinavian personal name.

NMS-64A59B: HARNESS HOOK
Copper-alloy harness hook. It has a low conical terminal, c. 13.5mm in maximum diameter and c. 14mm in height, and a circular-section shaft 6 to 7 mm in diameter that then curves into a hook. The hook is a faceted oval in cross-section and has a very worn break at its base. Total length 46mm, weight 17.8g. These objects are thought to have been used on medieval curb bits to attach reins ending in strap loops (see https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/22017, which has been dated to the 14th century). It is possible that relatively plain ones such as this one may have been used into the early post-medieval period.

NMS-751047: UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT
Copper-alloy object consisting of a circular-section rod c. 7mm in diameter, with worn ends which appear to originally have been squared off, not broken. One end might have been cut or otherwise shaped into three facets. It is shaped into a loose ring, originally perhaps c. 50-60mm in external diameter, but one end (the one with three possible facets) has been bent backwards to wrench the ring out of shape. Its unbent length is c. 200mm and it weighs 48.9g. This object was found on the same field as a small hoard of Bronze Age items (2021T771) but it cannot be positively identified as Bronze Age. It is unlikely to be an armring or bracelet, as it is rather small in size and its cross-section is rather too chunky; but as an undated, unidentified object, there remains a faint chance that it may belong to the Bronze Age. Compare SF10246.

NMS-538775: EAR RING
Description: Part of a Roman gold earring with relief decoration. It is circular in shape and made from two thicknesses of sheet cut to shape, with a D-shaped projection at the bottom which has been pierced to form a suspension loop. The decoration is in relief on both faces, and there is a rim around the perforation on both faces, making it difficult to know which face is the front. Part of what would have been the upper edge has been torn away and the whole pendant is crumpled. There was surely another hole in this missing portion of the disc, to attach the gold loop which would have hung from the ear. The lower hole was clearly for a secondary suspension, something hanging from the earring's main disc. The decoration appears to be identical on both faces, as if each sheet was made in repoussé from the same patrix die and they were subsequently joined together. At centre what appears to be an eagle stands on a ground line composed of six pellets atop a crescent, the tips of which point downward. On one face a small equal-armed cross is visible within the arms of the crescent; this was surely also originally present on the other. The eagle is encircled by a wreath. Dimensions: Width (original diameter) 20.5mm. Surviving length as crumpled, 22.1mm. Total thickness, 0.4mm. Weight 2.2g. Discussion: This pendant can perhaps be paralleled by several broadly similar examples, although none are identical. A pendant with similar suspension loop and illegible repoussé ornament from Leaden Roding, Essex (NMS-FEB8BF, 2015T361) appears (although incomplete) to be drop-shaped rather than circular and is made from a single sheet of gold. Another (NMS-B9A004, 2012T142) again produced from one sheet of gold, has a beaded edge and is decorated with a rather unusual melange of what seems to be religious and zodiacal symbols; this example has a single suspension hole pierced through the disc itself, not through a projecting tab. Another possible parallel on the PAS database is KENT-DD7BC3 (2018T734), made from two thicknesses of gold, with a beaded edge, one suspension point which has torn away, and decoration of magical or amuletic symbols. KENT-DD7BC3 is closely comparable to two unprovenanced examples in the British Museum (BM 1814,0704.1172 and 1772,0314.84), both of which have soldered-on loops. Date: On the basis of both its iconography and its similarity to other examples, this object can be dated to the Roman period.

NMS-56A0CE: PENDANT
Gold pierced imitation coin of early-medieval date, probably early 9th century; probably intended as a pendant. Description: A gold disc, struck with a design on both faces. Each face has a beaded border, originally very neatly placed around the edge, but in places now worn to a plain ridge. Within this is an imitation inscription mainly consisting of radial raised strokes, virtually all of which have raised dots at either end. The centre of the design consists essentially of three horizontal rows of short vertical strokes on the obverse, and five longer horizontal lines on the reverse. Again, virtually all of these end in raised dots, and the horizontal lines are separated by rows of similar dots. The piercing has been pushed through from the reverse of the coin to the obverse, through some of the design elements, leaving a very slight burr on the reverse and a much more obvious burr on the obverse. The placing of the piercing is odd, as when suspended it would make the lines of the central inscriptions run at a steep oblique angle. The disc is generally in good condition but is slightly bent, particularly around the perforation, and although quite worn around the edge is not at all worn elsewhere. Dimensions: 21mm top to bottom by 20.8mm side to side, when held with the design the right way up. Thickness 0.7mm. Diameter of hole 1.7mm. Weight 2.77g. Discussion: The disc was struck in imitation of a dinar (an Islamic medieval gold coin). Dr Lutz Ilisch (formerly of the Research Centre for Islamic Numismatics, University of Tübingen) has seen an image, and given the following comments: "The raised dots show that the prototype was either an Abbasid dinar of between 770 and 820, or an Aghlabid dinar of the second half of the 9th century. Five-line legends are known from Aghlabid dinars struck by rulers in North Africa, with the closest parallels being from coins of Ziyadat-allah II (863-864 AD) and Ziyadat-allah III (903-910 AD); less close, but still possible, parallels include 'Abd-allah (also known as Abdallah ibn Ibrahim, 811-816 AD) and Ziyadat-allah I (816-837 AD)." Dr. Ilisch also comments, however, that it is not certain that a late 9th or early 10th century coin was copied. It is also possible that a classical Abbasid dinar was used as a prototype, and the pendant could either have been a direct imitation or perhaps an imitation of a copy made some time later. Prof Rory Naismith has also seen an image of the coin, and comments: "This is one of a number of western-made imitative dinars from the late eighth century and after. This specimen is, however, noticeably different in style from others. One aspect of this is that the imitation is highly abstracted: the Arabic script has degenerated into a series of lines, and is completely illegible. But the execution is also quite distinct from other imitative dinars, which mostly offer a rather closer approximation of the original. This coin's style suggests a different background. It is to some extent reminiscent of the gold solidi imitating those of Louis the Pious, which likewise reduce the inscriptions to a string of more or less evenly spaced strokes. There are differences in detail, however, such as the pelleting at both ends of most strokes: a feature not regularly seen on the Louis the Pious imitations, and more reminiscent of Anglo-Saxon coins of the later eighth and early ninth centuries. For this reason, a date in (perhaps) the early ninth century is most likely. This coin probably represents a third- or later generation copy of a dinar; that is to say, it sits at several removes from an original, or from users closely familiar with original issues from the Caliphate." Date: The pendant could therefore date from the late 8th century to the mid 10th century, with the most likely period being c. 780 to c. 850 AD.

NMS-6D8084: SCABBARD
Description: Silver and garnet-inlaid pyramidal mount from a sword-scabbard. It has four main faces, each drop-shaped, with a curved base tapering to a truncated point. Each of the faces has identical cloisonné decoration consisting of a central mushroom-shaped cell surrounded by four other garnets. There is a vertical cell wall running from the central mushroom above and below, and a zig-zag cell wall to either side continuing the stepped shape of the mushroom. Most of the garnets in the main faces survive, but on each face one or more have been lost. The square top has a single square garnet, now chipped and cracked. In between the curves at the base of the main faces are four subsidiary facets, each set with a single triangular garnet, all of which survive. They appear to have been cut on a slight curve, as the base of the pyramid (at least when seen from below) is circular rather than octagonal. All of the garnets appear to have been backed with a gold foil with a simple pointillé design. The reverse is hollow (although now filled with soil) and the circular interior is crossed by a slightly recessed bar, which flares from c. 4mm in the centre to c. 5mm at the ends. There is a groove across either end, which makes it look as if the bar has been made separately and soldered on. Dimensions: Diameter c. 18mm, height 11mm. Weight cannot be determined due to the presence of retained soil. Discussion: This pyramid is unusual on several counts. First is its shape, with four main drop-shaped faces and four small facets. The only really good parallel on the PAS database is LIN-357B4F, with a very similar shape and diameter, but 15.4mm tall and therefore of rather different proportions. LIN-357B4F has been recorded as copper alloy, but the photograph suggests that it might instead be of silver; it has lost all of its garnets. Another possible parallel to the shape is LIN-540C0C, which is certainly copper alloy and appears always to have been undecorated, and which is also quite tall. Less close examples on the PAS database, but still with small facets at the base, include NMS-FCD6CD, NMS-A61494, SOMDOR-F381A4 and perhaps SUSS-E87D3D (all of gold), and perhaps LEIC-4BD061, made from copper alloy. Complex cloisonné is also not common on silver pyramid mounts, and there are few examples on the PAS database (perhaps only NARC-F627F6). The unusual shape is difficult to fit into Mortimer's typology, as it does not really comply with either type 1 (with four sides and a flat top) or type 3 (with more than four sides) or even type 4 (circular-based). Other pyramids with complex shapes tend again to be taller, which is generally felt to indicate a later date. Date: The low height of this pyramid would normally date it to the first half or middle of the seventh century, with the more unusual shape perhaps arguing for a date towards the end of this range, perhaps 630-660 AD.

NMS-7CCEFB: PENDANT
Description: Probable pendant made from a gilded silver half-groat of Henry VII. The coin is a Canterbury product, King & Archbishop Morton jointly, tun initial mark, dating c.1490-1500. One edge is now slightly bent. It has been gilded on both faces and a circular hole pierced from the obverse, leaving a slight burr around the edge on the reverse. On the obverse, the hole is to the left of the king's head; on the reverse, it is at the end of one of the arms of the cross, just cutting through but largely inside the outermost beaded circle. The coin had little wear before it was plated and the gilding is also unworn, suggesting adaptation into a pendant took place soon after issue and it was not worn for long before being lost. Dimensions: Diameter 19.3 to 19.5mm; thickness 0.7mm, diameter of hole c. 0.8mm, weight 1.5g. Discussion: The intention was probably to make a pendant which, given the orientation of the hole at the end of one of the cross arms, was presumably intended to show this side to the front. Most coin brooches, although they belong to a period of around 200 years earlier, also seem to be intended to show the reverse; plainly the intention was to advertise one's Christianity. Date: The coin was issued c. 1490-1500, and was probably lost c.1500-20.

Late Iron Age brooch made from a single piece of copper alloy. The spring is large, with two coils on either side of the pin joined by an external chord running across the top of the spring. About half of the pin is missing, with a fairly fresh break across an oval cross-section. The bow flattens and widens from the spring to a maximum of 11mm wide, then tapers with straight edges to the foot. The upper part of the bow is flat, decorated with two median longitudinal ridges and a border groove, worn away over much of one edge, which all run down to a central D-section area which is marked by a broad transverse flute top and bottom, both flanked by a narrower groove to either side. Between these flutes (or U-section grooves) is an area of cross-hatching about 5mm long. The lower part of the bow is rounded in cross-section, undecorated, and now bent, with the very end of the brooch missing. Most of the perforated or framed catchplate survives, with a single triangular perforation that has an incurved upper edge. The return of the catchplate is bent over to the left (when viewed from the reverse). It has a green patina with patches of brown, with some shiny areas where the corroded surface has worn away to the metal. Maximum width (at spring) 14.7mm. Surviving length as bent, c. 60mm. Original length roughly 100mm. Weight 13.3g. Very similar to Mackreth (2011) no. 3776, except that no. 3776 has an internal chord. This type is called by Mackreth the Stead 3.a, and he comments that they date to early in the first century BC, those with external chords being hardly later than 75 BC. This is a relatively rare type of brooch.

NMS-7D7C83: PIN
Head and part of shaft from a copper-alloy pin. The head is circular, 14.3mm in diameter and with a rounded edge. The top has a groove around the edge and is convex within this. The edge is rounded, and the head is about 7mm thick. The underside tapers into a circular-section shaft 6.9mm in diameter, which then steps down to 5.0mm in diameter before a worn break. Total surviving length 17.5mm long, weight 8.6g. It is somewhat like DOR-B177D4 and WILT-45E175, which have been dated to the early or middle Iron Age (500 to 200 BC), although this example has a lower central dome is lower and a narrower groove around the edge.

NMS-7DA399: BROOCH
Copper-alloy medieval annular brooch, now very corroded and with much of its surface missing. The frame is 30.1mm in diameter, and was originally rectangular in cross-section, with rounded corners; where it survives best the frame measures 4.7mm wide and 3.0mm thick. It is undecorated, but has a pin constriction 3.3mm wide and a short, V-shaped nick forming a pin rest opposite this. The pin does not survive. It weighs 5.2g. It is fairly similar in proportions to a decorated copper-alloy annular brooch found in a context of c. 1270-1350 in London (Egan and Pritchard 1991, no. 1313).

NMS-7E0297: WEIGHT
Circular lead weight, 24mm in diameter, 7mm thick and with a rectangular cross-section. One face is decorated with a pair of concentric ridges within which is a relief design which is probably a rose, although now damaged and unclear; it has a central boss within what may be a ring of broad petals. The other face is flat and undecorated. It weighs 26.9g, which is 0.95oz, so it is likely to have been a 1-ounce weight. There are several lead weights recorded on the database with rose decoration, none particularly like this example; they were probably locally made informal weights of the 16th or 17th century.

NMS-7DD71B: SPINDLE WHORL
Lead spindle whorl, 31-32mm in diameter and 11-12mm tall. It has a flat underside, with a slight concentric groove, and a smoothly domed top which is decorated with five evenly spaced curving radial ribs or ridges, each c. 2-3mm wide. The central perforation is almost cylindrical, flaring a little from c. 9.5mm at the top to c. 10mm wide at the bottom. It weighs 57.2g. Excavated parallels with good dates are few, but seem to centre on the late medieval period, perhaps 14th or 15th century.

NMS-37CA51: PALSTAVE
Almost-complete copper-alloy unlooped palstave of middle Bronze Age date (c. 1600-1400 BC), in very good condition. The blade is broadly sub-triangular, with relatively straight flaring sides which then curve sharply out to a curved convex cutting edge. One corner of this is squared off, apparently an original feature, but the other corner is missing (a very fresh, recent break). The two faces of the axe are identical. There are three very neat breaks of slope towards the cutting edge and running parallel to it. The upper half of the slope, like the rest of the blade, is smoothly polished with a few mainly vertical scratches or filemarks (vertical when the axe is held with butt upwards). The lower half of the slope, in contrast, is covered with scratches parallel to the edge, which look like sharpening filemarks, and is slightly hollowed. The very edge has a just-visible line where the metal finally slopes to a point. At the top of the blade, immediately below the stop ridge, both faces of the palstave have a shield-shaped depression containing three low vertical ridges. On both faces the central ridge is slightly higher and carries down a little onto the main area of the blade. The stop ridge is slightly curved downwards on one face, but straight on the other. Above the stop ridge, the sides of the axe are almost parallel, tapering almost imperceptibly to the butt, which is gently convex. Viewed from the side, the blade flares smoothly and gently from the breaks of slope, to a much steeper slope at the start of the stop ridge; there is very slight ridge across each side here. Above this, the flanges are mainly straight as they taper towards the butt, with a slight inwards curve at the end. Each side has a central seam (a slight groove) running the full length of the object, showing that it was cast in a two-piece mould. Most of the axe is covered with a smooth dark brown patina, although this is rubbed away on the flanges of one face to show the bright metal beneath.

NMS-38706A: SOCKETED AXEHEAD
Fragment of mouth from a large socketed axe of late Bronze Age date (c. 1000 to 800 BC). About half survives, with one angle between front and side, showing that (when viewed from the top) the mouth was originally sub-square or sub-rectangular, with convex sides. One filed-down oval bump on the top, near the break at the side, is probably the remains of a casting runner stub. Viewed from the front, the moulding around the mouth droops outwards with a bevelled edge. Immediately below this there is a clear, neat vertical ridge running down the centre of the side for the complete length of the fragment, and a more blurred vertical ridge at the top of the central rib on the front; both are probably the remains of casting seams [??]. These cross a horizontal ridge or collar around the axe; below this the front and side of the socket become fairly straight, meeting at an angle which is marked by a rib down the arris. On the front, further vertical ribs extend downwards from the horizontal ridge, probably originally three, with the central one continuing the line of the casting seam; the third rib is now completely missing. The side has no vertical ribs. The fragment has a smooth brown patina with small patches of greener corrosion showing through in a few places. The break varies in condition from fresh to very slightly worn. Surviving width c. 38mm, surviving thickness c. 41mm, surviving length 33mm, weight 39.5g. [Jason to add original estimated dimensions of width and thickness at top?]

NMS-21E82E: THIMBLE
Description: Silver thimble. The rim is unthickened, and undecorated around the base with a line of beading set in a groove above. Above this, the straight sloping sides of the thimble are covered with rows of hemispherical pits, each in a flat raised circle forming rings or annulets, and in neat columns so that there are tiny indentations in between. Generally ten rows cover the sides, although there are occasional gaps and errors. There is also a rectangular undecorated panel at the bottom of the indentations, covering where three rows would have been, and around about a third of the circumference. This is stamped with a maker's mark, the letter H in a square cartouche, on the left; next to this is a very faint set of owner's initials reading L S and made up of punched dots. The L is clearer, with the vertical stroke made up from two lines of dots, and with serifs. The S is fainter. The top, or crown, of the thimble is a low dome covered with worn indentations which may originally have been circular or square. The thimble is now slightly squashed, with a long vertical crack in one place. The very straight crack and the slight interruption between crown and sides makes it possible that this is a two-piece thimble with very neat soldered joints. Dimensions: Height 18.9mm. Dimensions at rim as flattened, 19.3 x 16.4mm. Crown c. 13-14mm in diameter. Thickness of metal at rim 0.8mm. Weight 5.0g. Discussion: The annulet or ring indentations are characteristic of 17th- or early 18th-century thimbles, and the technique of making the initials out of punched dots supports this date. One-piece construction would suggest a date after the middle of the 17th century, but two-piece construction begins earlier in the century and continues into the 18th. Not enough research has been done on the makers' marks to identify this one. Compare SOM-F91FCB, ESS-B1E5C6, NMGW-4B4EDF, DENO-A7A437, etc. Date: c. 1650-1750.

NMS-801E78: SCABBARD
Description: Gilded silver object, probably an edge binding from an early Anglo-Saxon scabbard. It consists of a piece of silver sheet curled into an open tube, a shallow U-shape in cross-section. Both ends are broken; the breaks are not particularly worn. Both long edges are straight and there is no reason to think that they are not original. In the centre of each straight edge is a small circular attachment hole c. 1.5mm in diameter; these holes line up neatly with each other. One is empty and the other blocked with a hard grey-white unidentified material. From one side of the holes to the end of the object there is decoration, ten transverse grooves which retain gilding. These are not particularly well made, but appear to be in groups of three slimmer then two slightly broader grooves, repeated. The grooves do not run around the whole of the tube, but are confined to one side and the curve; the other side is undecorated and includes the empty hole. Despite being made from gilded silver, the workmanship appears relatively unsophisticated. Dimensions: Surviving length 29.1mm. Width (across the U shape) 5.5-5.9mm. Thickness (from top to bottom of U shape) 4.2-4.6mm. Thickness of metal 0.5mm. Weight 1.4g. Discussion: This object is perhaps most likely to be part of a scabbard binding mount or chape. Cameron calls bindings from the side of scabbards 'edge reinforcers' and gives a list of 15 examples, of which two are silver, including the ring-sword from Buckland Dover grave C (Cameron 2000, 44; Evison 1987, fig. 1). Two rather larger examples from Blacknall Field, Pewsey (graves 22 and 47; Annable and Eagles 2010, figs 48 and 57) have their reverses illustrated, showing that the decoration is confined to the front. All of those illustrated by Cameron (2000, figs. 21, 24-26) have rivet holes and discontinuous ribbed decoration, normally at the ends of the mount. Similarly, there are binding mounts which run around the tip of the scabbard forming chapes, and these also have U-shaped cross-sections, rivet holes and zones of ribbed decoration. Cameron lists two 'narrow-edged' chapes of silver similar to this fragment (Cameron 2000, 45-6) and one of these, from Faversham in Kent, is gilded, and has ridged decoration 'more pronounced on one face' (Cameron 2000, 86, no. 38). Alternatively but perhaps less likely, it also bears some likeness to the tubular ends of Hawkes and Dunning's 'tubular-sided attachment-plates'; compare GLO-675E6A, BH-0BDCE0 and NMS-6829A0. These appear, like this object, to have the transverse groove decoration only on one face, but are more circular than U-shaped in cross-section and do not normally have rivet holes within the tube itself. In addition, this object is perhaps a little flimsy for this function. Date: Narrow edge-reinforcers and chapes are found on scabbards from the fifth to early sixth centuries; tubular belt-fittings are normally dated to the second half of the fourth century and the first half of the fifth, c. 350-450 AD.

Description: Medieval silver annular brooch. The frame is small, circular and a low D-shape in cross-section, with a constriction for the pin. It is now bent, broken across the constriction, and the pin is missing. The frame is decorated on the convex front with engraved and stamped decoration; held with the constriction at the top and reading anti-clockwise, the engraving consists of a transverse groove, then four saltires, then a half-saltire ending in a D-shaped recess. The lozenges and triangles thus formed are filled with triangular and sub-triangular punchmarks which seem to have been roughly arranged in double parallel lines (often called interrupted rocker-arm ornament). The flat reverse is undecorated. Dimensions: As bent, it now measures 18.1mm x 14.2mm, so its original diameter was probably c. 16mm. The frame is 3.4mm wide and 0.9mm thick, and the brooch weighs 0.9g. Discussion: Other small silver annular brooches with this kind of saltire or zig-zag decoration are recorded at CAM-9D6273, LVPL-85DA2C, SUSS-4246AB and NMS133. It was found together with NMS-070E37. Date: 13th or 14th century, c. 1200-1400 AD.

Description: Fragment of medieval silver annular brooch, with a slim circular-section frame interrupted by two small irregular bosses both decorated with annulet stamps giving a 'brambled' effect. Both breaks are immediately after the boss and both are granular and unworn. The frame is now bent so that it is difficult to suggest an original diameter. Dimensions: Length of fragment, 25mm. Diameter of frame between bosses, 1.8mm. Thickness of bosses, 3-4mm. Weight 0.9g. Discussion: This type of annular brooch, with a circular wire frame interrupted by normally four brambled bosses, is found most often in Norfolk and Suffolk, with relatively few outliers elsewhere. Compare well-preserved examples recorded at NMS1288, NMS-98AA06, NMS-ECB702, NMS-D000DC, DENO-85BB62, etc. It was found together with NMS-078751. Date: Egan and Pritchard llustrate two slightly different examples, a little chunkier or more robust, from excavations in London, one unstratified and one from a late 14th century context (1991, 254, nos.1330 and 1333). They are normally given a 13th- or early 14th-century date, c. 1200-1350 AD.

NMS-A203FE: FINGER RING
Description: Gold posy ring. The hoop is of even width and D-shaped cross-section throughout, although with some wear. The curved exterior is undecorated, and worn to a matt finish. The flat interior is more glossy, and has the inscription in neat seriffed capitals BE. FAYTHFVL. TO. THY. FREND. The two final letters are ligated. Dimensions: Exterior diameter, 20.5mm. Width of hoop, 5.1mm (worn in some places to 5.0mm). Thickness of hoop, 1.5mm (worn in some places down to 1.2mm). Weight, 5.5g. Discussion: This is a fairly small but relatively wide hoop. There is no precise parallel to the motto or 'posy' of Be Faithful To Thy Friend on the PAS database, the closest perhaps being As faithfull as freindly on KENT-E52DE7 and I come from a faithfull friend on LEIC-BEF8C3. Date: 'Roman' capital letters such as those on this ring were in use from the mid 16th to mid 17th century (Oman 1974, 41), so 1550-1650.

NMS-D9E26D: CUFF LINK
Description: Silver cufflink element. It is circular, pressed into a hollow shape with flat top, down-turned wall and out-turned rim. The flat top has a raised rim, and the sunken centre within is decorated with a counter-relief heart over two crossed arrows (heads downwards) with a flame above. The reverse has an attachment loop made from round-section wire, now bent. Dimensions: Diameter 14.mm, overall thickness including loop 5.0mm, weight 1.0g. Discussion: This is Lewis's type B, flaming heart with two arrows, a fairly common type; see NMS-499371 for a complete example. Buttons and cufflinks featuring similar designs are thought to have originally been produced to commemorate the marriage of Charles II to Catherine of Braganza in 1662, but the design continued to be used as a general symbol of love and marriage. Date: These cufflinks seem to have been used from the Restoration into the first decade or two of the 18th century, so c. 1660-c. 1720.

NMS-72428F: THIMBLE
Rectangular piece of silver sheet, perhaps an unfinished thimble. It measures 69.5mm in length and 20.8mm tall, and the sheet is 0.2-0.3mm thick. It is very gently curved along its length, and the convex outer has an extra strip along one long edge, probably soldered on. This is 3.0mm wide and decorated with two parallel grooves; it brings the thickness of the object up to 0.5mm. It weighs 3.4g. One short edge is very neatly cut and there is no gap between the extra strip and the rest of the sheet. The other end is more irregular and appears perhaps torn; the sheet and the strip are more clearly separate here. At one point, both strip and sheet have a crease, and the strip has moved slightly. If this object was destined to be turned into a thimble, it would be the right height (a little over 21mm) but rather large in diameter (the circumference of 69mm implying a diameter of c. 22mm). Perhaps it part of a longer strip, ready to be cut into shorter lengths. It is difficult to find a parallel for a partly made thimble, but the separate strip soldered to the rim is also found on thimbles such as OXON-D83531 and WAW-62FAA2, both citing further parallels which indicate a date-range from the late 18th to early 20th century. These strips are, however, undecorated; grooved rims seem to be commoner on slightly earlier, 17th- or 18th-century thimbles (compare for example WILT-E0D5FE and SWYOR-373EF3).

NMS-D5565B: TORC
Description: Piece of gold rod, probably a small fragment of a flange-twisted or bar-twisted torc with three flanges, now bent into a spiral of two full turns. One end is original, with a rounded tip and neat triangular cross-section. From the rounded tip, the terminal flares slightly for c. 10mm and runs straight, before starting to coil. As it starts to curve, each face becomes concave so that the cross-section is Y-shaped, and the rod is then neatly twisted as well as bent into a coil. After two full turns the rod is apparently cut or broken. It is S-twisted (also called a left-hand twist), and the end of each flange, or arm of the Y, is polished or worn so that it is burred, or smooth and flat. The apparently broken or cut end also has some smoothly bent and worn areas. The fragment has a slightly pale, brownish colour. Dimensions: Overall diameter of coil, c. 11mm. Overall thickness of the coil, 6mm. Maximum diameter of the twisted rod, 2.4mm. Weight, 2.2g. Discussion: Gold torcs with twisted square or (more rarely) triangular cross-sections were popular in the Penard phase of the Middle Bronze Age, c. 1400-1100BC. The simplest form is the bar-twisted torc, where the rod is left with a square or triangular cross-section. When the corners of the square or triangle are extended into flanges, to produce a cross-shaped or Y-shaped cross-section, it is known as a flange-twisted torc; this example is perhaps on the border of both types. Fragments of square bar-twisted or four-flanged torcs bent into small loops are recorded on the PAS database at GLO-2AF0AE and SOM-AA390A, and another (probably with four flanges) was found in 1961 in the Sporle hoard (Eogan 1967, 173, pl. 22.3). They vary in their gold content, some being fairly pure and others (e.g. ESS-D1D1E9) being only c. 75% gold. This object has some unusual features. Firstly, triangular bar-twisted torcs or three-flanged torcs are much less common than four-flanged examples, although a comparable three-flanged fragment is recorded at BUC-EF04B8. Secondly, torcs normally have terminals which flare outwards towards their ends, rather than taper as this one does. The terminal on this example is unusual, but can be compared with the terminals on a small Bronze Age gold twist-effect loop in the British Museum (OA.10875). Thirdly, twisted torcs are, according to Eogan (1967, 131), more often Z-twisted (also called right-hand twist). This example has an S twist, as do the small loops from the Sporle hoard, GLO-2AF0AE, and SOM-AA390A, and the short length of three-flange torc BUC-EF04B8. Date: Middle Bronze Age, 1400-1100 BC.

Description: Small gold annular brooch of medieval date, with inscription. The frame is circular with a triangular cross-section, flat and undecorated on the reverse. The inner angle of the front is decorated with a groove within which is a line of fine, neat beading; under a lens it can be seen that this has been stamped, as each bead is surrounded by a slight upstanding circle. The outer angle has an inscription in seriffed capitals which is not immediately readable, and is discussed below. The frame is interrupted by a constriction for the pin. The gold pin survives complete, with a D-shaped cross-section. There is a tiny zone at the junction of the loop and shaft which is decorated on the front by further stamps, this time overlapped to create a 'brambled' effect. The loop has been wrapped around the constriction and there is a butted seam on the underside. The inscription is clearly written, but difficult to interpret. If it is read using the outer edge of the brooch as a baseline, it appears to read VOLNIS : MEO W LINE + (from one side of the pin constriction to the other). Both Ls and both Es are reversed; the Es have rounded backs and the first E has an incomplete central bar so may possibly be a C. The W is in fact an odd shape consisting of a horizontal line underneath a zig-zag line; it could alternatively be an upside-down A with a straight bar across the top and a V-shaped central bar. If it is read using the central ridge of the brooch as a baseline, it appears to read + ENIL AOE W : SIN LOV with both Ls consisting of upright stems and right-turning tops, and the V upside down. Although it is more normal to read a brooch the second way, and this way it also has the benefit of starting as usual with a cross, the M (or W) has vertical end-stems and looks more like an M than a W, and there are generally fewer idiosyncrasies when it is read the other way up, using the exterior as a baseline. Dimensions: Diameter 17.0mm, width of frame 2.8mm, maximum width of pin 1.7mm, thickness of frame 1.1mm, weight 1.5g. Discussion: If the inscription reads VOLNIS MEO ALINE, this could be interpreted as the Latin for 'You have wounded me, Alina', although this is an odd motto for a brooch. If it is read the other way up, it is possible that part of the inscription was intended to read SIN LOV, possibly intended as a variant of 'I am a sign of love'. It is hard to interpret it with SI as 'if', although this is a common word in French inscriptions. Dr Malcolm Jones has seen an image of the brooch and has commented that despite its well-formed letters, it appears to be a meaningless inscription. Most meaningless inscriptions are made up of random repeated simple letters, as on (for example) LIN-9A4B26, but there are a few (like this one) where the letters vary as in a normal inscription, but we cannot read or understand it. Similar examples include NMS-C985FA, DENO-1AF752 (with the inscription on the reverse), and the copper-alloy example GLO-F5B8D7 (which is inscribed on both faces). Date: The form of the brooch, and its use of a stamp to form beading and brambling, suggests a date in the 13th or 14th century.

NMS-DF6591: BRACTEATE
Description: Gold A-bracteate, consisting of a thin gold disc, stamped with a design and with a suspension loop added. The design consists of a human head in profile looking left, with a hand in front of the chin holding a spray of flowers, and shoulders turned to face the viewer. The head has fine parallel grooves indicating hair, running from the crown to a fringe above the eyes, and interrupted by a double scallop-edged line (like two lines of flat beading) forming a headband or 'diadem' running around the forehead just above the eyes. The top and back of the head is defined by a narrow raised strip or contour line, which runs around the edge of the head and appears to extend in front into a small triangular point. The face is quite naturalistic and classical in feel. It has a large eye, with a raised circular centre within a pointed-oval surround with a groove above and below. The ear is similarly detailed, with a fine groove delineating the interior. There is a straight downward-pointing nose, a downturned mouth made from a single groove between protruding lips, and a rounded, forward-pointing chin. The bracteate is bent across the shoulder and chest, and the bent-back area is much more worn so it is very difficult to see any detail, but the body seems more schematic. There is a ridge running around the base of the neck, and below this a possible V shape dividing the chest in the centre from the shoulder to either side. The front shoulder (to the viewer's left) seems to be filled with oblique ribbing, with a tiny circle at the top; this may be intended as a brooch holding a gathered garment at the shoulder. The arm and hand are small and much more crudely drawn. The arm emerges from the base of the shoulder (the area with oblique ribbing) to run straight upwards to the hand. The hand is rectangular, with a zig-zag end representing very short fingers; the palm has a groove along the top and bottom, and there is an upward-pointing thumb. A single stem runs downwards from the hand, and three stems project upwards to end in small U-shaped leaves or flowers. Above these is an unbarred letter A in front of the eye area, and an inscription of around six letters running parallel to the edge, around the front of the face and hair. Under some lighting conditions this appears to read X S V [-] B V. The design is in repoussé, leaving a faint sunken imprint on the reverse. A dot for the centre of the eye can clearly be seen, as well as the angle of the nose, the curve of the chin and the letter A. There is a fine groove around the central motif,, and around the very edge of the bracteate is a ring of small punchmarks applied from the front. These appear to be double-crescent stamps, but under magnification the ridge between the two crescents resolves itself into a possible animal shape, in profile looking right, with a head to the right, a curved back, a foreleg and hindleg, and possibly a short tail. The suspension loop is now slightly distorted. It is soldered at either end to the body of the bracteate, interrupting the line of the stamps, and appears at first sight to be undecorated. At either end where the rest of the object has protected it from wear, though, it is possible to see the faint remains of a pair of grooves alternating with three ridges, meaning that the loop was originally ribbed or corrugated. The loop is 3.8mm wide at its ends, but narrows to just 1.2mm wide in the centre where it is most worn. There is no evidence for an applied border or framing wire. The bend in the bracteate is accompanied by slight cracks to the edge, and the whole object is a little crumpled, but otherwise it is in good condition. Dimensions: Total length, including slightly squashed suspension loop and in its bent state, 25.4mm. Diameter of the bracteate, approximately 23mm. The gold sheet is 0.4mm thick, It weighs 2.9g. Discussion: This is an A-bracteate, with the design consisting mainly of a human head and based on a late-antique coin. The faint impression on the reverse indicates that it was stamped over a matrix die, which leaves sharper relief on the front or obverse. Adrian Marsden has seen the bracteate, and comments that the bust is clearly replicating, with its hairstyle and hooked nose, a portrait of Constantine I; it is inspired by consular busts, where a little hand holds an eagle-tipped sceptre. Charlotte Behr has seen images, and comments that it is a very early bracteate, and unusual in that the head is shown as a simple relief and not with contour lines. The lack of a framing wire around the edge is typical for finds from East Anglia. There are other bracteates with raised hands holding something, including C-bracteates from Holme-next-the-Sea, Norfolk (DUR-8C0D46) and Worlaby, North Lincs (NLM-862E74), and two die-identical A-bracteates from Leicestershire (LEIC-EDD980 and LEIC-1E63A8). Morten Axboe has seen images, and comments that although the relief is more rounded than usual, and there are no contour lines, rounded relief without contour lines is known from early bracteates, including several pieces in the Vindelev hoard (Axboe 2021). The Vindelev A-bracteates all have something in one or two hands, including no. X19, which has a possible staff [in the hand behind the head], perhaps intended as a military standard. Others have drinking vessels, rings, possible balls and so on. Date: The bracteate is likely to be contemporary with the Vindelev bracteates, which were made between c. 450-490 AD (Axboe 2021).

NMS-3A75F4: HOARD
Group of six silver coins, all groats or double patards (or fragments thereof). Catalogue: 1) Richard III, fragment (about half) of a groat, London, initial mark & type illegible, 1.52g, 1483-5. 2) Henry VII or VIII, small fragment of a groat, further details illegible, 0.30g, c.1500-44. 3) Henry VIII, groat, London, rose initial mark, North 1797, 2.32g (missing a piece), 1526-9. 4) Henry VIII, groat, London, lis initial mark, uncertain letter forms of F and M, 2.52g, 1526-44. 5) Henry VIII, groat, London, lis initial mark, uncertain letter forms of F and M, 2.66g, 1526-44. 6) Charles the Bold of Burgundy, fragment (about a third) of a double patard, Brabant or Flanders, Gelder & Hoc 23, 0.98g, 1467-74. Discussion and Date: Most of these coins have suffered some damage from their time in the ploughsoil; presumably they have been churning around in the soil for some time. The hoard was probably deposited in the 1530s or early 1540s, before Henry VIII's debasement of the coinage commencing in 1544, an act which led to the disappearance from circulation of good silver coins like these.

NMS-9A9CB9: HOARD
Three silver medieval coins, all halfpennies of Edward I. Catalogue: 1. Irish halfpenny of Edward I (2nd coinage) minted in Dublin. EDW R ANGL DNS HYB / CIVITAS [DVB]LINIE Diameter 14.7mm, weight 0.65g. Withers Type 1 (1a or 1c), Spink (2015) no. 6250. Date: 1280-1284. 2. Irish halfpenny of Edward I (2nd coinage) minted in Waterford. EDW R ANGL DNS HYB / CIVITAS VATERFOR Diameter 15.03mm, weight 0.68g. Withers Type 2e, Spink (2015) no. 6254. Date: 1281-1284. 3. Halfpenny of Edward I (class 3b) minted in London. EDW R ANGL DNS HYB / CIVITAS LONDON Diameter 14.6mm, weight 0.53g. Spink 1431, North 1044. Date: 1280. Discussion: The coins were found very close together in a six foot diameter area, and on the balance of probability represent a so-called purse loss or part of one. All are very close together in date, belonging to the early 1280s, and the fact that two are Irish suggests that the person losing the putative purse may have recently come from there, or have received money from someone else who had.

NMS-AC6495: FINGER RING
Description: Small gold finger-ring with enamelled decoration on the outside and posy inscription on the inside. The hoop is D-shaped in cross-section, rounded on the outside and flat or very slightly convex on the inside; it has a consistent width. On the inside is an inscription in italic lettering reading Yours', with a tail after the s which looks like an apostrophe. On the outside is engraved decoration filled with opaque white, translucent green and translucent yellow enamel. The exterior decoration consists of alternating green motifs and white or yellow flowers. The green areas have a consistent shape, a D-shaped element (perhaps a grassy mound) with a pair of fronds emerging from the curved side. These are set in alternating directions, so that they have their straight edges aligned with either edge of the ring alternately. The flowers are more various, and consist of four shapes repeated once. Behind the word 'Yours' is a simple six-petalled white flower, then moving forwards there is a yellow circular flower with pinked edges, then a white flower with four triangular petals with pinked edges. The set then repeats; another simple six-petalled flower which has lost all of its enamel, another yellow circular flower with pinked edges, and lastly another four-petalled flower with triangular petals with pinked edges, again having lost all of its enamel. Much of the green enamel is also missing. Dimensions: External diameter 17.8mm, width of hoop of 3.6mm, thickness of hoop 1.2mm, weight 2.4g. Discussion: This is a particularly well made finger-ring in good condition. Parallels are generally dated to the 17th century, such as HESH-214C40 (2002T129), HESH-3D32A6 (2003T383), YORYM-72B6A0 (2009T224), DOR-FE5245 (2011T721), NMGW-26A732 (2012TW15) and SUSS-900787 (2017T1230). Others on the PAS database have been given a date-range straddling the two centuries, such as SUR-6A3232 (found c. 1964, so not subject to the Treasure Act), KENT-182620 (2011T446), WMID-C2A201 (2012T22), DEV-6AF906 (2012T662), DOR-75F9FC (2017T942) and KENT-6E645C (2018T93). Among museum collections, compare the British Museum's AF.1277, dated to the 17th or 18th century (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/H_AF-1277), and the Victoria and Albert's 906-1871, dated to the 17th century (https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O118506/ring-unknown/). Several of the parallels are particularly small, suggesting that they belonged to young women or girls, or were worn high up on the finger. Date: On art-historical grounds, a date no later than the early 18th century seems likely., so c. 1600-1720 AD.

NMS-AA47D1: SEAL MATRIX
Description: Tiny post-medieval silver seal matrix. The die is circular, and decorated with a beaded border a little way in from the edge. Within this is a motif of an acorn; an oval with a small boss or knop at the top, a large cup made up of ten punched dots at the base, with a curving stem and a pair of schematic leaves (not obviously oak leaves) below. There is no inscription. The matrix has a hexagonally faceted conical handle which rises, tapers to a waist and then flares slightly before ending in a rectangular-section trefoil openwork handle. There is a faint groove around the handle just below the junction with the trefoil, which is worn away in places. The acorn is the right way up when the handle is held vertically, but there is no mark to show the top of the design. Dimensions: Diameter of die 8.9mm, overall height 15.1mm, weight 1.3g. Discussion: Just over a quarter of the post-medieval seal matrices recorded on the PAS database are of silver, and many have no inscription, but few are this small. A good parallel is HESH-24B3F6, which is engraved with a winged heart within a beaded border. An acorn is a common decorative motif from the 16th and 17th centuries, appearing on buckles and harness mounts, and used as an initial mark on coins. Date: 16th or 17th century.

NMS-28D354: UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT
Silver object of post-medieval date. It is a cylindrical tube, with a closed undecorated base with a central scar as if a loop has been torn away. The base projects to form a rim about 2mm deep, which has an obliquely beaded edge (resembling cabling) which is now very worn. Above, the sides are of thin sheet, with the top cut into a zig-zag of eight V-shaped cut-outs and eight projecting points which are now mostly bent inwards. A crack runs from the base of one of the cut-outs to just above the base. The sides are decorated with a engraved zig-zag border just below the top edge, then below this four V shapes made from reserved strap-work. Inside the V shapes, short engraved lines stretch upwards from the base; between the V shapes are longer vertical lines, none of which reach the upper border. Base diameter c. 12-12.5mm, diameter above base c. 10mm, height 14.8mm, thickness of silver at top 0.4mm, weight 2.3g. No precise parallel has been found on the PAS database, but comparable examples in the British Museum (OA.1397, OA.1401 and OA1384.a-b) suggest this object might be a socket for an amulet made of stone or an animal’s tooth. All have the zig-zag edge, and OA.1397 also has closely comparable engraved decoration. The V&A also has two comparable objects, M.13-1917 and M.14-1917. No dates are given for the objects in the British Museum, although all were acquired as part of the Franks collection, which was given to the Museum in 1897. The V&A's objects come from the Hildburgh Gift (donated 1956) and are thought to have been made in Spain in the 19th century. On balance, this object seems from the parallels to be late post-medieval, probably 19th-century.

NMS-77D855: PIN
Description: Gilded silver ball-headed pin of early post-medieval date. The head is spherical and decorated with filigree circles and pellets. There is a twisted wire around the circumference, probably two-ply, with three circles of finer twisted wire above and three below. Each circle has three smaller annulets of similarly fine twisted wire within, with a pellet in the centre between the three annulets. In the triangular spandrels between the larger circles are firstly two larger pellets, one above the other, each tightly surrounded with a ring of twisted wire; and secondly three smaller pellets, one in each corner. In one of the upper spandrels, one corner pellet is missing but there is no scar and the gilding is complete across the area where the missing pellet should be. In one of the lower spandrels one of the larger pellets is missing from its ring, and the other large pellet has lost most of its ring. Where the shaft emerges at the bottom of the pin head there is no collar, but at the top there is a flat ungilded disc collar below an ungilded globular pellet. As the maximum diameter of the pellet here is the same as the diameter of the shaft below, it is possible that the shaft ran right through the pin head, coming out of the top where it was shaped into the flat disc to hold it in place and the decorative pellet above (see the same type of construction on incomplete pins SUSS-60E964 and HAMP-19887E). The circular-section shaft is made of ungilded silver. It turns two right-angled curves which have not caused any stress to the metal; they were probably made soon after manufacture. The shaft is of consistent diameter to begin with, and tapers after the second curve. The tip seems to be missing as the end is blunt, but the break is old and fairly smooth and may have occurred during the pin's use. The workmanship is generally good and the seams in the filigree circles are hard to spot. Dimensions: Total unbent length c. 80mm. Diameter of head 13-14mm. Diameter of shaft, 2.4mm at top. Weight 7.3g. Discussion: This pin is part of a well-known group of gilded silver 16th-century ball-headed pins decorated with groups of three circles, which belong to the same style as many precious-metal hooked tags, hat-hooks etc. The shafts are often ungilded and bent, perhaps to hold them in place in the hair; compare SUSS-911759, 2022T733 and ESS-5C9834, 2011 T875. Good examples of the type include BERK-242E1D (2000T214), ESS-52BEBB (2019T204) and SUSS-D159CB (2022T165). Date: 16th century.

NMS-EC10C3: HOARD
Description: Hoard of three silver ingots or hacksilver fragments. 1. Long, slim rectangular ingot, all faces fairly flat but slightly undulating. It is rectangular in cross-section, and has a dark grey patina with hints of green corrosion. There are no nicks or testing marks. Two of the long arrises are slightly rounded and may be hammered, although it is also possible that the ingot has become worn and battered after deposition. It narrows at one end (which appears to be original) measuring 7.0 x 4.9mm in cross-section. The other end is more granular, and (although neat) may be a break; the cross-section here measures 8.6 x 5.9mm. It is 19.4mm long and weighs 5.85g. 2. Oval ingot with very flat, dark grey shiny faces. In the centre the cross-section is rectangular, but the corners have been trimmed and hammered so that the short ends are faceted. There are no obvious nicks or testing marks. It is at most 12.7mm long, 9.7mm wide and 5.4mm thick, and weighs 4.19g. 3. Irregular ingot or casting debris with pale grey shiny patina. There are few flat areas, most of the ingot having irregularly chopped or chiselled facets with rough-uneven surfaces which have not been freshly made. It measures at most 15.0 to 15.5mm long, 12.0mm perpendicular to this, and 7.2mm thick; it weighs 4.37g. Dimensions: The total weight of all three items is 14.42g. Discussion: The size and shape of all three objects in this small hoard are consistent with silver objects used as part of the Viking-age bullion economy, but none can be identified as such with absolute certainty, and none of the pieces has the test marks characteristic of Viking-age bullion. The individual ingots can all be paralleled by other examples recorded on the PAS database. No. 1 is close to LIN-7350B6 (2020T1006). No.2 is close to LIN-261C9B and the slightly smaller BM-140FB4 (2009 T163(b)). No. 3 is close to LVPL-4AA178 (2020T297) Several small hoards of silver ingots or hacksilver have been recorded on the PAS database; compare BERK-FC7453 (2009T273), LANCUM-26ECE2 (2015T748), NMGW-C5EE45 (2007W15), BH-A00024 (2017T41) and YORYM-9526A2 (2018T356). Date: The parallels to these objects have all been dated with varying levels of probability to the late early-medieval period, c. 850-950, when the Viking-age bullion economy was active.

NMS-A9000C: FERRULE
Small conical object made from copper-alloy sheet, probably a post-medieval chape or ferrule. Now squashed flat, it has a burst soldered seam down one side and a separately soldered-in domed base. It is decorated with two pairs of circumferential grooves, one near the top and one about halfway down. There is no obvious means of attachment, but the inside retains some dark material, possibly leather. Length 25.8mm, width as squashed 11.4mm, maximum thickness (near closed end) 4.5mm, weight with retained soil 1.7g.

NMS-EC2F91: FINGER RING
Description: Gold finger-ring set with a flat-cut stone, probably a carnelian. The hoop is a narrow rectangular-section strip which does not flare to the shoulders, but widens and flattens slightly right at the slightly rounded ends, which are soldered to the reverse of the bezel a short distance apart. The bezel is almost circular, and has a gold backplate to which the ends of the hoop are soldered. The edge of the front of the backplate is covered by a plain wire, with a slightly smaller circle of two-ply twisted wire soldered on its top. The next layer, again slightly smaller to give a domed or bevelled appearance, is a circle of plain wire. This is soldered to the outside of a zig-zag collar, within which is the stone. The reverse has another small gold component soldered on, at about 5 o'clock or 11 o'clock if the hoop ends are placed at 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock. It is similar in appearance to the existing ends of the hoop, but does not extend beyond the edge of the bezel. There is a scar opposite this from another similar missing component, but detail here is harder to see due to the crushing and flattening of the hoop over this area. The workmanship is not of the highest order, and there is some flooding of solder. The backplate is now cracked and there is some wear to the wire collars, though not to the hoop. The gemstone has a flat top and a steeply angled or bevelled edge. A small part of the angle between top and edge is missing due to a shallow, smoothly curved chip; there is a hint of a conchoidal fracture here, suggesting that this is not a deliberate removal. The top of the stone can be seen, under a lens, to have parallel striations which run towards the chip, presumably the result of polishing in this direction. The gemstone is not engraved. X-rays were taken to try to see if there was engraving on the reverse (if, for example, a damaged engraved intaglio had been turned over for re-use) but it was not possible to see enough detail on the X-ray due to the presence of the gold backplate. Dimensions: The bezel measures 15.8 x 16.7mm and is 3.7mm thick. The hoop measures 1.8 to 2.0mm wide, and 0.8-0.9mm thick. Total weight, 4.3g. Discussion: Finger-rings with zig-zag edges to the setting (also known as dogtooth or pinked edges) are known from the Anglo-Saxon world, with examples including the Kirk Deighton ring (YORYM-32E6E6, 2007T334), and the largest (lozengiform) ring in the West Yorkshire hoard (SWYOR-F86A02, 2008T553), both dated to the 10th century, although these both have smaller gems in larger surrounds; the lozengiform 'Hitchin' ring has dogtooth edging around a larger re-used Roman gem. The occurrence of dog-tooth edging on Ottonian jewellery also supports a 10th-century date. Having said this, the Stoke Mandeville ring is not particularly similar to any of these parallels. It is an unusual finger-ring, and despite the complex construction and the expensive materials, the hoop is narrow and looks as if it would be uncomfortable to wear. Given the scars on the reverse, it may be a replacement, but the scars are also from similarly-sized elements. The gemstone is the correct size and shape for a Roman carnelian, although it would be unusual for this not to be engraved. The possibility remains that it is an engraved gem turned over to show the reverse; Roman intaglios are often neatly finished on the reverse. Alternatively, the display face might be the front; the use of flat-topped gems with bevelled edges (but garnets rather than carnelians) is known from 7th-century Anglo-Saxon jewellery (Fern et al 2019, 169; Adams 2011, 13), and it has been suggested that these were stones originally cut in the Byzantine world ready for engraving, but then exported undecorated due to the decline in fashion for engraved stones (Adams 2011, 13). The same could have been true for other stones such as carnelian. The discrepancy between the quality of the gem, the workmanship of the bezel, and the flimsy hoop is odd. Even if the hoop is an amateurish, uncomfortable replacement, the scars from what may have been a previous hoop look equally small and out of scale with the rest of the ring. Date: The ring is likely to have been made in the tenth century AD, perhaps re-using an older stone.

NMS-E85D63: BROOCH
Description: Incomplete gilded silver disc brooch of middle Anglo-Saxon date. About a quarter of the flat plate is now missing, but the surviving part includes the pin fixings, and part of the silver pin also survives. The front is gilded and has low-relief decoration now a little obscured by hard soil deposits, best described with the pin running horizontally and the missing area to bottom left. The design appears to be based on a cross, with four drop-shaped panels (at top left, top right, bottom right and the missing one at bottom left) each with its point towards the edge. These are outlined with a contour ridge and contain a gently domed drop shape with dots punched through the gilding to form stippling. These panels do not radiate from the centre in a symmetrical pattern, each of the three surviving ones being set at a slightly different oblique angle. Between the drop-shaped panels is a zone of chip-carved interlace. At first sight this looks like a cross with expanded ends, but only two arms (top and bottom) fit this pattern, each being filled with a neat geometric pattern of thready interlace. The arm to the right looks as if it consists of the head of a fish, with two-lobed gill cover and body filled with thready criss-cross interlace. The arm to the left is missing, but would presumably have formed the tail. In front of the fish's head the chip-carving is no longer interlace, but instead consists of flat-topped panels forming two trefoil plants, each leaf decorated with punched dots. Between the plants there is a raised bump which may be a separate rivet attaching the pin hinge. On the reverse, the pin hinge is a double lug running perpendicular to the edge of the brooch, both lugs pierced to hold a pin bar on which the pin is held. About half of the pin survives, now a little bent. The catchplate is now squashed almost flat, but appears originally to have been oval and c. 10mm long; whether it was cast in one with the rest of the brooch, or attached by riveting or soldering, is not clear. The reverse and the pin are not gilded. The breaks on both pin and plate are patinated but unworn. Analysis: Non-destructive X-ray fluorescence analysis by Laura Perucchetti of the British Museum indicated a silver content of approximately 21-25%, and that it had been mercury gilded (report no. 7715-36). Dimensions: Diameter 29.5mm, thickness of plate 1.5mm, maximum thickness (including pin hinge) 7.6mm, weight 5.9g. Discussion: The thready chip-carved interlace is characteristic of Mercian-style art, as is the use of fine dots, known as stippling, and so this brooch fits into Weetch's Type 12, disc brooches with Mercian-style art. There is no particularly close parallel to this example, but Type 12 brooches are quite various, both large and small, with some designs including central bosses and cross shapes, others with single or paired animals. Weetch's catalogue (2014, nos. 473-483) included four silver examples, two on the PAS database (NARC-E11208 and NCL-771FB5) and others from Pentney (Norfolk) and Flixborough (Lincs). Mercian-style art is also found on other flat circular objects such as pin heads, with one of the Witham linked pin heads having four pointed-oval panels dividing the interlaced decoration (British Museum 1858,1116.4). Date: Second half of 8th or early 9th century, c. 750-820 AD.

NMS-4C2A79: PROCESSIONAL CROSS
Large, thick openwork mount made from gilded copper alloy, depicting a winged bull in profile looking left. It is largely circular, but the bull's head breaks the smooth curve and projects upwards slightly. The head looks forward, and has two horns pointing upwards, an ear pointing backwards, and a dished or concave nose. Behind the head, the animal's left wing extends upwards from the back; the right wing is lower, and emerges from the front of the chest, on the other side of the head. Both wings are decorated with cross-hatching. The chest is curved out in front, and tapers into a left foreleg. A groove separates this from the belly, with another similar groove dividing the belly from the left rear leg. The other two legs are in much flatter relief, giving a three-dimensional effect to the motif. Between the two left hooves is a strip of ladder pattern made up of short grooves between longer grooved borders, perhaps representing a floor. In front of the right-hand wing is a narrow zone of cross-hatching, and behind the bull's rump is a vertically grooved area. There are seven rounded holes through the mount. Six are quite small, c. 2-3mm in diameter, and are placed one to either side of the bull's neck; above the rump, cutting through the tip of the left wing; in front of the chest, cutting through the tip of the right wing; and one in front of each of the left legs. The seventh is larger, c. 6-7mm in diameter, and is placed between the left foreleg and right hind leg. There are extensive traces of gilding on the front. The reverse is undecorated, but has two tiny patches of gilding surviving. In the centre of the reverse is an irregular bump, with a circular hole about 2mm deep and conical or rounded in cross-section, which probably contained a separate means of attachment. Width 38.0mm, length 38.8mm, maximum thickness 5.6mm, weight 28.4g. There are several parallels on the PAS database which show that these mounts came in sets representing the four Evangelists (Gospel writers). Matthew is represented by a winged man or angel (CORN-7D1082, and perhaps SUR-3D236F and NMS-EED2A2), Mark by a winged lion (DEV-443656, SUSS-7B8062, LEIC-0133C1, WAW-1C3F65, LVPL-F667A7 and LANCUM-F95DC6), Luke by a winged bull or ox (this example, and ESS-98FEE8) and John by an eagle (PUBLIC-407C04 and DENO-72E487). It seems likely that they came from 15th-century processional crosses, such as that from Bosworth (now in the collection of the Society of Antiquaries) which has a similar roundel at the end of each arm.

NMS-7E9A0D: INGOT
Description: Incomplete silver object, a probable ingot of late early-medieval date. It is long, narrow and flat, with one end complete and rounded and the other cut or broken straight across. The larger top and bottom faces are flat; the sides are very slightly bevelled or convex, with a just-visible central angle along the centre of each side. The long edges are parallel and the object increases in thickness from the rounded end to just before the break, where there is an angle across one face (perhaps the underside) and a steep slope to the break. This slope could be the start of a series of hammered facets, but it looks more cast than hammered. The break or cut is granular but fairly smooth, indicating some wear; there is a very slight ridge next to it on either face, perhaps suggesting that it was scored before breaking, or repeatedly bent up and down to break, or both. Both larger faces are scratched, the one with the angle across it less so than the other, which may be the upper face. Dimensions: Total surviving length 36.1mm. The width varies between 8.4 and 8.9mm. Minimum thickness (at rounded end) 1.6mm; maximum thickness 4.1mm. Weight 7.3g. Discussion and Date: If this is an ingot, it is neatly made with a particularly flat upper face, and is thinner than most accepted early-medieval ingots. It finds its best parallels in ingots that have been recorded as undated, such as IOW-F9AF11 and NMS-4F31C2, both of which are similar in weight. The weight of 7.3g may be interpreted as ten of the c. 0.75g units used for cubo-octahedral weights of the later 9th or 10th centuries (Geake 2010, 393-4) suggesting that this ingot was both made and broken or cut at this date. Alternatively, a more recent study of cubo-octahedral weights questions the significance of the suggested 0.75g unit (Williams 2020), and the number ten has no particular significance in Viking metrology. Viking bullion more typically relates to a nominal ounce in the region of c. 24-26g, sub-divided into thirds and sixths (Kruse 1988; Kilger 2007) and 7.3g would be somewhat light (although not completely implausible) as a unit of a third of an ounce. It is therefore difficult to assert with any certainty that this is an object of Viking-age date.

NMS-1C1681: BROOCH
Copper-alloy enamelled Roman brooch of British Plate type, specifically a Domed Boss or umbonate broch (Mackreth 2011, Plate 6.a). It is broadly lozenge-shaped, with a flat knop at each corner and a central circular dome that fills most of the space. One knop is larger, round-ended and pierced at the end with a large (mm diameter) circular hole; on the reverse of this knop, below the hole, is a double pin lug pierced to take a copper-alloy bar on which the stub of a copper-alloy pin hinges. The opposite knop is much smaller, and on the reverse of this is a squashed catchplate. The two side knobs are smaller still, and look worn. The copper-alloy pin has a D-shaped end which is pierced from side to side to take the hinge bar. There is a tiny stub of pin shaft projecting from the D-shaped end, which is worn to a sharp point. The central dome is decorated with a wide groove or flute around the edge, and inside this are two rings of triangular champlevé cells for enamel, all the apexes pointing inwards. One cell in the inner ring has worn completely through to the reverse; some of the others in both rings retain red enamel. There are 14 cells in each ring. In the middle of the brooch is a circular depression surrounded by a groove. The reverse of the dome is hollow; a slight ridge runs upwards from the catchplate. The whole brooch is worn, and also small at 32.1mm long and 25.3mm wide. It is a total of 10.5mm thick from the top of the dome to the back of the hinge lugs, and weighs 5.3g. Compare Mackreth, pl. 108, no. 11577, from the Walsingham area. Late first or second century, c. 75-200 AD.

NMS-0B0E94: BRACELET
Fragment of curved copper-alloy rod, probably part of a small bracelet. It is a tall D-shape in cross-section, 3.6mm wide and 2.7mm thick, with a flat interior and curved exterior. Both squared-off ends are very worn, but one appears to be a worn break and the other to be an original animal-head terminal, with two broad grooves or concave areas forming two low bumps, one longer and a little higher and one shorter, right at the end of the frame. No other decoration can be seen to survive. If the curve of the surviving fragment is extended, it seems that it represents about a third of a circular brooch frame c. 50mm in external diameter. Its unbent length is 54mm and as bent it is 43mm long. It weighs 3.1g. This seems to be very small for a bracelet, but there are others of comparable size in Crummy 1983 (e.g. nos. 1702 and 1711). The animal-head terminal is also unusual, not the standard snake's head. Parallels are not particularly easy to find, but the general feel of the object is that of a late Roman bracelet, 3rd or 4th century; it may be an example of Cool's Group 6, with grooved terminals (Cool 1983, 140). Although an alternative interpretation as a penannular brooch fragment was considered, Anna Booth has seen a photograph and feels this is unlikely for the following reasons. The cross-section of the frame is odd, being flat on the interior rather than the reverse. In addition, the 'zoomorphic' types normally have the animal's ears at the end, with the snout facing backwards towards the frame (Booth 2014, 37) or biting the frame (Mackreth 2011, 218) but this does not seem to be the case here, as the 'ears' are less prominent than the 'snout'. The terminal is also unusual as it is no wider than the rest of the frame.

NMS-413340: FINGER RING
Description: Fragment of finger-ring made from gilded silver. Less than half of the slightly tapered hoop survives, D-shaped in cross-section with a flat, heavily gilded interior. The convex exterior has very battered and worn decoration, probably originally a ridge at the wider end which then turns into a beaded line towards the narrower end. This is flanked by a concave groove to either side which has irregular depressions in the base, perhaps keying for enamel. The breaks are fairly fresh. Dimensions: Length of fragment 14.0mm. Maximum width of hoop 5.1mm, minimum width 4.2mm. Maximum thickness 1.9mm. Weight 0.7g. Discussion: There are several complete gilded silver finger-rings of similar type recorded on the PAS database, such as LIN-00BB62 and LEIC-786775, which suggest that the irregular depressions to either side of the central ridge should be interpreted as enamelled leaves. These rings both have iconographic bezels (decorated with the figures of saints), but there are other rings of similar type with geometric decoration (e.g. NMS-82F032) or with no motif (NMS-8B1F72). Date: Iconographic finger-rings are conventionally dated to the late 14th or 15th century, but the similar rings with other motifs suggest that the form may have continued after the Reformation, and a date-range of c. 1350-1550 is probably safer for such a small fragment.

NMS-CDAFBE: FINGER RING
Description: Large gold finger-ring with internal posy inscription and external decoration. The hoop is of even width throughout, and the exterior has a bold groove around either edge, with a convex surface in between. This is decorated with neatly engraved ornament, worn in places, consisting of oblique reserved strips (strapwork) between engraved lozenges each containing a five-petalled flower or rose in the centre, with stems and leaves filling the narrower corners. The diagonal lines give a twisted or cabled effect to the outside. The flatter (but still slightly convex) inner surface is engraved or punched with a short inscription in black-letter script consisting of three words, a ma vie (translatable as: [he or she] has my life). A faint hint of a seam can be seen in front of the inscription. Dimensions: External diameter 24mm, width of hoop 7.5-7.6mm, thickness of hoop 1.8mm, weight 9.1g. Discussion and Date: The size suggests a man's ring. The same amatory inscription, with the three words separated by flowers, is found on the interior of PAS-9E5727, and the exterior of LANCUM-082840, LEIC-66CD92 and CAM-2AC08E. The decorative style and internal black-letter inscription are also found on DEV-0BA8A5 (2016T91) and LEIC-10AC8D (2016T506), which are both dated to the 15th century. As a similar but simpler finger-ring was also found on the Mary Rose, however (Redknap in Gardiner and Allen 2005, 113-114, fig. 3.8, no. 81A2532), it could also date to the first half of the 16th century.

NMS-5E1D57: SEAL MATRIX
Description: Medieval gilded silver seal matrix of unusual form and fine craftsmanship. It is circular, thick and flat, with a recessed reverse. The die has a complicated central motif, described from the impression. On the left is the standing figure of the Madonna or Virgin Mary, with the Christ Child held in her arms towards the centre of the matrix. She is crowned and her face is towards the viewer, with hair or a veil to the sides; her right arm is bent across her body, and she has an obliquely draped skirt. The child is held in her left arm and his head is in side view, looking left towards his mother, and tilted back so that he looks upwards. To the viewer's far left, between the figure and the quatrefoil frame, is a tall lily with a V-shaped base (perhaps a pot, or slender leaves), a long stem, and three oval leaves or flowers with rounded lobes, one at the top and two branching out towards the quatrefoil frame. The lower right-hand side of the matrix is filled with a three-quarter length figure in profile looking left towards Mary. A ridge across his head forms a tonsure. He is wearing a long draped robe which is curved back at the waist to suggest kneeling, although the curve is rounded, and the lower part is short and tapering; no legs or feet are visible. The kneeling figure's hands are together in front of the body to indicate prayer, with thumb and fingers visible. From the tips of the fingers issues a ribbon-like scroll or banner, which runs upwards and then curves around the child's head to end in a line implying an unrolled end. There are five letters engraved on the matrix here, reading AVE * MA. To either side of the kneeling cleric (or monk) is a motif which probably represents a small leaf or flower, one underneath the bent arms and one behind the back, just above the end of the robe, The leaves or flowers are set on short stems and have pointed-oval bodies. Above his head, the space is filled with a sun or star, with six radiating arms which are all slightly curved to give an impression of clockwise movement. This central scene is set within a quatrefoil frame, with each foil separated by a small angled point. The ridge that makes up the quatrefoil is decorated on its inner face with tiny relief crosses (on the impression), probably made on the matrix by stamping. Outside the quatrefoil, each of the angles (or spandrels) is filled with three small dots. The inscription around is set between an outer beaded and an inner plain ridged border. It is written in neat serifed capitals, and reads * TE: ROGO: IVSTICIE: SOL: PIVS: ESTO: VIE (discussed below). The higher, flat parts of the die face are gilded. The sides of the matrix are neatly flat, and also gilded. The arris (or angle) between the die face and the sides is in most places sharp; there are two small chips missing (fresh breaks). The reverse has a neat drilled dot in the centre and many scratches, probably manufacturing marks, covering the ungilded surface. Around the edge is a taller gilded wall, 1.4mm thick, which has a gilded strip 2.1mm wide soldered to its top and projecting over the reverse to form a rebate. Some of this strip has broken away, revealing the top of the wall to have widely spaced shallow radial notches, probably keying to grip the solder; elsewhere the soldered seam has sprung apart a little. The soldered-on strip retains two complete rectangular notches and a small part of a third. The complete notches are rectangular and c. 3mm wide; one has a small untidy diagonal cross scratched to either side. Dimensions: Diameter 24.6mm, maximum thickness 4.6mm, weight 10.7g. Discussion: This matrix is unusual in several ways. Although the design, the Virgin and Child with a kneeling cleric, is a fairly common one on both official ecclesiastical seals (e.g. BUC-4AB725, WAW-8A85AD) and personal seals (e.g. NMGW-82E4EA, HAMP-812EFC) it is more unusual on a circular seal and it difficult to find a close match to the details. In addition, there do not seem to be any close parallels to the inscription recorded on the PAS database, nor in Harvey and McGuinness (1996). The inscription is in Medieval Latin, but its translation is not straightforward; a photograph has been seen by Dr Malcolm Jones, whose comments have been incorporated here. Te Rogo can easily be translated as 'I beseech'. Iusticie Sol, 'sun of righteousness', appears in the Old Testament (Malachi 4, v. 2; in the Vulgate, Malachi 3, v. 20), towards the end of a set of prophecies, and became a relatively common way of referring to Jesus Christ in the Middle Ages ('the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings'). Pius must refer to Sol, the sun, as it is a masculine adjective; giving us 'I beseech you, holy sun of righteousness'. Esto is an imperative meaning 'be', and Vie means 'the way', in the sense that Jesus uses it in John 14, v. 6 (Ego sum via et veritas et vita, I am the way and the truth and the life). The full inscription therefore can be read as 'I beseech Thee, holy Sun of Righteousness, be the way'. The construction seems to imply a detachable handle, with the matrix rotating either to lock it in position, or to remove it, as if interchangeable dies could be used with the same handle. A socket for a separately made (perhaps wooden) handle is found on matrices for use with alnage or subsidy seals (see NFAHG-C241B0 for an example). These are, however, very different, with the die apparently permanently attached to the handle. Other two-piece dies are known (e.g. YORYM-2006DE) but these are again different, working to raise or lower the central motif so that it can be used with or without the inscription. Date: Late 13th or 14th century.

NMS-2753D1: BRACTEATE
Description: Flat fragment of gold bracteate which has been made by hammering thin sheet gold over a die. It was originally circular, c. 39mm in diameter, but now only about a quarter of the circumference survives with edges that are a little longer than the radius. The curved edge has a short fragment of D-section plain wire frame surviving, soldered on for a short length and then bent over to the reverse; it looks as if the flat face of the wire was soldered to the edge of the disc. Inside the framing wire, the bracteate has an undecorated zone around 3-4mm wide, then a ring of punchmarks stamped from the front. The stamp is a double-strand S, and in combination the effect is of a simple twist or guilloche cable. Inside this is a repoussé ridge which forms a border to the main panel of decoration. This decoration is sharper on the obverse than on the hollowed reverse, indicating that the bracteate was made using a matrix (incuse) die. It is not particularly easy to read the relief decoration, but the object appears to be a C-bracteate, with the triple-strand toes of a profile quadruped (looking right) towards the bottom of the fragment, each toe ending in a pellet. Similar pellets to either side of the toes form a circle within the border, one to the right and five to the left before the breaks. At the top right of the fragment, just below the break, is a long, slightly downcurving element that looks superficially like a bird’s beak, but which might be the lower jaw of the quadruped. Other elements including a drop-shaped ridged outline and a pellet encircled by a ridge may be other parts of the quadruped’s body. There is a straight crease or crack running diametrically across the fragment, vertically if the three-toed feet are held downwards. This may be an opened-out fold. Dimensions: The fragment measures 22 x 23mm. The sheet is 0.4mm thick. The wire frame is 0.7mm tall and wide, and the entire fragment weighs 2.2g. Discussion: The ring of pellets is also found on C-bracteates NCL-C85065, BUC-A2D047 and NMS-A13EDD, which also have similar quadrupeds with long open jaws (interpreted as horses). Date: Late 5th or 6th century.

NMS-D0E063: BUCKLE
Description: Silver asymmetric double-loop buckle frame, perhaps from a shoe or spur. One loop is rectangular and the other is D-shaped, with a pointed outside edge. The frame is D-shaped in cross-section, and the only decoration is an oblique groove at either outer corner of the rectangular loop; one of these grooves is now worn away at its outer end. The frame is thickened in the centre where it is drilled to take a separate bar, and the buckle is now bent up on either side of this hole, which is broken through to the reverse with the bar missing. The pin is also missing, but there is a patch of brown discolouration on the straight outside edge which may be from an iron pin. On the reverse, behind the less worn corner groove, is a deeply struck hallmark of a lion passant guardant (also known as a leopard) within a large rectangular cartouche. Dimensions: Length as bent, 26.6mm; width 21.0mm; maximum thickness c. 3mm; weight 3.6g. Discussion: For the form of the buckle, compare a tinned copper-alloy example in Whitehead 2003 (no. 598) which Whitehead interprets as a shoe buckle and dates to 1660-1720. There are also many similar buckles recorded on the PAS database (e.g. BH-3DA9B7). Some more complete examples, however, survive on spurs (e.g. CAM-15DD7C, of silver; SUSS-830B37, of tinned or silvered copper alloy; and WILT-ACE4B5, of copper alloy). The dates given to these spurs vary, but most evidence again points towards the late 17th or early 18th century, with a suspicion that silver examples may be commoner in the later part of this date-range. The hallmark denotes sterling quality, and was used on some items of silver from the mid 16th century onwards. Date: Certainly within the century 1650-1750, and probably within the conventional date-range for these buckles of 1660-1720 AD.

NMS-F25F04: ANVIL
Substantial Bronze Age anvil, solid cast sub-cuboid head with an elongated sub-oval sectioned spike or beak/bec, the top of the head is gabled, one side longer than the other creating an off-centre arris with two working surfaces approximately 110 degrees from each other. All faces of the head and beak are intentionally slightly convex, one of the faces set at 90 degrees to the spike has a sub-circular rough divot in alignment to the arris on top, this is very likely to be the remains of a second beak/spike that has broken in antiquity, presumably through use. The remaining original surfaces are dark chocolate brown with the recent losses to the surface now mid-green. There are some inconsistencies with the casting on the head, mostly to the side with the missing projection, the other work surfaces are cleaned up a little after casting, but the the angled top of the head has had more attention, it is neatly finished with slight angled scratches to the surfaces from abrasion, presumably from grinding and polishing with some sort of fine-grained stone, there are at least four impressions from a fine semi-circular punch to the larger work surface of the angled head, there appears to be a much deeper punch mark of the same type just below and to one side of the missing beak. If this anvil did have two beaks/becs initially, it would be classified as a Armbruster, B. et al (2019) Class 2 anvil. See NMS-15E1DC for a much smaller example of a broadly similar type from Norfolk, also see: PUBLIC-B21001 and KENT-0278AC for other examples recorded with the Portable Antiquities Scheme. The British examples “fall into two broad groups; about half the associations are dated to the later Middle Bronze Age and half to the full Late Bronze Age.” Ehrenberg , M.R. (1981), page 22, it is likely this example is to be dated to the earlier period, circa. 1,400 to 1,200 BC as the workmanship, patination and condition is consistent with many of the Middle Bronze Age metalwork recovered in Norfolk.

NMS-15F76C: FINGER RING
Description: Gold mourning ring of late 17th- or early 18th-century date. The hoop is of even width throughout, and is D-shaped in cross-section. It is decorated on the outer curved face in one place only, forming a bezel, where a simplified skull motif has been added by engraving. The skull is turned in a three-quarter pose, with each side made from a V-section groove which runs across the outside of the hoop in a curve. The face is made up of two hemispherical depressions for rounded eyes, a triangular nose between, and a short oblique groove above the nose. Below the nose are five short grooves representing teeth in the upper jaw. The back of the skull is on the viewer's right, where just inside the curved edge of the skull is a narrow groove in a reversed S curve, cut through by two or three very short transverse grooves. On the flat inside of the hoop is an inscription in neat, small italic script reading: Christ is gaine though death was paine to PH The S of Christ is long. The inscription begins at the back of the hoop, as far away from the bezel as possible. It fills most, but not all, of the space available. The word 'to' is in even smaller writing and looks as if it was squeezed in after the addition of PH. There are several cracks in the gold, as if it was not perfectly finished at the time of manufacture. The ring is now bent a little out of shape, and opposite the bezel, where it is bent into a tighter angle, the outside of the hoop is rough and abraded. Dimensions: Hoop measures 19mm from bezel to back of hoop, and 20mm at right angles to this. Width of hoop, 3.5mm. Thickness of hoop, 1.2mm. Weight 3.1g. Discussion: This inscription does not appear on any other finger-ring currently recorded on the PAS database. The simple shape and skull motif, usually with the elaboration on the right-hand side, is common and often found with a date, appearing on (for example) PAS-463683 (dated to 1688), WMID-064BCD (dated to 1691), NMS-CF36F4 (dated to 1693), NMGW-03238B (dated to 1698), NMGW-02B0CE (dated to 1704), SF-7BB4E1 (dated to 1709), SUR-E8B4E7 (dated to 1710), NMGW-6DAA23 (dated to 1711) and NMS-92AAD6 (dated to 1712). Date: The date-range suggests that this type of mourning ring was most popular between c. 1685 and c. 1715.

NMS-83C951: RING
Copper-alloy ring, circular (25-26mm diameter) and of hexagonal cross-section, with filemarks on the outer angles. Solidly but not particularly neatly made, perhaps a little worn on the interior edges. 3.5mm thick, 3.5 to 4.5mm wide, weighs 5.2g. These rings probably had many uses, from brooch or buckle frames to harness rings, curtain rings and so on. The filemarks on this one probably indicate a medieval date.

NMS-5326CB: STIRRUP
Copper-alloy stirrup-strap mount of Williams class A, type 11C, of 11th-century date, now corroded and worn. It is triangular, with slightly outcurved sides and a rounded apex pierced with a circular hole; below the apex, in line with the hole, are a pair of tiny projections, one to either side. The whole of the rest of the mount is taken up with a sunken panel within a raised border which is the same width all around the mount. Within is relief ornament, which is blurred, but which can be seen to be a lion in profile facing left, with head raised and mouth open. The nose is pointed and there may be an ear on the back of the head. The body is made up of two rounded lobes; from the front lobe (the shoulders) a foreleg emerges and bends at the elbow to squeeze up against the border. The other forepaw sits on the lower border and has three toes. The rear legs emerge from the rear of the body (the hips or rump) and are less clear; one is in the centre of the lower edge and the other is jammed into the corner. The tail is indicated by an oblique groove in the back of the rump, and emerges from behind the rump to meet the ear. The base of the triangle has a shallow flange on the reverse which appears to run the full width of the object, but which is now very worn. Above this are two circular holes now blocked with corrosion, perhaps iron corrosion. One is almost in the centre, between the foreleg and the foremost hindleg; the other appears to cut through the rear hindleg. Length 41mm, width 28.5mm, thickness at flange 5mm, thickness in centre of lion's body also 5mm, weight 17.04g. This mount is close to Williams 1997, no. 284, but the animal is larger and more squashed into the space available; the sides are straighter and no. 284 does not have the small projections below the apex. On the PAS database, compare NMS-35E9D1 and SF-F76242. Most type 11C stirrup-strap mounts have been found in Norfolk.

NMS-CE060D: MOUNT
Description: A fragment of a gilded silver object, originally circular, with a groove within a hollow-backed ridge around the original curving edge, probably to add strength. The fragment is roughly triangular, with the apex missing. The front is gilded, and decorated with a panel edged with grooves and filled with incised cross-hatching. The panel flares slightly from the broken-off centre to the edge, and the cross-hatching disappears at the groove around the curving edge. This edge is relatively rough. The other two main edges look broken (worn breaks). The reverse is undecorated, with several grooves which may be damage. Dimensions: Length 8.9mm, width 10.3mm, thickness 0.7mm, weight 0.36 g. Discussion: The panel of cross-hatching and the gilding are also found on medieval silver domed mounts such as SF-5E571B (2017T721, with a central iron rivet), the less well made NMS-AF9FC0 (2013T619) and the very tall NMS-DEB91E (2014T373). These are similar in size to this object, but differ slightly in that they tend to have decoratively shaped edges. It remains most likely that this object is a medieval mount. Date: Simple domed mounts made from copper alloy have been found in contexts of the mid 13th to 15th centuries in London and elsewhere (Egan and Pritchard 1991, e.g. nos. 857, 901-3, 986-1003, etc).

Description: Gold posy ring. The hoop is of even width and D-shaped cross-section throughout, although with some wear. The curved exterior is undecorated, and worn to a matt finish. The flat interior is more glossy, and has the inscription in neat lower-case italic letters: Let vertue be thy guide. At the end of the inscription is a stamped maker's mark reading SL within an oval cartouche; it has been stamped so that it is the right way up when the inscription is upside down. The thicker parts of both letters are double-stranded, and there are two small points on the rear edge of the L. Dimensions: Maximum width as bent, 22.6mm. Width of hoop, 3.8mm. Thickness of hoop, 0.9mm. Weight, 2.4g. Discussion: The text of the inscription is included in Harley MS 6910, a miscellany of Elizabethan poetry compiled between 1596 and 1600 (Evans 1931, p. 69). The British Museum's collection contains a plain ring with a very similar inscription (AF.1322, https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/H_AF-1322) and another with a slightly different version (AF.1320, https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/H_AF-1320). Both are dated to the 17th century by their makers' marks. The PAS database has several rings with this inscription. One with complex decoration has been dated to the 17th or early 18th century (HAMP-17BF60) and another to the late 17th century (SOM-781886). Simple, plain rings with the same or similar inscriptions include BUC-F183D2, dated to the 17th century; DOR-CA338D, dated to the later 17th to mid 18th century; and CORN-DE5F35 and SUR-B6BBFA, both dated to the early 18th century on the basis of their script. In addition, the maker's mark on BUC-F183D2 has a similar double-strand S. Oman states that italic script began to replace capitals in the second quarter of the 17th century (1974, 40-41). Date: The date-range quoted for similar rings thus covers c. 1600-c. 1750 AD. Given that Oman would prefer a slightly later date, perhaps the century 1650-1750 seems about right for this particular ring.

NMS-B0FF45: MOUNT
Description: Unusual partly gilded silver and niello-inlaid mount of early-medieval date, perhaps broken and repaired. It is rectangular, thick and hollowed on the reverse, and decorated in Carolingian-style relief with openwork elements. The decoration is based around a bold raised flat-topped diagonal cross or saltire dividing the square into quarters, with a worn boss in the centre and at the end of each arm. At the end of each arm of the saltire is a low-relief leaf motif, with a sunken, lobed centre and an outcurved leaf to either side which is inlaid with a niello line. Each triangular field formed by the saltire is filled with a hollow-centred, V-shaped leaf motif, one of which has some iron corrosion adhering. Each half of the V has a sunken trefoil centre, and from each one emerges a flat--topped rectangular ridge which runs to the edge. The very end of each of these ridges, as it droops to the edge, has a dot or recess. To either side of these pairs of ridges is an oval hole, making eight holes in total. One short side has a slight rough flange along its edge, perhaps where a larger attachment edge has broken away, but there is no trace of any attachment hole. The reverse has a pale yellow surface, apparently gilded, with a very flat mid grey rim around the edge; the grey here is probably solder. Dimensions: 26.5mm long by 22.2mm wide, and 8.1mm in height. The rim around the reverse is a maximum of 3mm wide. It weighs 11.7g. Discussion: This mount fits well into a group of rectangular Carolingian-style gilded silver mounts and strap-ends with saltire and leaf decoration, such as NARC-10F5B2, NMS-55FBD7, LIN-2D80AB, NMS-ADCA16, ESS-109B16. None have openwork decoration, however; and all have attachment holes or integral rivets. It is possible that this object may originally have had a flanged attachment edge which has been broken away and that it has been re-attached with solder. Date: Mid 9th to late 10th century, c. 850-1000 AD.

NMS-38F2DE: BROOCH
Description: Tiny silver medieval annular brooch. It has an almost circular, D-section frame with a constriction for the silver pin. Opposite this is a pin rest, and both pin constriction and pin rest are flanked by animal heads pointing towards them, perhaps intended as biting at them. Each of the four animal heads has relief ears, eyes made from annulet punches, and nostrils made from single dots. If the pin constriction is held at 12 o'clock, then at 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock is a slightly expanded raised oval zone of oblique grooves with probable annulet punches along the ridges in between. Although this looks a little like 'brambled' decoration, it was probably intended as wings, making the animals dragons. Because of the way that the oblique grooves are formed, it is possible to see each of these oval zones as a wing belonging to either animal head. The D-section silver pin is neatly made with two raised mouldings at the junction of loop and shaft. Dimensions: The frame measures 13.2mm wide (perpendicular to the pin) and 12.3mm long (parallel to the pin); the pin is also 12.3mm long. It is 1.4mm thick at most, and weighs 0.6mm. Discussion: The animal heads are beautifully made, although almost too small to see clearly with the naked eye. Double-headed dragons can be seen in a variety of designs on annular brooches recorded on the PAS database, but the closest parallels to the design come from Norfolk (e.g. NMS-CD4689, from Flitcham with Appleton, and NMS-15AD60, from Grimston). For a comparably tiny example with a slightly different design, see YORYM-1CB322. It is hard to imagine how these minute brooches would have been worn; presumably the fabric they were pinned to had to be equally fine, perhaps of silk. Date: 13th or 14th century.

NMS-7BF911: STRAP END
Copper-alloy strap end with niello inlay, probably of Thomas's Class K. It is broken at the split end, with the front plate broken across the attachment holes and the back plate missing from the base of the split. There is iron corrosion behind the front plate. The split end has curved sides and narrows to the base of the split, then the strap-end flares out again gently and then curves in again to form a drop shape. This has a reserved strip down the centre, with a niello-inlaid panel to either side. The niello has now decomposed to a silvery colour, but it is possible to see a general S-shaped structure on both sides, possibly originally an animal. The animal-head terminal below is shaped around three rounded elements, two eyes and a longer nose, but there is no added decoration surviving. Surviving length 31.3mm, maximum width (just above animal-head terminal) 11.0mm, thickness 3.2mm, weight 3.8g. 9th century. This could be interpreted as a Thomas Class K, defined as being in the form of an animal head seen from above. In this interpretation, the long oval niello-inlaid panels would represent the ears, with the rounded eyes and head below. The best comparison is probably from Middle Harling (Rogerson 1995, 60, fig. 41, no. 71), included by Thomas (2000) as his cat no. 1364. A parallel on the database can be seen at SF-AE6B62.

NMS-7DD43E: BUCKLE
Medieval buckle frame and plate, both made from copper alloy. Only a fragment of the frame survives, a short length of slim curved side and the offset bar (very worn breaks). The rectangular plate survives well, made from a long piece of rectangular sheet folded in half around the bar with frame recesses and a pin slot cut into the fold and the open end secured by two rivets, one at each corner. One corner is now torn away with its rivet, but the other copper-alloy rivet survives. The plate is decorated with engraving made up of individual punch marks, There is a line across the hinge end, interrupted by the pin slot, and from this spring four longitudinal lines creating a blank central field and two outer fields. Both of the outer fields have an inscription of three letters, reading V I A (above) and A I V (below), whichever way up the buckle is held (frame to left or frame to right). The A is unbarred, so it can be read as a V when upside down; the I is double-stranded and all letters have large serifs. Each field may have a fourth letter which is now obscured and cut through by the rivet; this looks like another I. Surviving width of frame 24mm, width of bar 20.7mm, surviving length of frame c. 12mm. Length of plate c. 43mm, width of plate 19.3mm. Total surviving length c. 51mm. Weight 6.6g. The inscription appears meaningless, but is presumably an attempt at Ave Maria or similar. Compare NMS-DF9215, which has a very similar inscription; KENT-6849FE, which gets a lot closer to Ave Maria; and WMID-034224, WILT-F44AD3, CORN-CCE175 and NLM-3D8B2E, which have complete buckle frames with ornate outside edges, which allows dating to c. 1200-1400.

NMS-7D1514: STRAP END
Fragment of copper-alloy strap-end of Thomas's class E, type 4. The attachment end is rectangular and has a pair of dark metal rivets, one at each corner. The metal is uncertain but is probably a different copper alloy to the rest of the strap-end. This end is split for a short distance and the back half is missing; the front of the split area is undecorated. The body of the strap-end tapers very slightly and is filled with a rectangular panel of decoration, now very worn, outlined by a groove. Faint traces of Borre-style interlace can be seen within, with an angle at the top left corner and a very faint possible triangle in the centre. The design is smaller and more delicate than Borre-style interlace tends to be on Thomas Class E4 strap-ends. The strap-end has been snapped across the middle, with the lower half missing. The break is slightly worn. Surviving length 22.2mm, maximum width (at base of split end) 15.2mm, maximum thickness (at base of split end) 3.1mm, weight 4.7g. Compare NMS-B63E39, SF-2AE08A, NLM-F4E3D9, SWYOR-5F2513, HESH-B84126, perhaps HAMP-2D60A0, etc. Broadly 10th-century in date.

Fragment of Roman buckle frame, about a quarter surviving. It consists of a curving edge to the frame, broken at one end (worn break) and curled inwards at the other end where it is cast in one with a bar. The bar ends just beyond the inner curl, but it is unclear whether this is a worn break or an original edge. On the other side of the bar is a single hinge loop. The bar is decorated on one face with a longitudinal groove, and the frame is D-shaped in cross-section, flat on the undecorated face and slightly convex on the other. Surviving width (length of the bar) 17.5mm, surviving length from end of hinge loop to break 23.9mm, maximum thickness (at hinge loop) 6.2mm, weight 4.3g. Compare LON-431EB6, NMS-375EA8, SUR-AF2A56 and ESS-AA2305, all of which are dated to the 1st century AD. Alternatively, as it is so fragmentary, it is possible that it originally had zoomorphic decoration and belongs to Hawkes and Dunning's type IIA, dating to the 4th century AD; compare a complete example from Lullingstone, Kent, also with the longitudinal groove on the bar, published in Hawkes and Dunning 1961, fig. 17j. On the PAS database, compare SF-1A45D2, NLM-1278F5. WAW-208747 and BERK-C9AC82.

NMS-FA7C77: UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT
Fragment of flat copper-alloy object, decorated on one face with cast openwork ornament. There are parts of two transversely beaded circles or ovals, perhaps 13mm in diameter, with the surviving areas set back to back. Within each of these are the remains of two circular holes, the best-preserved perhaps 3-4mm in diameter. Between the holes is a pellet, from which springs a spiral wire or ridge. These are mirror-image on each side, so that one circle contains a clockwise spiral and the other an anti-clockwise spiral. Outside the circles, to one side is an incomplete openwork perforation, but the other angle is filled with a short rounded projection bearing relief decoration of two small incomplete circles at the edge, each surrounded by a curving ridge. In between these is a raised area that splits into three, with the central element flaring and tapering to form a lozenge, and the side elements forming short outward-curving lines that bend around the two circles. The reverse of the fragment has no fixings. It is cast with each of the elements slightly rounded and rib-like, showing that the perforations are original. The breaks to one of the beaded circles are old and worn, but on the other circle are much fresher. Surviving length from end of rounded projection to broken ends of beaded circles, 17.5mm; width perpendicular to this, 19mm. Maximum thickness 2.25mm, weight 1.8g. The combination of cast beaded circles and wire spirals suggests an early post-medieval date, perhaps 16th century.

NMS-2C93D3: RIVET
Probable rivet, or rivet head, made from a piece of copper-alloy rod rolled up clockwise and flattened. The underside is smooth and slightly concave; the upper side is more strongly convex, and more lumpy and three-dimensional. The underside also has a greyish matt patina, whereas the upper side is blacker and more polished. It measures c. 25 x 22mm and is 4.5mm thick. It weighs 5.8mm. Perhaps the head from a longer rivet of the type recorded at NLM-4E3881, SOM-E51AF9, etc. These are thought to be late 15th- or early 16th-century (Egan 2005, 101).

NMS-2C08C7: MORTARIUM
Rim sherd from a Roman ceramic mortarium. The fabric is sandwich fired, with a reduced grey core, oxidised orange margins and pale brown surfaces. It has a short upright rim, with a wide flange just below; the flange is concave on the underside but stepped or concentrically ribbed on the upper face. The mortarium is not a Nene Valley product, and although not typically East Anglian, is likely to be of local manufacture. Length of fragment 75mm, width of rim from inner face to outer edge of flange 37mm, weight 45.71g. 2nd or 3rd century AD.

NMS-6696CA: BROOCH
Almost-complete small copper-alloy Roman brooch, of Colchester derivative hinged type. The tubular wings are crimped over to hold the iron axis bar, with a seam down the reverse and a slot in the centre where a tiny stub of copper-alloy pin survives. The wings are decorated on the front with transverse ribbing, each wing having two broad flutes alternating with three narrower grooves. The bow springs from the centre of the wings and tapers smoothly to the foot. The top half of the bow is decorated. At the very top there is a pair of central longitudinal grooves, with an oblique groove to either side. The pair of grooves ends at a single transverse groove, below which there is a 'bead-and-reel' arrangement - a broad flute above a convex moulding with another broad flute below, with the decoration ending in another single transverse groove.The bow then continues to taper to the foot, with the cross-section becoming narrow but deep; the only decoration is a groove across the foot. On the reverse, most of a solid catchplate survives, although the curved over end (the return) is missing. The catchplate is separated from the foot by a groove on both faces. Length 32.4mm, width of wings 28.5mm, weight 6.6g. It is similar to Mackreth (2011) no. 2652, which Mackreth allocates to his Bead and Reel group, 8.b. First or early second century AD.

Incomplete copper-alloy Roman brooch of Harlow type, missing the lower part of the bow and the foot. The wings are semi-cylindrical in cross-section, open at the reverse to take the spring, with a central lug which is pierced twice. The lug is broken across the lower hole (which would have held the axis bar); the upper hole retains a fragment of copper-alloy wire representing the chord of the spring. A diagonal groove can just be seen on the front of one wing, running from the top of the bow downwards and outwards, but any other decoration is obscured by corrosion. The breaks on the head are fairly fresh. The bow springs from the top centre of the wings, separated from the lug on the reverse by a groove. It is decorated with a broad flat-topped ridge with median groove down the centre, giving the effect of a pair of longitudinal ridges. These continue as the bow tapers downwards to a worn break. The wings are 28.75mm wide and the brooch survives to a length of 28.7mm. It weighs 7.5g. It is similar to Mackreth (2011) no. 1453. Harlow-type brooches date to the early Roman period, c. 50-80 AD.

NMS-AB2265: SCABBARD
Incomplete medieval scabbard chape. It is made from a single piece of copper alloy folded in half; each half is identical, or nearly so. The fold is 13mm wide and the chape then flares out to 22mm wide. Here there is a straight edge across, forming a trapezoidal shape, with one half having a circular cut-out close to this edge with decorative notches to either side, and the other half having a similar cut-out but this time breaking the edge. The line of the flaring sides then continues up on one side to form a pair of arms; the complete one has a rounded end, pierced but the hole now blocked with hard corrosion, and brings the total length up to 42mm. The other arm is broken across the rivet hole. The other side of the chape has presumably lost a matching pair of arms, but the break is so old as to be indistinguishable from the original edge. The chape is 5.5mm thick at most and weighs 7.3g. Compare several similar chapes from Norfolk: NMS-9A7B78, NMS-47F70C, NMS-908413, NMS-3EBB47; and from other counties: NMS-7D97B, ESS-AA41D6, SWYOR-B0C953, DEV-8DE350, KENT-9240FA. Two came from 13th-century contexts in Winchester and are thought to be mould-identical (Biddle 1990, 1082-3, nos. 4030-4031).

NMS-561774: HOOKED TAG
Description: Composite hooked tag made from gilded silver. It has a circular plate, 17.0mm in diameter, with six rods soldered onto the reverse and projecting radially around the edge. The rods are made from circular-section wire, 1.0mm in diameter with a burred-over slightly expanded end, and are evenly spaced, at about 1 o'clock, 3 o'clock, 5 o'clock, 7 o'clock, 9 o'clock and 11 o'clock. At 6 o'clock is a hook made from circular-section wire 2.0mm in diameter, one end tapering and curving to a sharp point; the other end is flattened and soldered to the reverse. The plate is relatively thick, 2.0mm at the side face, which is decorated with two grooves and three ridges. A fourth similar concentric ridge runs around just inside the edge of the front. Within this is a concentric ring of what appears to be a fine chain soldered on, with a ring of twisted wire inside this. Within this elaborate filigree frame are twelve small annulets or circles of twisted wire which surround a central boss. A green glass inlay survives in two of the circular cells (at 4 and 8 o'clock), with traces of a similar inlay in some others (1, 7, 11 o'clock). Those without the glass inlay have very bright yellow gilded bases, and a similar colour can be seen through some of the inlay. It seems likely that all cells originally had the bright gilding underlying green glass inlay. The central boss is an openwork cage of six triangular or drop-shaped perforations meeting at a central raised point. There is a median groove along the metal between each of the perforations. This boss was made separately, and attached by means of a split pin (sometimes called a 'butterfly clip') which is visible opened out on the reverse. Also on the reverse is the final element, a rectangular attachment loop, apparently soldered on, between the uppermost projecting rods or pins. From the presence of gilding over the entire object, including the reverse and the base of the circular cells, it appears that the gilding was done over the whole object before the inlay was added. Dimensions: Maximum length including hook, 23.7mm. Maximum width including projecting rods, 20.6mm. Maximum thickness including boss and hook, 12.9mm. Weight 3.9g. Discussion: This hooked tag falls into Read's Class D, Type 2. The basic construction of plate, soldered-on hook and loop, and central boss attached by split pin is familiar from many Class D composite hooked tags, as are the twisted-wire filigree circles, but other details are unusual. The central boss design with six drop-shaped perforations can be found on other hooked tags (e.g. SF-EF29F4) and chain filigree, while rare, is paralleled on LANCUM-36CDF9, a 16th-century heart-shaped pendant. The slender radial rods have been suggested as holders for pearls or beads, and can be found on pendants or reliquary crosses such as BM-1F56EE, ESS-8F991E and SF-C86BF6, as well as on the Fishpool cross pendant (British Museum 1967,1208.7) but are unique on a hooked tag. The glass inlay also appears unique, and the gilding over all surfaces is unusual. Date: Hooked tags do not seem to have been in use before the 16th century AD, and the chain filigree parallel cited is also 16th-century. The radiating rods to hold beads, though, are found only in the 15th century, Fishpool having been buried in 1464. Alternatively, SF-C86BF6 (2013T778, from Fressingfield, Suffolk) is now considered to be a modern copy. The unusual features and the very crisp preservation of the Pulham Market hooked tag suggest that it should be investigated microscopically and the metal composition determined. Alternatively, SF-C86BF6 (2013T778, from Fressingfield, Suffolk) is now considered to be a modern copy.

NMS-AAA531: VESSEL
Complete vessel leg from a cast copper-alloy ewer or possibly a cooking vessel, either made separately from the rest of the vessel and soldered on, or a repair. The leg is a tall D shape in cross-section, flat on the reverse and curved at the front, and tapers from 17mm wide and 18mm thick at the top to 11.5mm wide and 14.5mm thick close to the bottom. Here it turns a sharp angle and continues to taper, forming a foot with a flat base and a rounded toe. The foot is 22mm long. At the top of the leg there is a small sub-circular area of vessel wall cast in one with the leg. This is covered by a second thickness of copper-alloy plate which seems to be soldered in place. Both are about 1.5-2mm in thickness. The soldered-on plate measures c. 25 x 30mm and the area of vessel wall beneath measures 28 x 30mm. There are black deposits on the rear of the leg and on the rough upper surface of the soldered-on plate. Overall length 70mm, weight 118.5g. There is no leg like this on any of the cooking vessels catalogued in Butler and Green 2003, but several are illustrated on 14th- or 15th-century ewers in Lewis 1987 (e.g. fig. 4, from Kenfig). This form, without a moulded ridge across the ankle, is not common, but can be seen at SWYOR-3016B1 and YORYM-7C2BD1.

NMS-B69527: STIRRUP
Copper-alloy stirrup-strap mount of 11th-century date, now very worn and missing its apex. It is sub-triangular and flat, with curved long sides and two little flat projections at each of the lower corners, where there are holes through the mount from front to back filled with iron rivets. One of the projections on either corner is to the side, the other diagonal. On the reverse, between the two diagonal projections, there is a right-angled flange bringing the maximum thickness of the copper-alloy mount to 4mm; the iron rivets increase the maximum thickness overall to 8.5mm. There is a similar flat projection on either side towards the apex, above which the apex is missing; it is broken across a circular perforation c. 6mm in diameter. It is decorated with engraved ornament made up of individual rocked or punched strokes, consisting of a groove down either long side, bifurcating to spiral inwards above the rivets and to continue down outside them. All breaks are worn. Maximum width 28.5mm, length 36mm, weight 12.99g. It may originally have been similar to SF-695C19 and SUR-D56CB1.

NMS-B72619: BROOCH
Head and upper bow of a copper-alloy Roman brooch, of Colchester derivative hinged type. The wings are tubular, bent over to enclose a copper-alloy axis bar and butted together at the back; they have a slot in the centre for the missing pin. Decoration on the wings is hard to see, as one has lost its end and the other has corrosion bubbles, but may have a transverse broad groove or flute towards the end. This wing is 12mm long, and 4mm in diameter as it leaves the bow, tapering to perhaps 2mm diameter at the end. The bow is similarly small and thin, decorated on either side at the top with a groove down either side; these grooves taper and flatten, and ultimately disappear a short way down the bow. In between there may have been some transverse ribbing or beading, but again corrosion bubbles make this uncertain. The bow is D-shaped in cross-section, flat on the reverse, and is 6mm wide as it leaves the head, tapering to a worn break. Total surviving width 27mm, 25mm long, weight 2.96g. It belongs either to Mackreth CD H 3 (with minimal decoration on the wings) or to Mackreth CD H 4 (with undecorated wings).

NMS-D8F162: FINGER RING
Description: Gold gem-set finger-ring, now distorted and missing one of the original three stones. It has a narrow hoop with a low D-shaped cross-section, and a square central bezel with torn side walls, now missing its stone.The central bezel was conventional in manufacture, with a gold baseplate and rectangular walls soldered on to make an open-topped box. Each shoulder has a small oval secondary bezel, placed along the axis of the hoop; both are set with dark green cabochon-cut stones or domed glass settings. The surface of the settings is rough, perhaps suggesting glass. The vertical gold walls forming the bezel are relatively thick, and have vertical grooves cut into their sides, giving a ribbed effect when seen from the side and a scalloped effect when seen from above. There are ten grooves on one bezel (four on each side and one at either end) and eleven on the other (four on one side, five on another and one at either end). Each of the scallops has a punched dot on the top, although these are so tiny that one or two seem to have vanished or never been properly made. The two secondary bezels are separated from the central bezel by lengths of slightly flaring hoop, of similar D-shaped cross-section to the rest of the hoop, but with three facets on the top rather than smoothly curved. Dimensions: The original diameter of the ring is hard to assess. The central bezel survives at c. 6mm square, which is probably not far off its original size. The oval bezels each measure 4.7mm in length, 3.9mm in width, and are 2.4mm tall. The minimum width of the hoop is 1.6mm and its minimum thickness is 0.9mm. It weighs 2.3g. Discussion: Finger-rings with three bezels widely separated on the hoop are unusual and it is difficult to find a close parallel. They occur on HAMP-0B7C35, but this is a much heavier style and has larger gems. On other examples, such as CAM-AFC9AA, the stones are much closer together. Date: Medieval or early post-medieval, perhaps 1200-1600 AD.

NMS-6E0D9C: BROOCH
Incomplete copper-alloy late Iron Age or early Roman Langton Down brooch, with the outer ends of the spring, most of the pin, the lower part of the bow and all of the catchplate missing. The wings consist of a thin undecorated sheet cylinder with a seam along the reverse and a slot in the centre for the copper-alloy circular-section pin. The broad bow springs from the centre of the wings, with a faint curved ridge running round the top and grazing the edge of the pin slot. The bow is thin and C-shaped in cross-section, with remains of very worn vertical grooving on the front. It tapers to a worn break. The wings are 24.2mm wide and the surviving length of the brooch is 19.1mm. It weighs 5.03g. It is probably either a Mackreth 2.a or 2.b, but as these two types are distinguished by the detail of their decoration, it cannot be typed any more precisely. Langton Down brooches date to c. 25-60 AD, and were made on the Continent and imported to Britain.

NMS-04B885: FINGER RING
Description: Large gilded silver stirrup-shaped finger-ring with clasped hands or fede motif. The tall triangular bezel is topped by a small rounded knop which has traces of gilding around the base, suggesting it may once have been gilded too. At the back of the hoop, opposite the bezel, is the clasped-hands motif; the hoop widens slightly to accommodate the hands. The hoop is bent here, across one of the clasped hands, and there is quite a bit of damage to the metal; but it can be seen that the hands were simply engraved with the thumb of one and four fingers of the other, with both wrists decorated with several fine transverse lines. The hoop is then broken across just beyond one wrist, but none of the ring appears to be missing. There is an inscription in fiarly neat, well-spaced serifed capitals around the inside of the hoop, reading + A + L+ G + A . The first cross is rather clumsy and behind the bezel, the first A is straight-barred, the L is retrograde, the G hard to see because of damage but apparently quite rounded, and the final A has an angled bar. Dimensions: In its bent state, the length from top of bezel to back of hoop is 33mm and the width perpendicular to this is 24mm. The hoop is at its widest at the clasped hands, where it is 6.0mm wide; it narrows in width at the wrists to 3.7mm, and then expands again to 5.0mm at the bezel. The minimum thickness, at the clasped hands, is 1.2mm. It weighs 5.8g. Discussion: Stirrup-shaped rings are a well known medieval type, dating from c. 1150 to c. 1500 AD (Egan and Pritchard 1991, 326). The clasped-hands or fede motif has an even longer history, as it was used in the Roman world before being re-introduced in the 12th century and continuing in use until modern times. The two motifs are quite commonly combined on medieval finger-rings from the 12th to the 15th centuries. The use of a small metal knop instead of a gem is not particularly common, but is found on several stirrup-shaped rings. The combination of metal knop, clasped hands and stirrup shape is also found on the close parallels KENT-B38915 and KENT-A022A3. Neither of these rings has an inscription, however. The inscription was probably meant as AGLA, an inscription with amuletic significance, meaning 'Thou art mighty forever, O Lord'. (In Hebrew, Atha Gebri Leilan Adonai). AGLA is usually found on silver pendants which are generally dated to the 13th or 14th centuries; it is occasionally found on finger-rings, but these are normally simple hoops with the inscriptions on the exterior (such as IOW-28C6E5, GLO-6C68C6, BERK-57D044 and CORN-DB2A92. There is one more complex ring with AGLA on a flat rounded bezel, similar to the pendants (SF-AC77A3), but the use of AGLA on a stirrup-shaped ring is unusual. Date: The ring is likely, from the inscription, to date to the 13th or 14th century.

NMS-456999: WHISTLE
Description: Post-medieval silver bosun's or boatswain's whistle, essentially a narrow tube with cast three-dimensional decoration. One end is complete (the mouthpiece), decorated with a collar of two encircling bands with ribbing in between. There is a second similar collar about halfway along, which is joined to the scrolling tail of a three-dimensional fish or dolphin. The tail is also decorated with ribbing between raised lines, and is divided from the body by projecting elements, perhaps fins. There is scrolly relief decoration on the fish's body, and the back is joined to the broken end of the tube, forming a hole for suspension below. The head has a large eye on either side, made froom a relief circle around a pellet, and the mouth is open. Beyond the fish, the tube is open and appears torn. The tube is known as a 'gun', and the area of fish decoration is known as a 'keel', forming an openwork triangle to hold the tube to a hollow spherical end (the 'buoy') which is now missing. Dimensions: Surviving length 37.0mm, maximum surviving width including keel and collar 16mm, internal diameter of tube at mouthpiece 4mm, weight 5.1g. Discussion and Date: Five silver boatswain's whistles (or 'calls') were found on the Mary Rose, all with what appears to be simpler decoration. They are thought to be the practical possessions of senior officers, and also to have functioned as badges of symbol or status (Redknap in Gardiner 2005, 284-292). A boatswain's call with the keel in the form of a sea creature was found on Aberafan Sands in South Wales, and thought to have come from the Ann Francis, wrecked in 1583; and another with the keel in the form of a serpent was recovered from the wreck of the Girona, sunk in the Armada of 1588 (Redknap in Gardiner 2005, 292). Also compare lead-alloy examples LON-92BFA3 and LON-075592, with keels in the form of an abstract scroll, both dated to the 15th or 16th century. Later bosun's whistles have simpler scrolls; compare LEIC-C4CAA2 and DOR-6E2574, whose date-ranges extend throughout the 17th century. On the whole a date in the second half of the 16th century or first half of the 17th seems appropriate.

NMS-AB4973: STRAP END
Copper-alloy strap-end of early-medieval date. Although fairly solid in feel, it is now very worn and most details have been lost. It tapers from a maximum of roughly 8.4mm wide at the split end, where some pieces of the edge have been lost. One half of the split end, apparently the front, is substantially thinner than the other half; both have a single, slightly off-centre circular rivet hole. The strap-end is oval in cross-section, with the front a little more strongly curved than the reverse. No identifiable decoration survives, but there is a very slight waist just over halfway down, then a raised bump above a depression about two-thirds of the way down. This is likely to be the start of an animal-head terminal, with the bump being the remains of ears. A lower bump, below the depression, may represent the brow or eyes, and the front of the strap-end then gently slopes down to a pointed tip which may be the nose. It is a total of 51.9mm long, a maximum of 4.8mm thick, and weighs 6.4g. The proportions are those of Thomas's Class B strap-ends, which date broadly from the 9th or 10th centuries, perhaps into the 11th. Not enough detail survives to narrow down the type or a more precise date.

NMS-188BC9: BOOK FITTING
Copper-alloy book clasp of Howsam's type A.3, made from a thin strip of copper-alloy sheet mostly 14.2mm wide, with one end flaring to 15.4mm wide before being broken. The break is across the outer of two concentric grooves around a rivet hole (blocked with iron corrosion), with a second similar motif around a second rivet hole in the centre of the clasp. The other end of the clasp has a flat, slightly tapering, turned-under hook. It has further decoration of three transverse rows of fine rocker-arm ornament between the central circles and the hook, with a V shape of similar rocker-arm running from the final row to enclose the circles. Surviving length 36.7mm, thickness of plate 1.0mm, weight 3.0g. This type of book clasp is thought to date to the 15th or 16th century, but the rocker-arm on this one probably means that it is a relatively early example.

NMS-14706E: SEAL MATRIX
Medieval lead seal matrix, flat with perforated lug on reverse, above relief decoration of a vertical line with three lines branching downwards on each side. Pointed-oval, 37.1 x 22.7mm; edges bevelled on reverse.. Elaborate fleur-de lis within plain groove. + S'MARIOTE: LE MILNERE (Seal of Mariote the Miller). 13th century. The elaborate fleur-de-lis consists of a central stem running from the top downwards, with two pairs of branches curving from the stem to merge with the surrounding groove, and a final oval lobe at the bottom. The oval lobe is decorated with three deep dots set vertically, and there is another dot within the curve of each of the first branches. The matrix is generally around 3mm thick, and 7.1mm thick at the long, low D-shaped lug which has a central circular hole. It weighs 15.2g. Mariote is a diminutive of the woman's name Mary.

Fragment of copper-alloy composite buckle, now very bent. The frame has been broken on one side and is now very bent out of shape. A pointed pin rest survives with a slight groove on its internal edge. There is another break at the pin constriction, with a little of one half of the forked spacer surviving, with most of the prong missing (old break). The other two breaks are not particularly worn. Measurements are hard to take due to distortion; it weighs 3.9g. 14th century.

Incomplete gilded copper-alloy buckle plate, rectangular with five copper-alloy rivets. One end is neatly rectilinear, then it tapers very slightly to the centre, which is crossed by a fine engraved line. It then flares very slightly to two broken hinge loops; the base of the pin slot between them is clear. The rivets are all knob-headed, 3.5 to 4mm in diameter, bringing the maximum thickness to 5.7mm. The metal has corroded to a reddish brown colour with flecks of gilding. It measures 25.7mm long and 16.7mm wide, and weighs 3.3g. 13th or 14th century.

NMS-3FDFEB: BROOCH
Description: Gilded silver medieval annular brooch with pin. The frame is circular, D-shaped in cross-section, and decorated in the shape of two wyverns in profile. The heads meet at a pin constriction, and have open jaws, long ridges for eyes, and round ears. Behind the heads are ridged shoulders which extend down to form forelegs; these bend forwards at an elbow and end in slightly rounded paws.Behind the shoulders are small wings, decorated with longitudinal grooves, which lie flat along the animals' backs. Beneath the wings, the bodies are decorated with pellets made using an annulet punch, to resemble scales. The bodies taper into tails which meet and twist together, wrapping over and under the other tail and then each ending in a second head which lies on the opposite animal's back. These heads are similar to the first heads, but modelled more in the round. The reverse of the frame is flat but also decorated to show the other side of the animals. The heads are far more sketchy, with a double concentric ring forming each eye. Grooves delineate the legs and wings, and there are worn dots on the bodies; the twisted tails have annulet stamps. The silver pin has its loop wrapped around the constriction, and there is a rectangular moulding at the junction of loop and shaft. The shaft is D-shaped or trapezoidal in cross-section and its pointed tip droops slightly to fit over the frame, resting in the centre of the twisted tails. There are faint traces of silver in the recesses of the decoration. Dimensions: The frame is 17.3mm long measured along the line of the pin, and 17.1mm wide perpendicular to this.It is 3.5mm thick at most (at the second pair of heads, at the end of the tails) The pin is 17.2mm long and the loop is 3.7mm in diameter. It weighs 2.4g. Discussion: This design, with double-headed dragons, wyverns or snakes (sometimes called amphisbaena) is found on several medieval annular brooches, many very tiny and made from silver. No particularly close parallel has yet been found, but simpler examples are recorded at SF-3ADAC2 (2015T36), KENT-634AE1 (2019T331), KENT-48791C (2017T458) and HAMP-FD6C86 (2008T516) . It is also related to, but different from, a group of annular brooches with tails twisted around the frame in a series of coiled spirals (e.g. SF-05611B (2019T375) and BH-8D34D3 (2019T271), with more parallels cited in these records). Date: 13th century.

NMS-E81EBC: SEAL MATRIX
Description: Post-medieval incomplete silver seal matrix. The die is octagonal, slightly longer than broad, and fairly low. It rises to a conical handle with a double ridged collar at the top, above which is a broken, probably originally trefoil, openwork handle. The die is engraved with a beaded border around an African head facing left (on the impression). The figure is wearing drapery around the neck, an earring, and a beaded headband or diadem diagonally around the head and tied in a bow at the back. The hair, if any, is short. Both long edges of the back of the die are marked with letters, presumably partly to aid in orientation, but it is difficult to see which way the letters are up, or what they are. If the matrix is held the wrong way up, the letters appear to be B and E, with double-strand uprights and serifs. Both letters are worn towards the edge of the matrix. Dimensions: The die measures 16.2mm x 14.8mm and the surviving height of the matrix is 12.2mm. It weighs 3.1g. Discussion: A similarly decorated silver seal matrix has been recorded from Shropshire (HESH-0A2407; 2013T856), with the comment that "The use of a black African image on a personal seal seems odd to our modern eyes, but is entirely appropriate within a late 17th century setting where wealth was predicated on slave ownership and the 'noble savage' was a key cultural reference point." Date: A similar seal matrix (KENT-E0682C, 2014T552) has instead the image of a king, probably Charles II, giving a date in the second half of the 17th century. Other comparable designs (such as NMS-7894E6 and SWYOR-48BE2F) suggest a similar date.

NMS-E9B616: FINGER RING
Description: Roman silver finger-ring of Henig type II and Guiraud type 2c, with an oval setting of glass or enamel. The hoop is markedly wide and oval, and is sub-oval or biconvex in cross-section. There is some iron corrosion internally so the precise internal dimensions are hard to measure. The hoop widens and thickens steadily as it curves smoothly into the bezel.The bezel has an oval depression about 10mm long and 7.5mm wide, in line with the hoop, which is filled with a rough orange-brown substance very like the iron corrosion on the interior of the back of the hoop. Dimensions: The hoop is 24.3 wide externally and measures 20.6 from the top of the bezel to the back of the hoop. The bezel is 9.1mm wide and the minimum width of the hoop is 3.1mm. The hoop is 3.4mm thick at the bezel. It weighs 5.2g. Discussion: This ring is of a very common Roman type, 'the characteristic finger-ring of the early and middle Roman Empire' (Johns 1996, 42). Silver examples recorded on the PAS database include NMS-426DC8 (2018T302) and SF-DFFF00 (2015T999); over 20 were found in the Snettisham jeweller's hoard. Date: First or second century AD.

NMS-47846D: PILGRIM BADGE
Description: Well-preserved gilded silver openwork pilgrim badge depicting St Margaret and the dragon. The saint is wearing a flat-topped crown, below which her hair frames her face; the face has no detail except for a nose. She wears a vertically ribbed garment and holds a book in her left hand and a cross in her right (so the book is on the viewer's right and the cross is on the viewer's left). The book appears to have a clasp on one edge. The cross's shaft is thrust into the open mouth of the dragon, whose belly-up body curves round below to form the edge of the badge; Margaret is standing on the dragon with her feet invisible behind the dragon's folded wing. The tail of the dragon curves up to meet Margaret's left arm. There is a perforation between the tail and Margaret's dress, and two more on the other side of the dress. The flat reverse has oblique parallel lines suggesting the use of a mould made from cuttlefish bone. In the centre is a circular loop with the perforation running from side to side. Dimensions: Length 15.4mm, width 11.7mm, thickness including loop 4.6mm, weight 1.2g. Discussion: St Margaret of Antioch (also known as St Margaret the Virgin) was reputed to have been swallowed by Satan in the form of a dragon. She escaped when her cross irritated the dragon's innards, either bursting out of his belly or causing him to vomit. Badges of St Margaret and the dragon are normally made from flat lead alloy and tend to be concentrated in Lincolnshire, possibly associated with a cult centre at the church of St Margaret, Ketsby (Lewis 2014, 42, see, for example, SWYOR-5DC01E, NLM-1BD58E, etc.). Badges of this form are known in base metals (e.g. WAW-3A3515, NMS-5519B8 and YORYM-22A0C6) depicting a variety of saints. Most of the silver badges recorded on the PAS database depict St George and the dragon. Date: This type of pilgrim badge dates to the 15th or early 16th century.

NMS-B78C93: HOOKED TAG
Description: Gilded silver hooked tag of early post-medieval date. It appears to be made in one piece, but may have been made from separate elements soldered together. It has a sub-triangular three-dimensional plate consisting of three rounded bosses. Each boss is decorated with three circles made from plain ridges or possibly plain soldered-on wire, with a granule or pellet at the centre. The bosses alternate with three similar granules set near the edge of the plate. The edge is scalloped; shaped around the bosses and granules, curved around each granule and with three lobes around each of the bosses. In the centre of the plate is a circular hole, which probably originally contained a decorative separate stud The edge of the lower boss tapers into the hook, which also continues up the flat reverse of the plate as a flaring raised rectangular-section area which ends just below the central hole. The hook becomes circular-section as it leaves the plate, and bends backwards and upwards to a sharp point. The reverse also has a loop which runs nearly the full width of the plate and which is a tall rectangle in cross-section. Both these elements may be soldered on. Dimensions: Length 20.6mm, width 12.5mm, weight 2.5g. Discussion: This hooked tag falls into Read's Class D, Type 6, with trefoil plate, many of which have a separate decorative central stud or appliqué. Good parallels on the PAS database include SWYOR-6C8426 (2014T906), HAMP-DFE0D4 (2015T153), BERK-8F6EA2 (2017T794), LON-27F799 (2020T150​​​​​​​) and HAMP-2AC7BE (2019T141). Date: 16th century.

NMS-BBC41B: FINGER RING
Description: Silver penannular finger-ring of late early-medieval date. Circular in cross-section, it tapers evenly from the centre to a point at either end. The ends do not meet, and one appears to be bent out a little. The surface is scratched, and there is no decoration. Dimensions: Maximum diameter of cross-section, 2.5mm. Width across the hoop 22.5mm, from front to the bent-out end 24mm, from front to the more original-looking end 21.5mm, weight 3.38g. Discussion: Similar silver finger-rings have been found in Norfolk, NMS-5D264A (2015T972) and NMS-E26C94 (2011T856). There are examples of the more commonly found copper alloy examples in Goodall in Rogerson and Dallas (1984) fig.110, nos.17, 20 and 21. Date: Mid 9th to mid 11th century.

NMS-EEFBD4: FINGER RING
Description: Gilded silver finger-ring set with a cabochon-cut gem. The hoop is circular internally, now a little distorted. It rises externally to a tall solid triangular bezel set with a small pinky-purple oval gem that is no wider than the width of the hoop. The bezel is separated from the rest of the hoop by transverse ridges each with a groove; further similar grooved ridges, or double grooves, divide the sides of the hoop into six panels, three on each side. Each panel is filled with identical decoration; four short lengthways grooves, one at each corner, emphasise a central raised lozenge decorated with a relief cross, each arm of which is also lozengiform. A short length of the hoop, opposite the bezel, is undecorated. Dimensions: Length from top of gem to back of hoop, 25.0mm. Width perpendicular to this, 21.2mm. Internal diameter c. 18-19mm. Thickness of bezel from interior of hoop to top of gem, 5.4mm. Width of ring at bezel, 3.1mm; width of hoop opposite this, 2.1mm. Weight 2.0g. Discussion: This shape of finger-ring is often known as stirrup-shaped. It can be compared with several similar silver stirrup-shaped rings with decorated shoulders but without gem settings, such as NMS-8A8DE8 (2019T1232), WMID-08D997 (2011T549) and SWYOR-1DAF49 (2019T413). Date: Stirrup-shaped finger-rings, with bezels that are tall and triangular in side view, in general date from the middle of the 12th century onwards (Oman 1974, 19-20). The motifs on this ring can also be found on other rings dated to the 12th century by comparison with the Lark Hill hoard in the British Museum (1854,0820.4), which is dated by the coins it contains to after c. 1170 AD. Taking these considerations together, this finger-ring should probably be dated to c. 1150-c. 1250.

NMS-9433CA: HOOKED TAG
Description: Small silver hooked tag of early-medieval date. It has a circular plate, two incomplete flat lugs near the top pierced for sewing, and a complete sharp hook at the bottom. The plate has an undecorated border, within which is a sunken panel containing a reserved Trewhiddle-style animal in profile left, with its head turned to look over its tail. The decoration is at an unusual angle; the animal is the right way up when the object is held with the hook to the upper left and the sewing lugs to the lower right. The animal has a large head with rounded brow, drilled dot eye, rounded ear and open mouth. The short neck is divided from the head by a transverse groove, and curves to the D-shaped body where the chest has a double curved nick. There is one foreleg below the chest, with a detached upturned foot. The hind leg emerges from what is either the body or a substantial hip, and there is a nick between leg and tail. The tail is opposite the neck, emerging from the other corner of the body. It curves elegantly up, round and down to split into two scrolls which curl outwards and end in circular lobes. The background is deeply keyed for niello, but none survives. The two sewing lugs were probably originally semi-circular, with circular holes; both are broken across the holes. The hook starts with one large and one smaller collar, and is relatively short. Dimensions: Length 16.8mm, width 11.9mm. Thickness of plate 0.8-0.9mm, thickness at hook 4.8mm. Weight 0.9g. Discussion: This hooked tag can be categorised as Read’s (2008) Class D, Type 2 (circular plate with two attachment knops) and Lewis and Naylor’s (2013) Type A1.e.iii (circular plate with zoomorphic decoration including Trewhiddle style). There are a few other circular or triangular hooked tags on the PAS database that are decorated with single Trewhiddle-style animals at unusual angles, but they are not common. Examples include BERK-84DCB9 and the pair HESH-24A9D4 and LVPL-A65F43. Date: The Trewhiddle-style decoration dates the object broadly to the 9th century AD.

NMS-4875A5: FINGER RING
Description: Gold mourning ring. A simple D-section hoop of consistent width throughout, with engraved decoration in one place on the convex outer face forming a stylised skull bezel seen in a three-quarter view looking to the viewer's left. The edges of the skull are each formed from a bold V-section curved cut which bites deeply into the metal. The face is made up of two roughly round dots for eyes, and an inverted V-shaped nose between; this is all set off centre, towards the left-hand cut, giving the impression of the three-quarter view. Below are the teeth, made from a long narrow horizontal groove which runs the full width of the skull, and crossed by nine small vertical grooves. To the right the grooves stop before the outer cut, and the space above the long horizontal groove has three oblique grooves indicating the back of the skull. The flat inner surface is engraved with widely spaced letters in a neat cursive script. The inscription covers the entire hoop apart from the skull area, and reads Prepare to Follow ER 15 no 80 suggesting that the person memorialised had the initials ER and died on 15th November 1680. The uprights of the capitals are made from double lines. Dimensions: External diameter 21.7mm, internal diameter 19.5mm. The hoop is 3.8mm wide and 1.3mm thick, and the ring weighs 3.77g. Discussion: This was a popular style of mourning or memento mori ring, and the dated inscription is found on several, ranging in date from 1652 (GLO-939BD8) to 1730 (OXON-FF5C2D) but most common between c. 1660 and c. 1720; about ten are known from each decade between these dates. It seems that orders for mourning rings usually ran to between ten and sixty, and were distributed to friends and family either at the funeral or soon after (Oman 1974, 72-3). The size of this ring suggests that it might have been made for a man. The person memorialised, with the initials ER, is almost certainly Elizabeth Roope, who died on 15 November 1680 and was buried in Morningthorpe church, very near to where the ring was found. Her husband was John Roope, gent, who died in 1685 and who has a memorial in the church. The Roope or Rope family lived in Morningthorpe Manor. Date: 1680 AD.

NMS-F38112: HOARD
Three silver coins found within a metre of each other, almost certainly part of a dispersed purse loss. Catalogue: 1) Groat of Mary, North 1960, 1553-4 (extremely worn). 1.65g. 2) Groat of Elizabeth, North 1986, initial mark cross crosslet, 1560-1 (very worn). 1.66g. 3) Sixpence of Elizabeth I, North 1997, initial mark eglantine, 1575 (some wear). 2.58g. Date: The coins were minted between 1553 and 1575, and the date of deposition is probably not very much later, c.1580-1600.

NMS-9DE3D5: UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT
Unidentified object made from copper alloy, of uncertain date but possibly Iron Age or Roman. It appears to have been cast, but may have been hammered together from a rod of sub-circular or sub-rectangular cross-section. If so, the rod was bent in half, with a rounded loop at the bend (3.3mm internal diameter). The two halves then join (with a groove between them) before separating again. One prong is broken off after the fork, but the other diverges in a straight line, then begins to curve before a break. Both breaks are very worn. The resulting object measures 33mm from the loop to the broken end, and c. 22mm perpendicular to this. It is 4.2mm thick and weighs 4.45g. The shape, with a loop below a flaring triangular openwork shape, is reminiscent of late Iron Age and early Roman mirror handles (dating to c. 150BC to 100AD), but is smaller; compare BERK-2BF22B and NMS-8C56F3.

NMS-D7D2A9: SPEARHEAD
Fragment of cast copper-alloy spearhead of Middle or Late Bronze Age date (c. 1600-800 BC). It has a circular-section socket which survives to c. 9mm deep; the line of the socket then forms a wide, thick solid midrib running all the way to the point. There is a flat wing to either side of the midrib, each tapering with straight edges towards the point. The very tip of the point has broken off (worn break). The wings and socket are broken (worn breaks) part of the way along the spearhead's outward flare, so it is not easy to tell the original size of the object. Both wings have a median longitudinal line where they begin to taper to the sharper edges; most of the edge survives reasonably well. Surviving length 64.3mm, surviving width 26.6mm, maximum thickness (at broken end of socket) 10.7mm, weight 21.1g. It has a deep brown patina.

NMS-FC1F13: UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT
Description: Unidentified object made from silver, partly gilded and inlaid with niello. It has a flat circular top and short straight or slightly convex sides forming a hollow cylinder; the underneath and inside are undecorated and ungilded. One side is now bent inwards, and a deep crack has resulted. The top is decorated with a reserved flat ungilded animal in profile, whose legs and tail dissolve into chip-carved interlace with plant elements. The animal is turned to the left, but the head is looking back over the shoulder to the right. The head has a sub-rectangular nose and lower jaw, with an open mouth between. The eye is made from what appears to be a large circle but is actually a spiral of three-quarters of a turn which occupies most of the head, ending in the centre with a pair of lobes, perhaps intended as leaves. This is all inlaid with niello that has re-mineralised to a silvery colour and is now difficult to see. The animal's neck is thick, and decorated with a grooved border some way in from the edge, inlaid with niello, some of which is missing; the two lines of the border are joined by a short transverse line at the junction of head and neck. The shoulder has an anti-clockwise spiral of two nielloed lines, one of which then runs down the body; the other runs between the forelegs. The front foreleg is angled sharply up in front of the neck, and the other foreleg is bent under the body; both end in two toes, and those on the rear foreleg are gilded. The body is a curving ribbon with a single groove along its centre, originally filled with niello but now empty. It ends in a large rounded hip tucked under the body and decorated with a nielloed double spiral, which runs in from the body groove and out again to stop at the top of the hind legs, where they divide and leave the body. The hind legs are thin and gilded, and quickly end in two toes, or perhaps hooves and fetlocks. The rest of the space is filled with chip-carved interlace with possible plant elements. Under the rear foreleg there is a flat gilded rounded leaf, and perhaps a second triangular leaf, which gives the interlace the effect of foliage. Other slim tendrils run around the rump and twist in front of the nose; one runs into the top of the head, and may represent an ear. Another flat rounded lobe fills the space under the chin and in front of the neck. All of the chip-carved areas, including the flat upper surfaces, are gilded. The sides of the object have a ridge around the top and bottom, which appear not to have been gilded. Between which is a repeating pattern of chip-carved interlace. There are 13 identical motifs, each consisting of a Staffordshire knot within a loop. The knot is formed by a twist with one end looping down and around the edge to cross over the next twist in the sequence, and the other end looping up and over to cross the previous twist. The interior has a fairly smooth surface with some possible hammering or working marks in the centre. There is a small notch and tear at one point on the rim. The crack is close to this and runs from the full length of the side, from rim to top. Analysis: Non-destructive X-ray fluorescence analysis of the surface by Laura Perucchetti of the British Museum showed that the silver alloy was c. 87%, and that it had been mercury gilded (report no. 7715-35). Dimensions: The original, unbent diameter of the top survives at 19.4mm; the crushing of the lower edge has resulted in measurements of approximatelyy 27 x 17.5mm here. The sides give a depth or height of 8.5mm. The wall of the object is 0.9mm thick. It weighs 5.8g. Discussion: There are few parallels to the shape of this object, and so it is difficult to work out its function. Another flat-topped but much taller item, made from copper alloy, is recorded at NMS-24BD8C; again, the function is unknown. It is also reminiscent of a group of conical or domed silver objects of 8th-century date, two of which are recorded on the PAS database at LEIC-15A132 (2011T690) and LANCUM-A21744 (2017T289). LEIC-15A132 is larger, but also has partial gilding; both have niello inlay and decoration of animals enmeshed in interlace. Two more, from Louth and Wragby (Lincs) have been illustrated by Leahy (2007, p. 146 and 148). All are thought to be perhaps developments from, and with similar functions to, the sword-pyramid tradition of the 7th century, and to be precursors of the much larger St Ninian's Isle cones (Webster and Backhouse 1991, nos. 99-101). Similar patterns of interlace are known from 8th- or early 9th-century items such as the die or plaque SOM-7CFC25, buckles PAS-227D90 and DOR-95468C, and also from f.5 of the late 8th- or early 9th-century Tiberius Bede (BL Cotton Tiberius C.II; Webster and Backhouse 1991, p. 216). The overall design, of an animal (perhaps a horse) with open mouth and spiral hips enmeshed in chip-carved interlace, is characteristic of the late 8th-century Mercian style. The detail of the animal, however, with its chunky proportions and large eye, is not very like the etiolated, upright animals of the classic Mercian style (compare LEIC-15A132 or DOR-FCD100), and can perhaps alternatively be compared with the animals on the Tiberius Bede (Webster and Backhouse 1991, no. 170) which appear to have been influential in the development of the later Trewhiddle style. The animals are also closer to those on LANCUM-A21744 than those on other Mercian-style objects. Date: A date in the late 8th or early 9th century is therefore likely to be appropriate.

NMS-BBC400: INSCRIBED OBJECT
Fragment of sub-rectangular lead sheet inscribed with runes. There are two clear rows of runes, one above the other, each bordered above and below by a groove similar to those making up the runes. There are small gaps between the rows; each gap is about half the height of the runes. The central line is the clearest, with at least seven readable runes, most contained within rectangular panels, so divided from each other by pairs of vertical lines. The upper line has about five readable runes. There is space for part of a lower, third line in the acute-angled corner, but it is difficult to see any trace of inscription here.. The sheet is flat and sub-rectangular, with most edges probably broken. It is certainly broken along the uppermost horizontal line, above the uppermost row of runes. and there are cracks here along several of the vertical grooves between the runes. The left-hand edge is slightly thicker than the rest of the sheet, and appears original. It runs obliquely down to a lower acute-angle corner, and the edge from here is still a little thicker than the rest of the sheet, and either original, or cut rather than broken. Beyond this edge the object has another straight break, this time along the lower line of the lower row of runes. There may also be a tiny length of break which is along a second line below the lower row of runes, which looks almost as if a third row was intended. The sheet measures 42mm wide parallel to the lines of runes, and is 33mm long perpendicular to this. The thickness varies between 2 and 3.5mm. It weighs 20.0g exactly. John Hines has seen a photo, and comments that "it looks likely to me that we have the sequence [e] b i d d a l f in the lower row, which would be a thoroughly credible runic spelling for standard Old English 'bedealf' (= 'buried in a grave')." Compare LIN-66AD26 (with further references) and YORYM-168171.

NMS-361B9B: AWL
Copper-alloy awl, probably of late Bronze Age date. It is circular in cross-section for just over half its length, and then flattens to a rectangular cross-section. The circular-section area tapers gently and smoothly from 5.0mm in diameter in the centre to 3.8mm in diameter at the end, which has a worn break. The rectangular-section area maintains the width, flaring slightly to 5.4mm, but flattens to 1.5mm thick at the blunt, perhaps incomplete, chisel-like end, which is slightly curved in the direction of one of the larger faces. This bend has not caused any stress to the metal, so may be original. The object is in good, relatively unworn condition with a dark green patina and crisp, sharp arrises. The total length is 65.7mm and the weight 7.4g. Copper-alloy awls are generally thought of as Late Bronze Age in date, 1000 to 800 BC. Compare NMS-6FB233, WMID-7999D4, LEIC-711C38 and BH-1C99CD for the smooth shape and clean lines; SF-211AE4, BERK-44881E and HESH-ED08F3 for the slight bend.

NMS-F36AC6: BADGE
Description: Silver object, probably a badge, in the shape of a large five-petalled Tudor rose, with three attachment holes. The decoration is made in the repoussé technique on thin sheet or thick foil. It is fairly coarse in style, with a central raised area, five inner petals made from outer bands around inner raised areas, and five outer petals made in the same way. All of the petals have straight or very slightly incurving outside edges. The holes are small and circular, equidistantly placed around the edge so that two are in the corners of outer petals and the third is in the centre of the edge of an outer petal. The reverse is slightly hollowed, showing that it has been made by pressing, hammering or stamping over a former. The object is now a little bent and cracked. Dimensions: It measures 32.6mm across at the best preserved part, and is c. 0.5mm thick. It weighs 3.3g. Discussion: This is a difficult object to parallel and date. Hammered sheet pilgrim badges are known from the second half of the 15th century onwards (Spencer 1998, 12); an example on the PAS database, SOM-B18D53, is different in shape and motif but similar in size and technique, including the use of sewing holes. Spencer illustrates several double-rose secular badges (1990, nos. 212 and 213; 1998, 290a and b) and comments that silver, or polished lead alloy, rose-shaped brooches may have been seen as Yorkist symbols of the second half of the 15th century (1990, 100). It is not clear whether Spencer saw double-rose badges as also symbolic of the house of Tudor. A much smaller parallel can be found on the PAS database at HAMP-46BBDD, dated to the 16th century. Date: On balance, a late 15th- or early 16th-century date is most likely.

NMS-71554C: FINGER RING
Description: Small gold signet finger-ring of early post-medieval date. The hoop is D-shaped in cross-section, with the interior flat or very slightly convex and the exterior more strongly convex. It flares from a minimum of 2.85mm wide and 1.4mm thick at the back of the hoop, to vertical shoulders. The bezel is oval and flat, making the ring D-shaped in side view, and is set longitudinally, The arms are quartered and the blazon is: Quarterly, (1) A fess engrailed between three fleurs-de-lis, (2) on a fess between two chevrons a crescent, (3) a chevron between three covered cups, (4) fretty on a chief a lion passant regardant, at fess point a pierced mullet over all. There are traces of pecking or stippling on the fess in the first quarter, on the field in the second quarter and on the chevron in the third quarter. The lozenge is set within a fine border of tiny stamped double-crescents. Dimensions: Length from the top of the bezel to the back of the hoop, 16.25mm. External width of the ring, 18.8mm. Internal width, 15.4mm. The bezel measures 17 x 14.7mm. Weight 8.22g. Discussion: The lozenge of arms indicates that this ring belonged to a woman, matching the small dimensions of the object. The arms shown are (1) Ashfield, (2) Tendring, (3) Boteler or Butler and (4) Mapersall. They probably belong to a daughter of a third son (indicated by the mullet in the centre of the quarterings) descended from the marriage of John and Florentia or Florence Ashfield. Florence was a daughter of John Boteler by Joane, daughter and co-heir of John Mapersall, of Mapershall in Bedfordshire; she died in 1507. Her husband was John Ashfield of Stowlangtoft in Suffolk, d. 1482, whose stepmother was Cecilia, eldest daughter and co-heiress of John Tendring of Brockdish in Norfolk (see Corbett and Tindal Methold 1899, Ashfield pedigree at p.130; and Page 1844, 804). Date: If the arms are those of a grand-daughter of grandparents who died in 1482 and 1507, this implies a date in the 16th or early 17th century. A similar very simple finger-ring (2020T500, LIN-1B6093) has also been dated to the 16th or 17th century. Update: Noonans, who are selling the ring on 12th March 2024, have identified the original owner as Dorothy Ashfield, with the following reasoning: "The five-pointed star in the centre of the arms represents a third son so we believe the ring was owned by Dorothy Ashfield who was born in 1594, the eldest daughter of the third son Thomas Ashfield of Hopton in Suffolk and his wife Ellen Holditch of Ranworth in Norfolk" (Yorkshire Post, 'Field of gold for treasure hunter as unearthed rare ring goes up for sale', 1st March 2024).

NMS-2623F1: VERVEL
Description: Silver vervel or hawking ring of Lewis and Richardson type C.iii (flat shield shape, cast in one piece). It is thin and flat, and the shield is quite angular, with a point at the base; much of the straight top is taken up with the ring. It is engraved on one face with italic lettering reading Lestr / ange / Morda / nt (Lestrange Mordant). The top of the long s, and the L, are both off the edge of the shield, as if the hole in the ring was cut through after engraving. The other face has a lightly engraved heraldic crest. This consists of a wreath or torse towards the base, with a bust above which may be a Saracen’s head (see below, under Discussion). The figure wears a garment with a square neckline, and appears to be wearing a choker necklace with a lozenge-shaped pendant. The shoulder is decorated with a stamped crescent. The face is in three-quarter view, with the left ear showing. Although there are scratches across making it hard to see the details of the hair, it appears to be in an elaborate hairstyle or head-dress (possibly a kind of turban) and with something like a rosette to the side, with a pair of flowing ribbons. Dimensions: Length 19.6mm, width 10.2mm, thickness 1.0mm, diameter of hole 6.7mm, weight 1.3g. Discussion: Lestrange Mordaunt (1572–1627) was a grandson of Robert Mordaunt and Barbara le Strange (who married in 1541). He held the estate of Massingham Parva, now Little Massingham, in Norfolk; he served as Sheriff of Norfolk in 1606-07, and was created a baronet in 1611. The crest of the Mordaunt baronets is a Saracen’s head. Similar type C.iii vervels recorded on the PAS database include NMS-1E9786 (2007T679) and SF-29A734 (2004T251), both dated from their inscriptions to the late 16th or early 17th century. Date: The lack of a title on the vervel suggests that it may pre-date the creation of the baronetcy in 1611, giving approximate dates of c. 1590-1611.

NMS-9AC40C: CUFF LINK
Description: 17th-century silver cufflink element decorated with crowned hearts, together with the oval wire loop that originally joined it to the other element. It is circular, originally with a flat centre and a shallow downturned rim with an out-turned edge. The rim is now bent and cracked. The flat area has a recessed centre enclosed within a raised edge. The centre has a stippled background, a pair of counter-relief heart shapes, one next to the other, and a crown over both. The crown is neatly made, with a wide lower band decorated with four dots, a flaring central element with a transverse groove below a grooved saltire at the top, and a pair of arches with serrated tops each enclosing a motif with rectangular base and roundel top. The reverse has the design visible, showing that a stamping technique was used. In the centre is a D-shaped loop made from circular-section silver wire, and through this runs the oval loop, made from a length of similar wire with the ends close to each other at one end of the loop. Dimensions: Maximum diamter 14.4mm, diameter of flat top 11.6mm, overall thickness 2.5mm, diameter of wire 1.3-1.5mm, length of oval loop 14.9mm, weight 1.24g. Discussion: This cufflink element is of Lewis's form 1, type A. They are common finds, although the style of the crown varies and they appear to have been individually made. The crowned hearts motif is often thought to have celebrated the marriage of Charles II and Catherine of Braganza in 1662, but it was probably longer-lived than this. It certainly seems to have had royalist or Catholic connotations, and may also have been used as a symbol for marriage (Lewis 2013, 4-5). Date: Lewis (2013, 4-5) argues that these cufflinks are likely to date to the 17th century, but may have continued in use as late as the reign of Queen Anne (1702-1714). They were probably most popular from c. 1660 to c. 1700.

NMS-99877A: BROOCH
Description: Medieval silver annular brooch, complete with silver pin. The frame of the brooch is circular, thick and flat to make a rectangular cross-section. The pin is held in a constriction, and has an open loop. There is a transverse double moulding at the junction of loop and shaft, below which the cross-section of the shaft is D-shaped or trapezoidal. The frame is engraved on both faces with letters which read clockwise from the pin constriction. Because the pin has a clear front and reverse, it is possible to identify the front and reverse of the frame too; the front reads + IE * SVS in well-made Lombardic capitals. The reverse reads N X I : V : with the X having one vertical stroke, and here the engraving is shallower and the lettering less careful. The front is clearly meant as Jesus, but the reverse inscription is perhaps more likely to be magical than literate. Dimensions: External diameter 24.0 to 24.4mm, width of frame 4.5mm, thickness of frame 2.0mm, length of pin 24.8mm, weight 5.97g. Discussion: Annular brooches with religious inscriptions are a well-known type, and they often have inscriptions including the name of Jesus. Compare NCL-D1AF46 and WILT-F0A3A1 (with wholly literate inscriptions) and DUR-17DE65 (with lettering only on one face). The inscriptions are felt to be apotropaic (protective against bad luck or evil influence; Egan and Pritchard 1991, 255). Date: A silver example with similar lettering was found in a context of c. 1350-1400 in London (Egan and Pritchard 1991, no. 1337). On the whole, they are usually given a date-range of 13th to 14th century.

NMS-F720E6: FINGER RING
Description: Gilded silver finger-ring of 'iconographic' type, with clasped hands on the hoop. It is a fairly large ring, with the hoop generally of D-shaped cross-section. The gilding survives very well on both interior and exterior, with just a few areas (mainly around the edges) worn to show the underlying silver. The bezel is roughly triangular in cross-section, and is divided into two longitudinal concave fields with a central ridge. Each field is decorated with a crudely engraved human figure in three-quarter pose looking slightly towards the central ridge. They seem to have been intended as identical, but one is more carefully made than the other. Both have faces with dots for the eyes, nose and mouth, and grooves indicating hair or a head-covering on the back of the head. They have some indication of wrap-over clothing (like a modern dressing gown) and it is possible that other lines show a staff, or perhaps a palm branch (the symbol of St Barbara). These panels have no frames, but as the central ridge continues into the hoop it is decorated with a groove filled with around 14 pellets (the uncertainty is because the top pellet is rather worn on both shoulders). On each shoulder, to either side of this beaded groove, there is a panel of engraved and originally enamelled decoration, making four in all. Each of the four panels has a lozengiform flower above three pairs of pointed-oval leaves. Three of the four flowers have retained dark enamel, perhaps dark blue or black, but no enamel survives in the leaves. There is keying visible in the base of the cells where the enamel has vanished. Below the lowest pair of leaves there is a small undecorated area to either side of the beaded groove. The beading then stops at a transverse moulding, with a broad flute below and then a pair of similar transverse mouldings separated by a groove. This marks the start of the clasped-hands motif and may represent the cuffs of a sleeve. In contrast to the figures on the bezel, the hands are quite carefully made using engraved lines to show one with a thumb and the tips of four fingers, and the other with just four fingers visible. Dimensions: The internal diameter is c. 19mm, the external width is 22mm and the length from the top of bezel to the back of hoop is 23.3mm. The bezel measures c. 12-13mm long x 7.6mm wide, and is 2.8mm thick. The hoop is a minimum of 4mm wide at the cuffs, and then swells to 6.5mm wide at the clasped hands. It weighs 4.9g. Discussion: The clasped-hands or 'mani in fede' (hands in faith) motif is characteristic of love rings, whereas the 'iconographic' bezel (normally showing saints) is characteristic of religious rings (Oman 1974, 38; and 54-6). The combination of the two motifs on a single ring is not common, although the iconographic ring is often combined with oblique ridges that may derive from the clasped-hands motif. The only other examples on the PAS database with fully modelled hands and iconographic bezels appear to be LVPL-CB7086, LVPL-1BBC69, ESS-B0D28A and NMS-BC0467; these are all also of gilded silver (LVPL-CB7086 is described as gold on the record, but appears from the photographs to be gilded silver). Similar enamelled decoration on the shoulders is found on many iconographic rings, including SUSS-B72E0E, KENT-2C2670, SF-0D09B2, etc. Date: The clasped-hands motif was used throughout the medieval period and into the 17th century, but iconographic finger-rings were produced only between the late 14th and early 16th centuries (Oman 1974, 39; 54).

NMS-1C4C6F: DRESS HOOK
Description: Incomplete post-medieval gilded silver dress hook, probably a hat-hook, with a plate in the shape of an openwork portcullis. Three sides of the central lattice survive, with five vertical bars and four horizontal bars divided by small, roughly square holes.Two of the vertical bars have an expanded, arrowhead-shaped point at one end (the base of the portcullis); there are fairly fresh scars from two missing points and a worn break where the fifth is missing. At the other end of the plate (the top of the portcullis) the outer four vertical bars also end in clear breaks, but the central bar has a smooth end, despite being slightly below the broken-off fragment of hook. This break is fresh, and here the hook is circular in cross-section, but widens and flattens where it is soldered to the plate, blocking its central four holes. It would originally have extended upwards beyond the top of the portcullis. On the front of the plate, there is a low square boss at each intersection of the bars,, and the two surviving points are each decorated with a V-shaped groove. On the reverse the plate is flat, with traces of gilding. Dimensions: Surviving length 12.5mm, width 12.2mm, thickness of plate 1.3mm, maximum thickness (with hook) 3.1mm, weight 1.2g. Discussion: The identification of this object as a hat-hook or hat-badge is slightly uncertain, because of the unusual location and orientation of the hook fragment. Its broken shaft extends upwards towards the top of the portcullis, whereas the hooks on hooked tags always extend downwards, and those on hat-hooks, where their orientation is clear, extend sideways (compare, for example, SF-B4F136, GLO-DAB1D4, DUR-21BFB9, LIN-1D53C6, etc). The portcullis was the heraldic badge of the Beaufort family, and the crowned portcullis became a Tudor royal badge from the time of Henry VII onwards, as his mother was a Beaufort. Despite this, it never seems to have been common as a badge; there are no medieval Beaufort badges on the PAS database, and only one hooked tag known in the shape of a portcullis (SF-33C358, 2006T373). A few other hat-hooks have rose decoration and may also have been royal badges; compare LIN-AFC915. Date: Hat-hooks appear to have been in use during the 16th century.

NMS-019E8E: CUFF LINK
Description: Complete post-medieval silver cufflink of Lewis's Form 1, Type A, consisting of two circular elements joined by a loop. The two circular elements are identical, both decorated with a crown above two hearts on a stippled background within a raised rim. Each crown has a wide curved base with four dots along it; there are two arches above, each with jagged tops, alternating with three projecting fleurs. The hearts are side by side below, and are undecorated. All three elements fit the space tightly. The edges of the circular elements have down-turned edges and out-turned rims, now missing small pieces. D-shaped loops on the reverse are made from circular-section wire and soldered on, and are joined by an oval loop made from similar wire. Dimensions: Each circular element is c. 12mm in diameter at the top and c. 14.8mm in diameter at the rim, where the metal is 0.3mm thick. The down-turned rim makes the body of the cufflink c. 2.5mm tall (with the loop, 4.8mm tall). The wire used for the D-shaped and oval loops is 1.2mm in diameter; the oval loop measures 15mm long by 4.5mm wide. It weighs 1.85g. Discussion: These cufflinks are common finds, although the style of the crown varies and they appear to have been individually made. Good parallels on the PAS database include NMS-1B4EBA (2018T58) and NMS-5B90BF (2020T844). The crowned hearts motif is often thought to have celebrated the marriage of Charles II and Catherine of Braganza in 1662, but it was probably longer-lived than this. It certainly seems to have had royalist or Catholic connotations, and may also have been used as a symbol for marriage (Lewis 2013, 4-5). Date: Lewis (2013, 4-5) argues that these cufflinks are likely to date to the 17th century, but may have continued in use as late as the reign of Queen Anne (1702-1714). They were probably most popular from c. 1660 to c. 1700.

NMS-3AB171: PENDANT
Description: Silver cross-shaped pendant of medieval date, with AGLA inscription. It has a central thick flat circular lobe and four oval-section arms. Three of the arms end in globular knobs; the upper arm has a similar knob, but then continues to a large, probably soldered-on oval loop, pierced from side to side. The central lobe has engraved decoration on both faces, consisting of a circular border with letters within. On the front the letters read AG, with the G suffering from corrosion, and on the reverse they read LA, with the A being turned at right angles so that the apex points away from the L. The letters have large crude serifs. Dimensions: Length 28.3mm, width 20.4mm, diameter of central lobe 9mm, thickness of central lobe 2.2mm, maximum thickness (at loop) 5.8mm. Weight 3.01g. Discussion: AGLA was a popular charm used in the Middle Ages to fend off fever and possibly also the Black Death. The letters are an abbreviation of a Hebrew saying, "Ata gibor le'olam Adonai" (You are mighty forever, O Lord). Several AGLA pendants have the letters arranged incorrectly; compare BERK-EF232D and HAMP-319834. Date: 13th or 14th century.

NMS-6858CD: DRESS FASTENER (DRESS)
Description: Incomplete silver mount or dress fastener. One half (the lower half) is flat and undecorated with a curving lower edge. The other half has decoration of two high-relief C-shaped scrolls with their backs towards the flat half and their points upwards The point of one scroll has been lost, but the surviving scroll is open at the top, and appears to be in the shape of a flat ribbon which is wound up at either end, and the inner end bound to the inner end of the other scroll. Between the two scrolls, and partly within both halves, is a sub-oval or drop-shaped central perforation with the point upwards. Curving ridges on the flat reverse show that the object was cast in a mould made from cuttlefish bone. The reverse originally had two integral circular-section rivets, one to either side of the central hole. The surviving rivet is at the base of the complete surviving scroll, but the other rivet has been torn away, causing a bend to the metal. Dimensions: Surviving width c. 19mm, length 15mm. Thickness of flat half c. 1.2mm, thickness of high-relief half away from rivet 3.5mm, thickness including rivet 5mm. The central hole measures 5.3 x 4.0mm and the object weighs 2.59g. Discussion: This object fits well into a group of small mounts which are thought to be dress fasteners of eyelet type, although no corresponding hook has ever been identified. Most are a little larger than this one, although all are small; most have the same cuttlefish marks on the reverse. All have holes and integral rivets, and most have two distinct halves with different decoration and often different thicknesses. Most appear to be individually designed, with NMS-E02E1C and WMID-7B3FCA having some similar elements to this one. Other good examples include NMGW-E31CD0, SWYOR-191BF9, LANCUM-8C13DC and SUR-70A2EF. Egan and Pritchard discuss what may be analogous flimsy copper-alloy items found in late 14th-century contexts (1991, nos. 1199-1201), comparing them to a rather closer (but still copper-alloy) parallel found in the River Thames (fig. 141). One of Egan and Pritchard’s examples was found in place on an unperforated strap. Date: Despite the parallel from a late 14th-century context, these items tend to fit better into 16th-century fashions and despite their small numbers they may have been used over a long period of time, c. 1350-c. 1550 at least.

NMS-5DCF04: NEEDLE
Description: Complete post-medieval silver needle or bodkin with one pointed end and one pierced end. It has a circular cross-section for most of its length, and then flattens and widens at the top to a round-cornered rectangle through which a hole has been made. The top of the hole is rounded, mirroring the top of the needle, but the lower end of the hole tapers to a point. The needle is decorated with two sets of double grooves around the entire circumference, one near the pointed tip and one about halfway up the shaft. Just below the hole, where the shaft begins to flatten, is another zone of decoration consisting of a double groove above and below with a double saltire in between. The decoration here is carelessly made and the lines on one face often do not meet the lines on another. The needle is now slightly bent and the hole has been a little squashed. The tip is pointed, but not as sharp as would be needed to pierce tightly woven material. Dimensions; Length c. 55mm, maximum diameter of shaft 2.6mm, width at top 3.0mm, thickness at top 1.6mm, hole c. 7.5mm long. Weight 2.30g. Discussion: It is difficult to find an exact parallel to this object, and the function remains uncertain. The decoration recalls that on 17th-century bodkins (e.g. SF-FFCFC6 and NLM-C9108C) but the size and shape are rather different. Circular-sectioned needle-like objects of similar proportions, with expanded, decorated ends, are recorded at SF-30CF91, NMS-AE0D46 and NMS-A481F1, but the blunted ends seem designed for a specific use, and this one has a pointed end instead. There are undecorated needles with similar proportions recorded at LON-44BA4F, IOW-F94A5A and SWYOR-534E70, but shorter examples with rounded eyes (such as HAMP-57FE56 and WILT-F492B5) are now considered to be lace-tags (see details in the BM catalogue record of WILT-F492B5, now acquired as 2010,0821.1). One of these short, round-eyed lace-tags (SUR-CEBD09) has decoration of two pairs of circumferential grooves. While the long eye at the top and the pointed tip may imply use for sewing, the decoration along the shaft is unhelpful, and it may have been used more as a lacing tool. Date: The parallels have all been given dates in the 16th or 17th centuries, and this also seems appropriate for this example.

NMS-EFEE71: BOOK FITTING
Description: Small flat silver book-clasp of post-medieval date. It is neatly made from thick silver sheet, rounded at both ends and with a concave waist in between. A flat turned-under hook has been broken at one end, which has shoulders curving down into the waist. There is a tiny pointed angle between the waist and the other rounded end, which is oval, slightly larger, and set transversely. This end has a hole, neatly lozengiform on the front and circular on the reverse, presumably for attachment to a strap. The hole is now filled with greenish corrosion on the front and has iron corrosion on the reverse. There is no decoration, but one face is more smoothly polished than the other. Both faces have damage consisting of oblique scratches. The break appears fresh. Dimensions: Surviving length 22.8mm. Maximum width (at oval end) 11.9mm. Thickness of sheet 0.9 to 1.0mm. The scar from the broken-off hook is c. 4.5mm wide. Weight 1.47g. Discussion: While no exact parallel has been found, there are several reasonably similar book-clasp elements that this object can be compared with. Simple, undecorated or minimally decorated silver sheet catch-pieces or anchor-plates include NMS-DBBFF4, WMID-BCCFC6, SF-EA30F1 and NMS-551569. Hook-pieces seem to be identified less often, perhaps because the loss of the fragile hook makes them difficult to recognise, but there are a few, including perhaps DUR-F4B4ED. A larger sheet hook-piece, of different shape (SUR-6553D3), is conveniently inscribed with the date 1694, which gives us a reliable late 17th-century date for this type at least. How late book-clasps like this continued in use is at present uncertain; they may have continued to be produced in small numbers for some time. Date: Post-medieval, probably 17th or early 18th century.

NMS-14243D: FLAT AXEHEAD
Small, short, and stout flat axehead, of Needham. S, (2017) class 4E or F, most of the flat rectangular butt survives, curving out very slightly to a thicker centre section which has very slight flanges to both sides on both faces. The axe then curves out sharply to a wide cutting edge, most of which is now missing due to corrosion, the smooth olive-green polished surface is what remains of the original surfaces, largely corroded and pitted, mostly to one face and the extremities of the axe. Cf. NMS-6620F2 for a similar axe. Length 76.0mm, maximum surviving width 44.7mm, maximum thickness 10.4mm, weight 104.8g.

NMS-FDD7E8: FINGER RING
Gold mourning ring dated 23 September 1805. The ring has a wide hoop, of even width throughout but now crumpled in one place. It is decorated on the exterior with a beaded ridge to top and bottom, two plain ridges within this, and a central band of relief lettering reading ELIZ: SHERMAN. DIED. 23. SEP: 1805. AGED. 81 The stops vary, sometimes colons but mostly central pellets. There is a space-filling motif, probably a rosette or flower, between the start and end of the inscription. Although the lettering is very neat, the workmanship is untidy, with lots of engraving scratches left rough; these may be keying for enamel that has now entirely disappeared. The interior has four hallmarks in a longitudinal line approximately behind the letters ELIZ. From left to right they are: a maker's mark (SG (or possibly SC) in a rectangular cartouche); a very worn stamp which appears to be a bust within a rounded cartouche, placed sideways; a lion passant within a polygonal cartouche; and a date letter, now slightly damaged but apparently a capital K. The London assay office's date letter for 1805 was a capital K, but the other marks do not appear to conform to this office's standard. Weight 3.25g, diameter c. 20mm, width of hoop perhaps c. 7mm.

NMS-B9F82A: CHISEL
Late Bronze Age chisel. It has an incomplete circular-section socket, 15mm in diameter, which is cylindrical externally but apparently slightly conical internally, so that the metal is thinnest at the break and thicker further into the socket. The socket is c. 39mm deep, and at this point externally the cylinder has a concave curve on two surfaces to taper into a rectangular-section solid blade. This is c. 5mm thick and each edge has a gentle convex curve to a point, which therefore would originally have had a 5mm sharp edge. The patina is a smooth brown, with areas broken off to reveal matt pale green beneath. Total surviving length, 108mm. Weight 49.91g. When found, there was wood surviving in the socket, which was retained by the finder. There is a good parallel in the Bagmoor hoard, now in the North Lincolnshire Museum (formerly Scunthorpe Museum). This was published in Inventaria Archaeologica 4th set (1957, GB 23, 3 (3), no. 14) with the comment that the chisel no. 14 may derive from the Carp's Tongue Complex, dating it to the very end of the Late Bronze Age, 9th or 8th century BC.

NMS-25921E: BROOCH
Description: Brooch made from a coin of Ethelred II (978-1016), small cross type, now incomplete and in two pieces. The obverse is gilded, and the reverse has two patches of solder. The coin is an example of Aethelred's first small cross type, struck by the moneyer Godman, probably of London (GODMAN MO [?}LV[...], the L being obscured by a patch of solder). North 764, c.978-9. Dimensions: approximately 20mm diameter, weight 1.21g. Discussion: Brooches made from coins are Weetch's type 2.B. This is an unusual example, as it is more common for the reverse to be used as the ‘display’ side, and the pin to be fixed using rivets (Weetch 2014, 72). Other examples with soldered-on pins are known (e.g. NMS-8A0333 and SUR-8F2191) but are less common. The resulting brooches were usually small and rather fragile; the fittings are often broken off or partially broken. Date: The coin was minted in 978-9 AD. The adaptation of the coin into a brooch is not likely to have taken place very long after issue. In any event, the frequent re-coinages of this period would have meant that few coins stayed in circulation for longer than ten or so years.

NMS-90F486: FINGER RING
Description: Gold finger-ring with bezel set with a dark red intaglio gemstone. The gemstone is complete, and although the gold components are now broken and crushed, they are also largely complete. The hoop is made from three strands of beaded wire arranged to form a triangular cross-section, with two strands side by side forming the inner surface and the third strand added in the centre. The third strand, standing proud on the outer surface, is now very worn. At the shoulders, the three strands flatten out and spread, with the central strand butting up to the bezel but the outer strands curving around the bezel to form unbroken rings; one survives complete but cracked and bent, the other is partly missing. The spaces at the shoulders between the beaded wires are filled with coils or spirals of fine beaded wire in S shapes and reversed S shapes, with the top coil of the S larger than the lower one to fill the triangle. Further spaces below the larger coils and below the smaller one are filled with small gold discs. The oval bezel is bordered with a thin sheet collar which has repoussé decoration of oblique ridges giving a solid cabled effect. This appears to be soldered to an inner gold sheet which runs around the thickness of the gemstone and is then bent up over the edge to hold it in place. Finally there is an oval sheet gold backplate which appears to have been soldered both to this inner collar, forming a cup to hold the stone, and to the beaded wires of the hoop. The oval carnelian intaglio is neatly engraved and shows a rather squat figure of Diana Venatrix (the huntress) advancing right (in impression), bow in one hand with the other hand reaching for an arrow from a quiver on her back. She wears a tunic and there is a hound at her feet. The image is practically identical to that found on a pendant set with an engraved gem (in this case a chalcedony) from the Thetford treasure. Dimensions: The ring as crushed measures 27 x 20 x 9 mm and weighs 4.9g. The bezel, with the outer cabled border, measures 18.2mm long and 14.5mm wide. The three wires of the hoop together measure 1.7mm wide and 1.6mm thick at a point opposite the bezel; individually, they are c. 0.9mm in diameter. The total thickness of the bezel is 4.5mm. Discussion: Filigree finger-rings, made from beaded wire, are characteristic of the late Roman period. Many of the details of this finger-ring are also found in a 4th-century gold ring from Richborough, now in the British Museum (1936,0204.1). The closest parallels on the PAS database are ESS-E2A327 and SUR-05A704. There are also similar but more massive finger-rings in the late 4th-century Thetford Treasure, and the early 5th-century Hoxne hoard. The closest parallel to the engraved gemstone is the intaglio in the pendant from the Thetford Treasure mentioned above (Johns and Potter 1983, 103, no. 40; now in the British Museum, 1981,0201.40). Not only is the engraved device the same. but both have a cable or cable-effect gold surround, and we might speculate that these two pieces came from the same workshop. Date: 4th century, probably 350-400 AD.

NMS-F3BA7A: HOARD
Description: Hoard of five coins. Four medieval silver pennies (three of Henry II and one of John) and one cut halfpenny of John. Found within 50m of each other. Catalogue: 1) Henry II penny, class 1b, Alain of Canterbury 1180-5. 1.37g. 2) Henry II penny, class 1b, Osber of Worcester 1180-5. 1.32g. 3) Henry II penny, class 1b, Pieres of London 1180-5. 1.34g. 4) John penny, class 5, Ricard B of London 1205-10. 1.11g. 5) John cut halfpenny, class 5-6, Abel of London 1205-16. 0.69g. Discussion: There is some wear on the Henry II pennies, but little on the fragmentary penny of John. The cut halfpenny of John is very worn and might not be associated with the hoard. If the cut halfpenny were not part of the hoard, we would assume a date of loss or deposition c.1210-20. If the cut halfpenny does belong with the other coins, then a later date towards the end of the short cross coinage, in the 1230s (or even 1240s) would be preferred. But if this was the case, we might expect to see later coins included within the hoard, and so the halfpenny is probably intrusive, although still listed here for the sake of completeness. Date: Dates of minting are 1180-5 to 1205-16, date of deposition is from c. 1210 to c. 1250.

NMS-041B1E: MOUNT
Cast copper-alloy medieval mount in the shape of a shell. It has a projecting base 7mm wide and 3mm thick (the thickest part of the object) decorated with two grooves in a V shape, apex upwards. The base of the triangle is formed by a step to a flatter area. The rest of the shell is semi-circular, 13.5mm wide, and decorated with six radiating grooves. In the centre is a circular rivet hole. All of the grooves taper and do not quite meet the hole. The reverse is concave. Total length 14mm, weight 1.5g. This is a very neatly made example. It is similar to Egan and Pritchard 1991, no. 1083, from a context of 1400-1450 AD, and even closer to NARC-558F84, but is better made than both.

NMS-1CDA55: BUCKLE
Tiny medieval copper-alloy buckle frame, oval with narrowed bar and ornate outside edge. The outside edge is flat and expands slightly in both width and length to form two pointed corners with a straight edge between. This solid widened outside edge is ribbed with three wide transverse grooves. It is 16.5mm wide and 14mm long, a maximum of 2mm thick, and weighs 1.52g.

NMS-0050A5: STRAP FITTING
Copper-alloy sword-belt fitting of post-medieval date, now very corroded. It has a triangular plate with straight top at a slight angle, two rivet holes set longitudinally, the upper one (nearer the wider end) filled with iron corrosion and the lower one empty. At the narrower end there are a pair of triangular projections, then a narrowed hook projects and turns backwards and under and is now corroded into a closed loop. This retains a circular copper-alloy ring 10mm in diameter. Plate, hook and ring are all a low D shape in cross-section, flat on the reverse. Length of plate and hook 31mm, width of hook 2mm, maximum width of plate 12mm, weight 2.5g. Compare NLM-A789A2, WAW-9CCA1B, DOR-2DBECC, etc.

NMS-09EC59: INGOT
Description: Complete long silver ingot of slightly irregular shape, but with a clear rounded top and slightly flattened underside. It has one neatly rounded end, 11mm wide and 5.8mm thick. One long edge runs roughly at right angles to this end, and the other long edge flares slightly. The maximum width of 13.5mm is close to the other end, and here there is a rounded angle, with the ingot tapering steeply to meet the other long edge in a rounded point. The ingot is sub-triangular or drop-shaped in cross-section, with the long straight edge being thicker and the top then sloping to the the angled edge. The slightly rounded top surface has some narrow scratches that may be testing nicks; the most obvious of these forms a crude cross just off centre towards the narrower end. The rest of the top has small wrinkles and pits, but there is an area of smooth polish at the narrower end. The thinner edge has one possible small knife cut. The thicker edge and the underside have several larger pits, mostly circular but one oval, which all look like casting flaws. Dimensions: Length 53.3mm, maximum width 13.5mm, maximum thickness 6.5mm, weight 29.3g. Discussion and Date: The shape is comparable with ingots which are often described as cigar- or finger-shaped. It bears some similarity to two ingots from a group found near Lichfield (WMID-C36B61, LVPL-E032D7); another from Derbyshire (WMID-9F9B50); and one from near Framlingham (SF-C22644). These vary in weight, and it is difficult to use this as a criterion for dating. Ingots of simple shape are notoriously difficult to date, but the parallels cited have all been tentatively dated to the late early-medieval period (c. 850-c. 1050 AD) on the basis of their long shape, their general appearance, and the occasional presence of testing nicks.

NMS-ACC312: PURSE
Fragment of late medieval or early post-medieval copper-alloy purse bar, central block and part of the frame. The block is rectangular, 15 x 13mm and 8mm thick, and is decorated on one of the larger faces with three engraved lines, a central vertical line running parallel to its perforation and two oblique lines. The other large face is apparently undecorated. The central perforation is circular and runs vertically. It is 6.5mm in diameter at one end and is blocked by corrosion or by a fragment of broken shank at the other. It is possible to hold the block either way up, but more complete parallels (e.g. SWYOR-38769C and WMID-C39C3F) suggest that the open end is at the top and the grooves converge downwards.. A circular-section arm emerges from either side of the block; arms and block are cast in one piece. One arm is broken off (from parallels, probably that on the viewer's left), but the other survives complete; the complete arm is only c. 14mm long. Both are decorated with a single circumferential groove. The more complete arm then has a recess before ending in a separate separate rove which is thick, circular and plano-convex. The recess retains a fragment of frame. The end of the frame is expanded, rounded and pierced to fit on the bar, and then turns a corner outwards. The corner is an obtuse angle so that the body of the purse would have been wider than the very short bar. The frame is circular in cross-section, about 4mm in diameter, but corroded so that a precise measurement is difficult. Total length of surviving bar and frame, 50mm; total width, c. 20-21mm. Total weight of the fragment, 15.87g. All breaks are corroded and worn. This is from a purse of Williams's class C1. See SUR-7C8248 for a example complete with entire frame.

NMS-044FE0: BOOK FITTING
Incomplete copper-alloy book-clasp of Howsam type A.3, of late medieval or early post-medieval date. It retains a large part of the front plate and a fragment of backplate. The front plate has an incomplete hook 6mm wide; behind this it steps out to a square panel 15mm wide, decorated with widely cross-hatched grooves forming a series of lozenges set between two pairs of transverse engraved lines. The main body of the book clasp is rectangular, 12.5mm wide. Short longitudinal grooves extend from the rearmost transverse line, and then the rest of this part of the book clasp is decorated with three large ring-and-dot motifs. The first (closest to the hook end) contains a separate copper-alloy rivet which holds the front and back plates together. The second is complete, and just a fragment of the third ring survives at the worn break. The backplate is narrower (10mm wide) and shorter (21mm long). The short edge nearest the hook appears complete, but the other short edge appears broken. Total length in slightly bent condition, 43mm. Weight 5.8g.

NMS-72E1E5: BOOK FITTING
Very worn fragment of flat book clasp of Howsam's type A.3, late medieval or early post-medieval. It was originally rectangular, with two largely broken ends and two worn but original sides. One end has a small projection at the corner which is all that survives of a flared attachment end. The other broken end is torn and cracked. The clasp is decorated on one face with double-strand curves and circles. Two double- or triple-strand circles occupy the attachment end, and have dots in the centre which have broken through the metal. Between these is a slightly larger rivet hole. In the centre of the fragment are double-strand curves which seem to form two longitudinally set pointed-oval shapes with circles in the middle, looking a bit like eye motifs. The other end is torn across a small hole in the centre of another double- or triple-strand circle. The object now has a bright green patina. The surviving width is 24mm, and it must have been about 26mm wide originally. The surviving length is 24mm and it weighs 2.23g.

NMS-06FB48: FINGER RING
Just under half of a medieval finger-ring of 'stirrup-shaped' form, originally set with a gem (now missing). The breaks are old, and from these the ring flares in thickness to 4mm at the bezel. The bezel is quite tall, measuring 5mm from the interior to the top of the bezel, and the surviving external diameter, which cannot be far off the original diameter, is 21mm. There are small patches of shiny black coating on the ring, possibly a black lacquer. The setting is circular, 2mm in diameter, and is filled with a white adhesive or cement. It weighs 2.0g. Similar to SWYOR-B0BF1B, and to Egan and Pritchard 1991, 1609. This shape of finger-ring was in fashion from c. 1150-1450 at least (Egan and Pritchard 1991, 326).

Incomplete copper-alloy composite strap-end of 14th-century date. It consists of three components, a cast spacer with a thin outer plate soldered on to either face to give a sub-circular strap-end with knop. The spacer is very short, no more than a flat curved bar with a large acorn-shaped knop projecting from the centre of its convex edge. The knop has a double-ridged collar below a flaring part (representing the acorn cup) which has engraved cross-hatching; the kernel of the acorn is a rounded bump above the cup, probably worn. The maximum width of the knop, at the collar, is 8.5mm; it is 5mm thick. One of the plates soldered to the spacer appears almost complete, and is almost circular, small parts of the edge having broken or worn away. It is 27mm wide and has a shiny white-metal coating. Opposite the knop is a decorative trefoil cut-out; there is no other decoration and this plate may have been the backplate. To either side of the cut-out is a small corroded iron rivet. The other plate is far more fragmentary and although it has the same white-metal coating, no other details survive. Total length 40mm, thickness away from knop 4mm, weight 8.9g. Similar to Egan and Pritchard 1991, nos. 648-9, which were found in 14th-century contexts in London. Parallels on the PAS database include SWYOR-20DC46, SUR-B5DFA2 and SF-127BCD.

NMS-0C4C12: MOUNT
Openwork copper-alloy mount of post-medieval date, 16th or 17th century. It is roughly circular, with the edge cut into twelve rounded points. Within this there are four quarter-circle perforations making a reserved cross. On the reverse are one bent-over spike (bent outwards) and one shorter straighter spike which may be incomplete (but if so, it is a worn break). The spikes are located towards the end of two cross arms, and in this direction the mount measures 19mm long; at right angles to this it measures 18mm wide. The spikes bring the total thickness to 6mm. It weighs 1.9g. Compare SOM-63F1D0, HAMP-2C6D17 and IOW-09BDE3.

NMS-E93EBA: PENANNULAR RING
Description: Penannular ring of probable Bronze Age date, probably from a composite (multiple strand) ring. It is C-shaped in cross-section, with a convex outer and a concave interior. The width of the ring is very consistent but the two ends do not sit quite in line, as if the ring has been slightly bent out of shape. There is a c. 1.5mm gap between the two ends, one of which is slightly incurved and the other slightly outcurved, as if they once joined. The top and bottom edges are neat and parallel, but one is more highly polished than the other, which has a narrow roughened strip by its edge, perhaps keying for solder or perhaps the remains of gold solder. Dimensions: Diameter 12.7mm, width of ring 5.3mm, thickness of ring 2.1 to 2.4mm, weight 2.8g. Discussion: Although penannular rings are well known Bronze Age finds, they normally have circular cross-sections, or sometimes D-shaped. C-shaped cross-sections are unusual, and are normally found on composite rings made from multiple bands soldered together; there is some evidence that this ring may once have been part of a soldered-together composite ring. Although the band widths on composite rings are usually much thinner than this example, the widest composite rings recorded on the PAS database are WILT-788C7B (2019T253) and ESS-71DFE4 (2014T169), where the individual bands are respectively almost 4mm wide, and 4.5mm wide. Date: Penannular rings belong to the middle Bronze Age, c. 1300-1150 BC.

NMS-B0C7AA: PALSTAVE
Copper-alloy palstave of type Carleton, middle Bronze Age date, Taunton phase (c. 1400-1100 BC), complete except for much of the cutting edge. When viewed from the side, the flanges are rounded. Down one side is a narrow casting seam with hammer marks across it; in the centre of the opposite side is a side-loop. Viewed from the front or back, the butt and the septum are rectangular. One face has a small casting flaw, a hole in one side of the septum by the stop.On both of the main faces there is a trident moulding just below the stop; this consists of three relief lines, one vertical and two curving from the edge of the stop ridge to meet the end of the vertical line, together forming a shield shape. Below the stop, the sides curve out in concave curves to meet the convex curve of the cutting edge. It has a dark brown patina, worn away in places (notably on the stop ridge) to show the bright metal beneath; the breaks at the edge of the blade are not very worn and vary between a brown and a green patina. Length 155mm, width of blade 56mm, thickness at stop 32mm, weight c. 420g.

NMS-2EEA77: PENDANT
Description: Silver pendant, probably of early post-medieval date, with a domed setting of unknown material, perhaps a toadstone. The silver element consists of a sheet backplate, now crumpled and crushed, with an upright wall or collar c. 3mm tall soldered to it; this soldered seam has come apart over much of its length. The collar still retains a domed setting of dull pale grey material with a very slight sheen, which has a hole in the centre filled with silver. Both the setting and the silver have polishing scratches across them. On the reverse, at the top, a suspension loop of thicker metal springs from the backplate. Its base is shaped into two tiny outcurved projections, like a fishtail, and continues with a low convex inner and a more rounded convex outer surface. It curves round to the front, where it is now open and bent sideways. There is a possible blob of solder at the end which may be the original way that the loop was closed, or may represent a repair. The reverse of the object is damaged, but the backplate clearly had a crescent-shaped decorative perforation in the centre, with the horns of the crescent uppermost. Above this, just below the springing of the loop, is a neat seriffed cross (a cross pattée) with perhaps a tiny dot below. To either side of the cross are traces of curvilinear engraving, perhaps the remains of an inscription. Because the silver is grey, and the setting is grey, it is hard to distinguish the elements on the reverse from each other, and it is particularly difficult to see the central silver element on the reverse. The way the damage has occurred appears to show that the setting has a concave reverse, leading to the silver backplate being pushed into a void. Dimensions: Length 20.3mm, width 15.6mm, thickness at centre 5.9mm. The loop measures 6.7mm in diameter (so this is the maximum thickness of the object) and is c. 2.5mm wide. It weighs 3.0g. Discussion: This pendant is likely to be amuletic. Compare NMS-14AEB6, with a large cross on the reverse and set with a similar grey-white setting, thought to be a possible toadstone. Another possible parallel is OXON-1740D1, with a much darker stone, again suggested as a toadstone. If the stone in this pendant does have a concave reverse, it may make it more likely to be a toadstone, since in their raw state toadstones do have concave reverses. They are the fossilised teeth of Scheenstia (also called Lepidotes), an extinct type of fish common in the Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods, 200 to 100 million years ago, and were thought to protect against poison. Date: OXON-1740D1 and NMS-14AEB6 are dated to the 13th and 14th-15th centuries respectively, but a similar pendant set with amber (DENO-0239E0) has been given a 17th-century date. Toadstones certainly continued in use into the 17th century, with several being found in the Cheapside jeweller's hoard. The curvilinear, scrolly appearance of the inscription might argue for a post-medieval date for this example.

NMS-C3FEF2: INGOT
Description: Complete gold ingot, long with rounded ends and oval cross-section. One surface is smooth with a few large dents; the other is pitted with very many small dents. One end is slightly wider and substantially thicker due to a rise in the pitted surface; the smoother surface is fairly flat. The colour is very slightly pale, suggesting a relatively impure gold. Dimensions: Length, 40.9mm. Maximum width, 13.3mm. Maximum thickness, 8.8mm. Weight 37.39g. Discussion: This ingot is quite distinctive; it is long, with rounded ends and cross-section, one surface smoothed or polished and the other covered with small pits. Several closely comparable 'finger' ingots, again with the combination of smooth and pitted surfaces, are recorded on the PAS database with varying dates. Some have been dated to the Bronze Age (DEV-5B7171, 2005T123; HESH-092511, 2013T850); others tentatively to the Viking period (YORYM-89E4AD, 2018T19 (subsequently declared Not Treasure) and NMS1608) and a longer, slimmer ingot from Wicklewood, Norfolk (NMS-7AFB36, 2015T866) was allocated a broad date-range from Bronze Age to medieval. The weight would be consistent with one and a half ounces based on a Viking ounce of c. 25g, but division of the ounce into halves rather thirds or sixths is unusual in this period, and there are no characteristic Viking-style test marks. Date: As can be seen from the parallels cited, it is difficult to date these distinctive ingots from their form alone, but they are unlikely to be modern; a broad date-range from the late Bronze Age to the late early-medieval period seems most appropriate.

NMS-8F4D4A: COIN HOARD
Two silver pennies of Aethelred II (978 - 1013), both so-called Second Crux type, dating to AD 991-997 and found together. Catalogue: 1) Aethelred, 2nd Crux, moneyer Leofric of Lincoln, weight 1.52g. 2) Aethelred, 2nd Crux, moneyer Leofstan of Norwich, weight 1.61g. Discussion: They surely are part of a hoard or purse loss and entered the ground at the same time. Thus they represent a case of Treasure, as groups of two or more coins of precious metal and over 300 years old at the time of finding qualify as potential Treasure under the stipulations of the Treasure Act 1996.

NMS-708A83: MOUNT
Incomplete copper-alloy openwork mount of medieval date. About half of a (presumably originally circular) roundel survives, with a frame c. 3-4mm wide surrounding a central motif whose surviving part consists of three arms, the central one oval and the two flanking ones narrower and curving outwards. Beyond the frame, in line with the oval arm, is a large projection in the shape of a fleur-de-lis, with a groove across the rectangular base. The mount is flat, mostly 2mm thick, but has an integral circular-section rivet on the reverse of the lis which brings the overall thickness to 5.5mm. The breaks on the roundel are fairly worn, and one has caused a bend to the metal. Surviving length including lis-shaped projection, 33mm; surviving width across roundel 32.5mm, weight 6.5g. Compare SF-1172E7. Probably 13th or 14th century.

NMS-54BB84: FINGER RING
Description: Heavy but small gold finger-ring set with an intaglio engraved with a horse facing right (left in impression). The ring is of Guiraud's type 2c and Henig's type II. The hoop is biconvex in cross-section, flaring from a minimum of 2.6mm wide and 2.2mm thick at the point furthest from the bezel into smooth, undecorated shoulders which in turn swell into the oval bezel. The oval intaglio is pale brown in colour. It is raised from the surface of the bezel and its sides are sloped and rounded, exploiting the layered nature of the stone so that the horse is cut against a darker background and surrounded by a lighter aureola. The design is that of a horse standing on a baseline made from a single groove. The horse stands firmly on three legs, with the foreleg nearest to the observer (its left leg, or right leg on an impression) slightly lifted. Its neck droops and the mouth is slightly open; the overall effect is that of slow movement. It has a hogged mane, a long slender body, and a long tail textured with short oblique dashes, similar to the mane. Dimensions: External width 22.4mm. Height from top of bezel to back of hoop, 21.1mm. Thickness across bezel, 13.0mm. Weight 11.1g. Discussion: Finger-rings of Guiraud's type 2 are a well-known Roman type, but examples in gold are not common. On the PAS databsse, the closest parallel is probably CAM-7FCC3B. Despite its pale brown colour, the gem is likely to be a carnelian. The cutting of the intaglio is good, and points to a date in the earlier part of the Roman empire before the decline of gem engraving and the increased use of moulded glass pastes in the third century AD. Date: A first-century date is likely and the gem is probably of the Augustan period (27BC-AD14) in which case its manufacture would pre-date the Roman invasion of Britain in AD43.

NMS-84BB97: HOARD
Hoard of four Iron Age gold coins. Coins 2, 3 and 4 were found within 10m of each other, and coin 1 was found 30m further to the south. Catalogue: 1. Stater, Corieltavi, North East Coast, Rudd's so-called Right type, ABC1716, 6.33g, c.50-1 BC 2. Stater, Corieltavi, North East Coast, Rudd's so-called Right type, ABC1716, 6.26g, c.50-1 BC 3. Stater, Corieltavi, North East Coast, Rudd's so-called Right type, ABC1716, 6.25g, c.50-1 BC 4. Quarter stater, Corieltavi, Rudd's so-called Lindsey scyphate type, ABC 1767, weight 1.42g, c.60-20 BC Discussion: All of the coins are staters or quarter staters of the Corieltavi, the tribe occupying what is now Lincolnshire and some surrounding areas. They are all very close in date and, not being local, surely travelled together to the findspot and went into the ground together, whether as an accidental loss or a deliberate deposition. Date: The coins were all manufactured between 60 and 20 BC and could have entered the ground at any time after 50BC.

NMS-CE5E22: SLEEVE CLASP
Early Anglo-Saxon copper-alloy wrist-clasp of Hines's Form B20, in very good condition. It is largely flat, and cast in one piece, with a raised, flat-topped bar, a plate with shaped rear edge, and a complete loop. The bar is c. 6mm wide and has two zones of transverse groove decoration, not perfectly evenly spaced along its length; both consist of a wider U-section groove flanked by two similar slightly narrower grooves. The rear edge of the bar has a longitudinal step intermediate in height between the bar and the rest of the plate. The rear edge of the plate is flatter and neatly shaped, with a central outcurved semi-circular lobe separated by V-section notches from flanking quarter-circle shapes, each pierced with a circular sewing hole. The plate's ends each have a lower curved lobe, so that the overall effect is of an outward-looking animal head, or perhaps a wave shape. The loop is rectangular externally and oval internally. It is flatter than the bar, and droops downwards a little from it, so that when linked to the other clasp-half it would be hidden. Length 34.5mm, width of plate 14.1mm, width including loop 18.1mm, maximum thickness (centre of bar) 2.9mm, weight 6.31g. This is a good example of a fairly common B20 clasp, which HInes calls the 'Morningthorpe type' (1993, 64-5).. Compare SF-91FF24, NMS-7FFFB6, SF-7B9E9B, NMS-E8ED05, etc. They date to the late 5th or 6th centuries AD.

NMS-D012DB: GIRDLE HANGER
Fragment of early Anglo-Saxon copper-alloy girdle-hanger. Using Felder's terminology (2014, 35, fig. 3.1), the fragment consists of the suspension loop, shank neck and part of shank, with a granular, unworn break. The suspension loop is a narrow, rounded lobe at the top, pierced from side to side, but the perforation is now blocked with iron corrosion. The shank neck is a D-section area below the suspension loop, divided into five rounded lobes; its junction with the shank is marked with a transverse ridge. The shank itself is rectangular-section and flares very slightly towards the break. Although it has some fine longitudinal striations on the front, does not appear to be decorated in any way. Length 67.2mm, maximum width (at break) 6.9mm, maximum thickness (at suspension loop) 7.2mm, thickness of shank at break 2.7mm, weight 8.83g. The shank neck falls into Felder's Group III, either Type IIIa or IIIb (2014, 87, fig. 3.35; 91-94). Felder dates the use of girdle-hangers in early Anglo-Saxon female graves to the late 5th to mid 6th century (2014, 255).

NMS-E3383A: HARNESS FITTING
Fragment of late Iron Age copper-alloy D-shaped terret, now very corroded but perhaps originally enamelled. It has a sub-circular or slightly oval upright collar terminal 13.7mm wide, 12.1mm tall and 4.8mm thick. From one side of this projects a triangular-section upper ring, with a flat inner and an angled outer. On the other side of the collar, at its base, is a stub of the attachment bar which shows that this was rectangular-section, 6.5 x 3.4mm, and set vertically. The overall length is 21.0mm and it weighs 7.34g. All surfaces of the fragment, including the breaks, are worn and corroded. Both faces of the angled outer seem to have depressions filled with dark red corrosion, and these could be a row of small square or circular champlevé cells for enamel. There are amorphous corrosion bubbles on the collar which are similarly filled with this dark red material, however, and it is likely that this is the red copper corrosion that is often seen on enamelled objects, rather than the remains of enamel itself. Although this is just a fragment, it probably belongs to Lewis's 'simple terret' group. Lewis suggests that this is a long-lived form, dating from the third century BC to at least the second half of the first century AD (2015, 87).

NMS-D07466: BROOCH
Complete early Anglo-Saxon copper-alloy small-long brooch, now in two joining parts. The head is of the 'cross potent' type, with a flat rectangular central panel c. 13 x 18mm. This has three sub-rectangular flat 'knobs' attached by narrower waists, to form a headplate in total 32.2mm wide. The surface is corroded and some is missing, but traces of double-crescent or half ring-and-dot stamps can be seen; there is a row of five on the top knob and a similar row on one side knob, each with a trace of a single groove outside the row of stamps. On the reverse of the headplate is a single pin bar lug, now blocked with iron corrosion. The bow has a flat panel to top and bottom, both with a facet or bevel to either side making them more irregular hexagons in cross-section than the normal rectangles. The upper is larger than the lower, and the C-section bow tapers from one to the other. The foot begins with a flat panel with bevelled edges, which ends with a double transverse groove; then comes a more strongly bevelled or faceted area. On the reverse of this part is a large and near-complete catchplate, bent to the left (when viewed from the reverse). The junction of the flat panel and the terminal is a D-section area with a broad groove across the middle dividing it into two bold D-section mouldings. Below this the terminal is broken off, but still joins; this flares out to a straight-sided triangle with a curved end. Both straight sides are decorated on one face with a row of the same double-crescent or half ring-and-dot stamps, but the curved end appears to lack these. The break is fresh and granular. Total length c. 70mm, total weight 14.58g. Small-long brooches date to the century c. 450-c. 550 AD.

NMS-D0E282: BROOCH
Head and bow from an early Anglo-Saxon copper-alloy small-long brooch. The flat, apparently undecorated headplate has a sub-rectangular central panel with three flat 'knobs', all of which appear to have been mushroom-shaped, or D-shaped above narrowed waists. This shape of headplate is often known as 'trefoil'. On the reverse of the headplate is a broken pin bar lug (worn breaks) with iron staining around it. All the edges of the headplate are worn. The bow is D-shaped in cross-section, quite highly arched and simple, with a groove across the top the only visible decoration. It tapers slightly towards the base, where the break is fresh and granular. Surviving length 32.0mm, width of headplate 24.3mm, weight 4.61g. Small-long brooches date to the century c. 450-c. 550 AD.

NMS-D0BB0C: BROOCH
Head and bow from an early Anglo-Saxon copper-alloy small-long brooch. The flat headplate is very worn and its original shape is uncertain, but it has the remains of deep U-shaped cut-outs in both its lower edge and its upper corners, forming three knobs. These may have had straight ends, as the top and one side knob each retain a straight row of crescentic stamps along their edges. On the reverse of the headplate is a large double pin bar lug, one lug incomplete and the other retaining part of an iron pin bar. There is extensive iron corrosion between the two lugs. The bow is low, with a flat panel with a faint transverse groove at the top; below this it is D-shaped in cross-section to the worn break. Surviving length 31.5mm, surviving width 23.5mm, thickness of head including lug 9.8mm. Weight 8.58g. Small-long brooches date to the century c. 450-c. 550 AD.

NMS-D2C402: BROOCH
About half of the flat circular frame of an early Anglo-Saxon copper-alloy annular brooch, with an original diameter of c. 40mm. One break is across a neat rounded hole in the frame. This may be the pin hole, but on the reverse there is solder around the hole and it may possibly alternatively be a repair. There is also some iron corrosion on the reverse here, which could be from the pin. The frame is otherwise well preserved here, and at 6.1mm wide appears to retain its original width. The inner edge is 1.2mm thick and it tapers towards the outer edge which is 0.6mm thick. The other break is jagged and appears fresh. Here the frame is narrower and more corroded, and some of the thin outer edge has been lost. The front is decorated with geometric grooved decoration. Two pairs of transverse lines survive, about a quarter of the full circle apart. Between them are four oblique lines forming two V shapes with the points outwards. The rest of the decoration is obscured by corrosion and loss of surface. The reverse is undecorated, with a glossy patina. It is more undulating than the flat front of the brooch, with a slight depression running along its centre. It weighs 1.52g. A glossy surface, an uneven reverse suggesting hammering, and a triangular or wedge-shaped cross-section, thickest in the centre, are all frequent features of early Anglo-Saxon annular brooches and help to distinguish them from later examples. This one falls into Leeds's type g, and dates to the 5th or 6th century AD.

NMS-E39636: KNIFE
Iron strip, perhaps the blade from a knife. It is 120mm long and one end is encased in delaminating corrosion. Away from this end, it is generally around 19mm wide, with one edge straight and 3mm thick, tapering to the other edge which may represent the cutting edge. The end without the corrosion layers has the cutting edge curving up to meet the back of the blade in a rounded point. The corroded end is broken and has no evidence of a whittle tang. The strip is now bent at a slight angle about halfway along its length. It weighs 45.0g. The identification as a knife is very tentative, as the strip is corroded, very thin and has no evidence of a tang, but as it was found close to several early Anglo-Saxon objects it could also be of that date.

NMS-5767C8: COIN
Medieval silver coin of Henry I, Quatrefoil with piles type, moneyer Wulfrard of Sandwich, North 863, weight 1.36g, c.1111

NMS-CF59E4: SLEEVE CLASP
Chunky copper-alloy bar from an early Anglo-Saxon wrist-clasp, apparently of Hines Form B10 or possibly alternatively B4. The bar is cast in one piece, with three cuboidal elements, one in the centre and one at either end. These are linked by D-section areas, each one decorated with two broad U-section transverse grooves or flutes, alternating with three ridges each flanked by narrow grooves. Each of the cuboidal bosses has a substantial white-metal coating, probably of tin. On the flat reverse there are two broken pierced lugs, set transversely and pierced longitudinally. Length 40.3mm, width 5.1mm, thickness including loops 10.9mm, thickness of bar alone (in centre) 5.5mm, weight 7.25g. This is an unusual object. Form B10 clasps, which consist like this of a bar only, attached to the garment by loops secured by a removable pin, are not common; Hines noted only one (1991, 45). The related form B4, which has a separate plate between sleeve and bar, is also rare; Hines noted only three possible examples (1991, 37-8). As the plates (where they survived) were made from iron, it is possible that any plate might have disappeared from this example. Loops for a pin are also found on several clasp-halves which would otherwise have been classed as B19 (e.g. NMS-5196E4) or B20 (e.g. YORYM-9DD301 and DENO-8428D0) and it is possible that this feature should not in itself be used as a defining attribute.

NMS-D16462: BROOCH
Fragment of copper alloy, probably a small piece of foot from an early Anglo-Saxon cruciform brooch. The fragment is C-shaped in cross-section, hollow on the reverse, and is broken at both ends (one break fairly fresh and granular, the other more worn). At one end, the front has a bold moulding, 4-5mm deep and flat-topped, which is divided into two by an off-centre transverse groove. The overall surviving length is 21.1mm, maximum width 12.8mm and maximum thickness (at moulding) 6.0mm. It weighs 4.93g. It seems likely that this is one of the mouldings at the top of a horse's head terminal from a cruciform brooch, divided into two to mirror the two eyes that will be below. No other part of the horse's head survives, and it is tricky to tell which way up the fragment should go. It is perhaps most likely to be correct when held with the moulding at the top, with a long forehead below, broken just above the eyes; if held the other way up, it should not have a concave reverse. Compare complete brooch feet with bifurcated brows such as NLM-4C6FE9. Probably late 5th to late 6th century.

NMS-E36935: RING
Neatly circular iron ring, 51.5mm in diameter. In cross-section it is circular, 8mm in diameter. It weighs 31.8g. The ring was found close to several early Anglo-Saxon objects and is likely also to be of that date. It may have been used as a suspension ring.

NFAHG-C241B0: SEAL MATRIX
Copper-alloy seal matrix with socket, for producing cloth seals (alnage seals). The die itself is circular and 29mm in diameter. In side view, the matrix rises vertically from the die for about 3mm then begins to taper with a slightly concave curve to an open end 19-20mm in external diameter. The matrix is overall 14mm thick and weighs 39.0g. There are two small bumps on the outside, very close to the socket's edge, which are surrounded by iron staining and which may be the remains of iron nails fastening a wooden handle. These are not quite opposite each other; one is above the C in the inscription, the other above the first n. The die is engraved with an animal head, probably a lion or leopard, with round eyes and nose, full cheeks, heavy brows and spiky hair or fur. This is above a small neat fleur-de-lis and the whole is enclosed within a quatrefoil formed of a narrow groove. The inscription around is set between two bold unbeaded grooves and reads S'VLnAG' PAnnORV COM SUFF (Seal of Alnage for Cloth in the County of Suffolk). The R and second V are hard to read. The lettering is Lombardic. This is only the third matrix of its type, with socket for a wooden handle, recorded on the PAS database (compare SUR-AB43CB for Southampton and YORYM-EFCDF3 for Essex). All three are matrices for cloth seals, and the inscription on SUR-AB43CB is very similar. See SUR-AB43CB for a discussion of the use of these matrices. The dates vary from the late 13th century at earliest (YORYM-EFCDF3) to the early 16th century at latest (Egan 1994, no. 56). There are three further socketed seal matrices for alnage or subsidy seals in the British Museum collection (1877,0512.3 for Winchester, 1915,1208.153 for Lincolnshire, and 1851,1121.2 for Wiltshire; Egan 1994, nos. 45, 56 and 104). Egan (1994, 36) comments that "matrices with similar leopard's-head and fleur-de-lis devices are known for Bristol, Kent and Suffolk" and gives references. The Suffolk example was found in the 1850s near Hadleigh, is now in Ipswich Museum; it was published in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries for 1860, p. 228, and a drawing can be found in Egan 1992 (FRG Datasheet 3), 1 fig. 4; it is very similar to the Thorpe Morieux example, showing that more than one of these seals is likely to have been in use at the same time in a single county.

FAHG-7B3D73: BROOCH
Gilded copper-alloy great square-headed brooch of early Anglo-Saxon date, complete with red enamel inlays on head, bow and foot, and with the remains of silver plates on the footplate. Ancient repair on the bow. The brooch has relief decoration in Salin's Style I, and the silver-and-gold colour scheme is known as the Bichrome Style. The brooch fits squarely within Hines's Group X, which is tentatively dated at present to the later part of his Phase 2 (in calendar years, perhaps c. 525-c. 550 AD; Hines in Hunn et al. 1994, 129). Headplate The headplate has a rectangular inner panel decorated in the upper corners with a pair of circular cells set with dark red enamel. Narrow ridges run from these cells inwards to meet and then continue onto the bow as a single wide flat-topped ridge, probably representing the nose of a human mask. The space beneath the enamelled cells is filled on each side with a pellet, probably representing an eye, underneath a ridged eyebrow. The treatment of each eyebrow is slightly different; that on the left (as you look at it) has an outer ridge as well, making part of a D shape, but the right-hand one does not, having just a curved brow. The headplate inner panel is framed by a second panel consisting of a wide flat-topped ridge outside two narrower chip-carved V-shaped concentric ridges. The narrower V-shaped ridges run around three sides of a rectangle, but the wider flat-topped ridge also turns at the bottom to meet the bow. Below the bottom of this part of the ridge are two very short horizontal ridges, which fill in the space between the headplate's second panel and the bottom of the headplate. Outside the second panel is the headplate frame, which is decorated on each of its three sides with a single human mask in Style I. The masks are seen en-face, with their eyebrows next to the inner panel and their mouths outwards. The lower corners of the headplate frame are undecorated, making raised square panels which are gilded together with the rest of the headplate. Each of the masks on the sides is slightly different. On the right-hand side as you look at the brooch, the eyebrows are formed from double ridges, or ridges with narrow central grooves, growing out of (or running into) the nose so that the nose has a pair of grooves running down it; there is a tiny transverse groove across the top of the nose forming a division between nose and eyebrows. The eyebrows curve over the eyes and then recurve upwards slightly. The eyes are pellets, with curved raised eyeframes below which do not join the eyebrows. Below these are blocks forming the cheeks. The nose is square-ended and below is a pointed-oval mouth with an indented centre, with a raised line forming a chin underneath. The mask's right cheek (lower down on the brooch) has a large cheek with pointed upper end and a diagonal groove dividing it into two; there is a further short groove separating the cheek blocks from the chin. The other cheek is a single line forming the edge of the face, continuing the line of the chin and then recurving downwards. On the left-hand side as you look at the brooch, the mask is similar, but the lower cheek is a simple triangle which is joined to a less well formed chin. The mouth is a simple groove between the ridge of the chin and an upper ridge which then curves up under the eye-frame and recurves downwards. This mask is perhaps not quite so well modelled. The mask on the upper part of the frame is again similar, but has the pointed-oval mouth and square cheeks, each of which has a delicately engraved tiny L-shaped groove adding definition (part of this tiny groove has worn away on the left cheek). The human masks alternate with Style I animals, so that there is an animal above each of the side masks and one to either side of the upper mask. The animals are separated by lentoid (pointed-oval) cells containing dark red enamel; these cells are set diagonally and the headplate corners are stretched out to accommodate them. Despite the Style I being very well made, the identity of the animals' body parts is not immediately obvious. To either side of the pointed-oval cells are tightly curved elements, and on the lower sides these resolve themselves into curved ankles with multi-toed feet beyond. Then there are two (right-hand side) or three (left-hand side) triple-stranded elements, probably the body; the third element is replaced by a square block. The curved element attached to one cheek of each human mask may well be a front leg. In this interpretation, the animal body is in profile and the human mask is in the place of the animal's head, turned to face the viewer; it is clearest on the left-hand side. It is possible that the multi-toed feet are also present on the other (upper) side of the pointed-oval cell, but that the details of the toes have now been worn away. There are again two or three multi-stranded body elements (two on the right plus an odd double-arched space-filler, and three on the left) but the largest element now has four strands instead of three. This four-strand element curves around a pellet which could be seen as a rounded cheek from the human mask, or an eye; and in fact if these two extra pellets are two extra eyes, we now have enough mask elements to give each one of our profile animals a full human mask to turn to the viewer. This works well for the right-hand half (supposing the brooch is still being held the right way up, with the animals upside-down) but not apparently so well for the left-hand half, although this may be because the gilding is more worn away here on one of the pellets and so the eyes appear to be of different sizes. Below each of the cheek/eye pellets there is a square panel decorated with a tiny L-shaped groove, which may represent the cheek of the animal's face. On the reverse of the headplate is a double pin bar lug, the space between the lugs only c. 6 mm. The remains of an iron pin bar, coiled iron spring, and a tiny stub of pin survive; the pin comes from the edge of the coil nearest the brooch. There is no evidence for any surviving textile. Width of headplate 70.5 mm. The headplate of this brooch fits well into Hines's Group X. Pointed-oval motifs in the headplate upper corners, and human masks on the top and sides of the headplate, are found on all of Hines's Group X brooches. In some cases there are single masks at the top (Dinton 8, unprovenanced, Little Wilbraham 28) and in other cases there is a pair of masks (Little Wilbraham 3, Little Wilbraham 40) or even three (Broughton Lodge 16, Alveston Manor 89). The undecorated lower corners are paralleled at Broughton Lodge 16, Little Wilbraham 3 and 40 and the unprovenanced Group X brooch. The circular cells and human mask in the headplate inner panel are echoed in Little Wilbraham 40 and Broughton Lodge 16, which both have two circles in addition to eyes, but also have Style I elements filling the rest of the inner panel. Bow The bow is shallowly arched, and tapers slightly from 22 mm wide at the top to 21 mm wide near the bottom. It has a central flat-topped longitudinal ridge, tapering slightly to either end, interrupted in the centre by a circular cell filled with dark red enamel. The bow is decorated with a square panel on the top, framed by a bold double groove; the longitudinal ridge is higher than any part of this frame and so appears to run over it. There is a lot of iron corrosion here obscuring detail, but a small area on the right-hand lower side of the bow can be clearly seen, showing that there was no other relief decoration on the bow; the double groove fills most of the space. A break across the bow just above the circular cell has been mended in antiquity. A thick piece of copper-alloy strip, tapering to fit the width of the bow, has been attached by four circular-section iron rivets added through circular rivet holes. There is a scrape on the edge of this copper-alloy sheet with the original uncorroded copper alloy showing through. The bows of Group X brooches are various, but that on the unprovenanced example (which is now lost and known only from a photo) appears to be the closest, with a double groove framing a squarish panel, a bold longitudinal ridge, and a circular boss in the centre which may once have held enamel (Hines 1997, pl. 34b). Footplate A ridge runs down the centre of the footplate, forming a continuum with the ridge on the bow. It runs down to a central circular cell filled with dark red enamel which is set slightly below the centre of the footplate. The ridge then continues for a short distance before stopping just above the eyebrows of the terminal lobe. The ridge divides the footplate inner panel into two. The footplate upper borders are angular, and each contains enigmatic Style I relief decoration. At the top are bold flowing curving ridges which appear to form crests; the crest is on a profile head on the right-hand side and what appears to be a head turned to look en-face on the left-hand side. The profile animal has an angled triple-strand headframe which has a transversely nicked top, forming the edge of the brooch - or perhaps this combination of triple strand and transverse nicking should be read as a multi-toed foot. Below is another eye and two curving ridges which may be from a subsidiary animal. There is also one more ridge which curves around the right-hand cell. The left-hand design is subtly different, in that it has many of the same elements but the details of angle and curve give a different impression. Here the triple-strand headframe is gently curved as if outlining the curve of a cheek. Two pellet eyes have a more gently curved ridge between them, perhaps a nose. The transverse nicking might here represent a fringe of hair and a further single curved ridge appears to form the other cheek. There is no obvious subsidiary animal. Below the footplate upper borders is a pair of circular cells inlaid with dark red enamel. These are not paralleled on any other great square-headed brooch known to Hines, but can be seen as related to the round eyes from central human masks such as that on Broughton Lodge 16 or Dinton 8. Each of the two footplate inner panels contains long sinuous single-strand elements of animals' bodies arranged around the circular cell. The scheme of the decoration is identical in both halves, but there are variations in detail such as angles and lengths. None of these elements is precisely identifiable. A fairly close parallel to this decoration might be the single-strand elements arranged around a large circular boss on the brooch from Little Wilbraham 3. Below the circular cell, the narrow points of the panels contain pellets - three sub-circular pellets on the left-hand side and four more flattened pellets (or perhaps ladder pattern) on the right-hand side. These pellets are perhaps derived from the transverse ribbing of the Group X brooch from Alveston Manor 89 and the unclassified brooch from Nassington 33, which has several links to Group X. The inner panels are bordered by four wide flat-topped ridges. The lower pair extend from the eyebrows of the terminal lobe and curve around towards the side lobes; they end in what appears to be a headframe, eye and triple-strand curve; this may be derived from a predatory bird's head in profile. Again, Little Wilbraham 3 probably provides the best parallel to this decorative scheme. The upper pair of curved ridges framing the footplate inner panel runs from the upper pair of circular cells towards the footplate side lobes. The squared-off ends of these ridges, by the footplate side lobes, have incurved sides, which on the left-hand side accommodate a pair of pellet eyes. These eyes are absent on the right-hand side, which has a single short space-filling ridge in the place of one of them. A triple-strand element issues from the end of each ridge, which curves upwards to end in a multi-toed foot. The footplate side lobes have squared-off ends. The left-hand end appears to be silvered; it has a white-metal coating which appears possibly too silvery and too neatly applied to likely to be solder from a separate silver plate, although a distinction between the two is difficult. There are what appear to be very faint annulet punchmarks towards the upper outer corner of this silvered area. The right-hand end has a fragmentary silver plate soldered on. The silver areas are roughly T-shaped, and in the curved angle above the stem of the T are triple-strand legs curving round and ending in multi-toed feet. On the left-hand side, the foot has a pellet next to it. These toes meet the toes of a similar leg and foot which curves down from the footplate upper borders, although these can also be seen as triple-strand eye-frames around a pellet eye. Most Group X brooches have rather various Style I masks on their footplate side lobes, but similar squared-off ends are found on both Alveston Manor 89 (after Style I masks) and on Broughton Lodge 16 (with no Style I masks) - but neither of these are recorded as having any silver plates, or solder either. The symmetrical disposition of the ornament at the inner end of this brooch's silver plates argues again for a link to other Group Xs - other square lobes, e.g. those on Group XV brooches, tend to have single profile birds' heads here. The footplate terminal lobe can be compared with that from other Group X brooches, notably Little Wilbraham 3, and read as a full-face mask. There is a pair of eyes, with triple-strand eyebrows curving round the eyes and looking a bit like a pair of goggles. The eyes are flanked by long curling ears which run back up along the edge of the brooch to form the footplate lower borders; these ears are found on most Group X brooches. Below the eyes is a deep transverse groove, and then below the groove is a raised undecorated square panel; on other brooches, this raised square panel represents the nose of the mask. Curling ridges extend outwards and downwards from the square panel's upper corners, then curl upwards again. Below the curl on the left-hand side is a four-strand and a double-strand curving block, perhaps the body of a Style I animal. On the right-hand side, there are the usual subtle differences; a raised triangular panel and two blocks of worn triple stranding. From the lower corners of the block extend two more long curved ridges, and between these is a triangle with three chip-carved pointed-oval indentations, one vertical above and two horizontal below. There is a similar single vertical pointed-oval indentation on Alveston Manor 89. On other brooches, because the square panel in this area represents a human nose, the effect of the curved lines is that of a giant luxuriant curling moustache. To either side of this mask, and joined by the deep transverse groove, is another pair of circular cells filled with dark red enamel. Around and above these are tiny out-ward curling ridges. The cells here are in the same position as large pellets on Little Wilbraham 3, and may represent the cheeks of the mask. At the very bottom of the brooch is a sub-rectangular silver plate, one end of which is now missing. There are faint marks along the top of the silver plate, suggesting that underneath it there may have been punchmarks which have become transferred when the silver plate was pressed into place. On the reverse of the footplate, slightly off-centre and near the top, is a catchplate which is curled over towards the left (as you look at the reverse). This retains a fragment of iron pin. There is no evidence for any surviving textile. The width of the footplate is 60 mm. In general The total length is 131.5 mm. All the dimensions are hard to take because of irregular edges and the large size of the object; they should be checked from an image with a scale. Weight 97.5g. The use of enamel is not common on a great square-headed brooch. Hines knew of seven examples (Hines 1997, 220), four of which came from cemeteries in South Cambridgeshire. Of these, two brooches were of his Group X (Little Wilbraham 28 and 40) and it is possible that the now lost unprovenanced Group X example was also enamelled (Hines 1997, 93). On the other hand, enamelling is 'significantly frequent' on brooches from the cemeteries of Little Wilbraham and Linton Heath, both close to each other in Cambridgeshire (Hines in Hunn et al 1994, 129), and the technique is well known on other early Anglo-Saxon objects from Cambridgeshire and Suffolk.

FAHG-C743A5: TOY
Complete toy gridiron with fish, made from a lead/tin alloy (pewter) with a patina which is shiny in patches. The gridiron is basically rectangular but slightly trapezoidal, flaring from the handle end; it has six bars of equal thickness and triangular cross-section parallel to the handle, and a similar transverse bar to either end. The longer transverse bar has a backwards-curving hook to either end, one now crushed. The shorter transverse bar, at the handle end, is decorated with oblique ribbing giving a cabled effect. This bar has an angular U-shaped arrangement at either end as if it is designed to hook onto a support. The handle is a low D shape in cross-section and has a raised beaded border. It expands slightly in the centre and ends in a circular unbeaded pierced suspension loop. The fish is a crude representation, perhaps of a flatfish; it is the right way up when the toy is held with the handle downwards. It is shown in detail with a single large round eye with raised border above the central axis, a large mouth with lips, a large head without scales and a body with scales. The body is symmetrical about a horizontal axis with two fins on the top and two on the bottom of the body, and the broad tail is finished with a short concave length of fin. The reverse of the toy is flat and undecorated. It measures 65.5mm long, the handle taking up c. 35mm of this length; it is a maximum of 38mm wide, a maximum of 1.3mm thick, and weighs 4.2g. Compare Forsyth and Egan 2005, 124-6 and BH-A64484. The interest of this object lies in its securely dated context. It was found during building work, under the upper storey floorboards in a house built after 1861 and before 1871. It was found with a group of other items (a clay tobacco pipe stem, some slate pencils, a ceramic marble, some textile) above a small area of surviving original ceiling. The four similar items in the Museum of London are thought on morphological grounds to be 16th or early 17th century (circular gridirons come into use in the late 17th century and continue throughout the18th) but the finding of such a flimsy yet complete object in an undoubted late 19th-century context suggests that this date should at least be extended if not completely revised. Further corroboration of a late19th-century date for rectangular gridirons comes from Beatrix Potter's The Tale of Two Bad Mice published in 1904. The picture on p. 40, painted by Beatrix Potter, clearly shows a large rectangular toy gridiron in a pile of other kitchen equipment including an iron and a kettle.

CAM-FC9EE2: BROOCH
Complete small-long brooch in excellent condition. Made from copper alloy with no obvious trace of a surface coating, it has a rectangular headplate which is undecorated except for a small V-shaped bevelled nick in the centre of the top edge. One corner of the headplate is slightly bent. On the reverse of the headplate is a single pin bar lug with remains of the iron pin bar. The bow is triangular in cross-section, flat on the reverse, and there is no flat panel at top or bottom, or any other trace of decoration. It is slightly worn at its highest point. There is a flat-topped moulding at the top of the foot, and then a length with a truncated-triangle cross-section – like the bow in shape, but with a flat apex. On the reverse of this area is a catchplate which has lost its turned-over part. Below this the cross-section changes to half-round; this area is made up of two mouldings, each decorated with a pair of fine grooves, above a triangular terminal whose upper edges are bevelled. The terminal has some corrosion but in general the condition is very good and the absence of punchmarks can clearly be seen. Small-long brooches are an early Anglo-Saxon type and are thought to mainly date from the century 450-550 AD. Length 71 mm, width of headplate 24 mm, weight 24.72g.

CAM-FD37C6: BROOCH
Head and bow from a copper-alloy small-long brooch. The head is square and has a border of deep but indistinct punchmarks around three edges, with the lowest edge next to the bow undecorated. The top and sides each have a tiny knob; the knobs are all identical, with half-round moulding decorated with a fine groove, then a broader groove, then a hemispherical terminal which may once have had a fine groove across its base. On the reverse of the headplate is what is probably a single pin bar lug now hidden in a mass of iron corrosion from the pin bar and spring. The bow has a flat panel at top and bottom with a U-shaped bevel to each side. Between, the bow is very worn, but has a broad central groove flanked by a pair of narrower grooves, and then sloping edges which may have once had punchmarks. The reverse is flat and has file or scratch marks. The break is old and worn. Small-long brooches are an early Anglo-Saxon type and are thought to mainly date from the century 450-550 AD. Surviving length 37 mm, width of headplate 27 mm, weight 9.51g.

CAM-FE9ED4: VESSEL
Fragment of rim from a cast copper-alloy cooking vessel. The exterior is roughly smoothed and the interior is more highly polished. The metal is a dark blackish-brown colour. The rim is thickened to give it a deep pointed-oval cross-section. The fragment measures 63 x 42 mm. The thickness of the body is generally 3 mm, but its maximum thickness at the rim is 7 mm. The breaks are reasonably fresh. It weighs 50.35g. There are two other rim fragments from cooking vessels from this group of finds, all probably from different vessels. The type was in use for a long period, from the 13th to the 18th centuries.

CAM-FEB143: VESSEL
Fragment of rim from a cast copper-alloy cooking vessel. The exterior is roughly smoothed and the interior is more highly polished. The metal is a relatively light greyish green. The rim is thickened to give it a deep plano-convex cross-section with the curved face on the inside. The fragment measures 76 x 28 mm. The thickness varies from 4 mm at the rim to 2 mm at its thinnest part. The breaks are reasonably fresh. It weighs 35.99g. There are two other rim fragments from cooking vessels from this group of finds, all probably from different vessels. The type was in use for a long period, from the 13th to the 18th centuries.

CAM-FEBA17: VESSEL
Fragment of rim from a cast copper-alloy cooking vessel. The exterior is roughly smoothed with a good deal of sooting from the cooking fire, and the interior is very smoothly polished. The metal is a greyish green. The rim is slightly thickened to give it a plano-convex cross-section, with the curved face on the outside. The fragment measures 53 x 37 mm. The thickness of the body varies from 3 mm at the thickened rim to 1 mm at the breaks. The breaks are neither noticeably fresh nor very worn. It weighs 21.81g. There are two other rim fragments from cooking vessels from this group of finds, all probably from different vessels. The type was in use for a long period, from the 13th to the 18th centuries.

CAM-F74C64: COIN
Sterling penny. Clipped and worn. Edward I or II, Class 1d onwards. 1280-1327. Diameter 17 mm, weight 1.07g. Possibly Durham mint. Obv: crowned facing bust + EDW R ANGL DNS [HYB] (Roman N) Rev: long cross with three pellets in each quarter, no other additions to the design. CIVI/TAS/--N/E—

CAM-F77D70: COIN
Sterling penny. Flan slightly damaged, obverse scored, worn. Probably Edward III from the style of the lettering, 1327-77. Diameter 18 mm, weight 0.94g.

CAM-F7B0D6: COIN
Sterling penny. Flan damaged and worn in places. Neat slender lettering. Diameter 17 mm, weight 0.72g. Obv: crowned facing bust. –RI-- Rev: long cross with three pellets in each quarter, no other additions to the design. /SI - possibly Bristol? If so, this must be a Henry VI Restoration penny, 1470-1, North 1622/1.

CAM-F7C7B8: COIN
Round halfpenny, very worn. Edward II, class 10-11 (c. 1301-14, North 1069) or Edward III, probably third (‘florin’) coinage (1344-51, North 1132) as there is no star visible anywhere. Diameter 15 mm, weight 0.57g.

CAM-F7DBF5: COIN
Halfgroat, pierced with 2.5 mm hole through top right corner of shield. Very worn. Elizabeth I, first or second coinage, North 1987 or 1999. 1558-1572. Diameter 17 mm, weight 0.87g.

CAM-F7F433: COIN
James I penny. Incomplete flan. Mintmarks illegible. Second coinage, 1604-19. North 2106/1. Diameter 14 mm, weight 0.33g.

CAM-F901C8: BELL
Large spherical bell made from cast copper alloy. The loop at the top is rectangular and now blocked with iron corrosion. The upper half of the bell has two circular sound holes but otherwise is undecorated. The lower half has two circular sound holes joined by a long slot. The slot is outlined with a narrow engraved line. In the centre of the lower half is a double-line circle divided into by the slot. The two half-circles each have an engraved letter within, G above the slot and W below. Five groups of lines radiate from each half of the circle, reaching nearly to the seam. The inner three groups are of three lines, but the outermost are of two lines. They run parallel with the slot borders though to make a three-line set. The four sound holes are spaced evenly around the circumference and the two halves are joined by a raised seam. The iron pea survives to make an loud but not particularly pleasant sound. It probably dates to the 17th to 19th centuries. There is a similar large bell with engraved ‘GW’ illustrated in G. Bailey, Detector Finds 1, 4th edition (2005) p. 42 no. 29, but the lettering is quite different. On the Longstanton example the G and the W are oriented the same way, and the W is neatly made with no overlapping at the centre. Diameter 40 mm, height 48 mm, weight 74.38g.

CAM-F914A0: BELL
Cast copper-alloy spherical bell. The loop at the top is rectangular externally and a small D-shape internally. There are two sound holes in the top half and two in the bottom half, joined by a long slot; the holes are arranged so that there is one in each quarter of the bell. Both halves are decorated with a very worn grooved pattern of radiating petal shapes, there being about four in each of the spaces between the holes. The slot is also outlined with a similar narrow groove. The junction between the two halves is marked by a slightly raised and now very worn seam. The copper alloy is very grey. The iron pea survives to make a low tinkling sound. It probably dates to the 17th to 19th centuries. Diameter 29 mm, height 36 mm, weight 33.72g.

CAM-F92430: COIN
Halfpenny of Henry VI, Annulet issue, 1422-27. North 1434. 14 mm diameter, 0.47g.

CAM-F970F5: BROOCH
Copper-alloy brooch in the shape of a three-dimensional bird. The bird’s head may be slightly damaged, but seems always to have had a short beak, and there are two dot eyes. The short neck curves down to continue into the back of the bird as a long ridge, with a folded wing to either side; the wings are outlined with more small dots. The dots are neater on one wing than the other. A double ridge, each one decorated with a fine groove which has now almost worn away, separates the body of the bird from the flared tail. The tail is also outlined with similar dots. On the concave underside of the bird, at the junction between body and tail, is a longitudinally set pin lug, now broken. A broken catchplate is at the other end under the junction of neck and body. Similar bird brooches are thought to depict ducks, but to judge from the flared tail, this one is probably a dove or pigeon. Length 41 mm, width 13 mm, thickness (height) 19 mm, weight 8.79g. The type is Roman and the group is thought to date broadly to the 2nd century AD. Compare BH-715505, BERK-5236E7 and LEIC-3A4A53.

CAM-F98043: JETTON
Rose-orb type, Hanns Krauwinckel II (1586-1635), pierced; 2 mm hole pushed through from reverse to obverse. Diameter 21 mm, weight 1.16g.

CAM-F99FD7: BUCKLE
Copper-alloy buckle with central iron bar, now almost completely corroded away. One loop was originally D-shaped with a rounded interior and pointed exterior to the outer edge; the other loop was originally rectangular. The sides swell slightly in the centre to accommodate the hole drilled for the bar. The buckle is undecorated and dates to the 17th century. It measures 27 x 20 mm and is 4 mm thick at most. It weighs 3.81g.

CAM-F9AE65: UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT
Copper-alloy disc, 27 mm in diameter and 4 mm thick. In the centre of one face is a circular boss 8 mm in diameter, surrounded by a broad groove. There is a border around with relief decoration of eight stylised leaves, probably derived from acanthus leaf ornament. The other face is flat and undecorated with no apparent means of attachment. The decoration looks broadly neo-classical and so the object is probably 18th century, but its function is uncertain. 19.24g.

CAM-F9C536: BUTTON
Flat circular button made in one piece from a dark grey copper alloy. The loop is now largely broken away. The front is decorated with engraved curves and short lines; similar decoration is known from well-dated furniture fittings and dates this button to the 17th century. Diameter 29 mm, weight 7.87g.

CAM-F9DBC3: BRIDLE BIT
Circular domed mount made from copper alloy with corroded iron backing, probably a bridle boss. The copper-alloy element is 65 mm in diameter and relatively thin. It has a border groove and the flange around the dome has three evenly spaced but rather large and crudely made copper-alloy rivets which at first sight look like ring-and-dot motifs. On the reverse, corroded iron spreads from the rivets across the centre. The central dome is 30 mm in diameter and about 7 mm tall, with a slight depression and perhaps an iron rivet at the centre. There are several similar bosses recorded on the PAS database, such as SUR-A033A8, BH-E51A04, LANCUM-D88325 and HESH-BB9DA5. The lettering two of these (HESH-BB9DA5 and SUR-A033A8) dates them to the late 14th or 15th century and the late 15th or early 16th century respectively, although bossed mounts are also known from much later (17th- to 19th- century) horse harness. The function of these bossed mounts is not yet certain. Large flat circular mounts are known from medieval and later horse harness (e.g. Clark 1995, fig. 40, no. 9); they may be from harness, or may alternatively be from large books, furniture or boxes. It weighs 34.95g.

CAM-F9F557: STRAP FITTING
Chunky hooked fitting made from copper alloy. The [looped] end of the curved part of the hook is broken off, but enough survives to show that the hook's cross-section was lozengiform with a lower carination internally and a higher one externally. The hook itself is large and the break is relatively fresh. On the back of the hook is a raised flattened area. The surviving end, near the raised flattened area, turns a right angle, but keeps the same cross-section, and becomes a straight shaft decorated with diagonal grooves running across the carination to give a twisted cable effect. This shaft ends in an animal-head terminal set at right angles and so pointing the same way as the broken end of the hook. The animal head has a pair of grooves on each side which should probably be read as an eye and an ear, and a turned-up snout and open jaws. The snout also appears to have some grooved decoration but the terminal is very worn. Length 66 mm, weight 20.68g. Medieval, probably 13th to 15th century.

CAM-FA0654: BOOK FITTING
Hook-piece from a small flat rectangular book-clasp, made from a brownish copper alloy. The hook is narrow and springs from a slightly expanded square area decorated with some very faint longitudinal grooves. These fade out further down the object where there is a small copper-alloy rivet. The grooves then return and there are two further rivet holes, both now empty, before the clasp flares slightly into a shaped end, one corner of which is now missing. The object is now slightly bent but the original length was 51 mm; it is 8 mm wide for most of its length, but slightly wider at both ends. The maximum surviving width, at the flared attachment end, is 12 mm. It weighs 3.24g. It is thought that most of these book clasps date to the 16th or 17th century, although there are hints that they may have had a longer life.

CAM-FA3BF3: BUTTON
Very chunky circular button made from a heavily leaded cast copper alloy. The button is thick, flat and nearly circular, 27 x 29 mm, and is decorated with a central larger boss surrounded by 8 smaller bosses. The central boss has a slight projection on the top. The flat reverse has a bold casting seam and a large squarish central projecting lug with a small circular perforation in the centre. The thickness with the lug is 15 mm. It weighs 20.8g and probably dates to the 17th century.

CAM-FA62B2: BROOCH
Incomplete Colchester two-piece brooch made from copper alloy. The bow is decorated with two slight longitudinal ridges, each transversely ribbed. The foot is missing (old break) and there are hints of slight transverse ridging across the lower part of the bow near the break. The two ridges merge at the top of the bow to develop into a central crest which has a notch cut across it; behind the notch are two perforations for the axis bar and the chord of the spring. There is iron corrosion blocking the lower hole, presumably from the axis bar, but there is a small fragment of copper-alloy wire within the upper hole, presumably from the spring chord. One wing is missing (old break); the other is curved in cross-section, and undecorated except for a possible groove across the end. The surviving portion of the brooch is 32 mm long and 18 mm wide; it weighs 5.78g. 1st century AD.

CAM-FAAFB5: HARNESS PENDANT
Small triangular copper-alloy pendant from medieval horse-harness. The lower edge is straight and just 10 mm wide with one face (presumably the reverse) undecorated. At first sight the other face also appears to be undecorated, but on closer inspection a small patch of red enamel is visible, and over the rest of the pendant there seems to be very fine keying, probably for further enamelling. At the apex of the pendant is a 6 mm wide loop, turned through 90° and pierced with an oval hole. The pendant is in total 26 mm long. This pendant is very small when compared with most medieval horse-harness pendants, but it can be compared with other equally tiny (but usually more three-dimensional) pendants such as HAMP-68CBA1. Parallels to the triangular shape can be seen at NLM-0414F1 and SUSS-342716. The pendant probably dates to the 13th or 14th century.

CAM-FB3215: CANDLE HOLDER
Socket and part of stem from a copper-alloy candle-holder or candlestick. The socket is 22 mm in external diameter and has very faint traces of circumferential decoration; a groove very near the mouth, and a slight ridge halfway down the socket. The socket is straight for a length of 30 mm and then narrows, but is still hollow, to form a hollow and undecorated stem 12 mm in diameter. The candle-holder fragment is 75 mm long. The break is fairly recent. This type of straight cylindrical socket dates from the 15th or 16th century (Brownsword 1985).

CAM-9DCE93: COIN
Base silver radiate of Victorinus, AD 269-71. Mint of Gaul (mint II). Reverse: SALVS AVG standing right, holding snake in arms. Now squarish, presumably very worn. Pierced with single 2 mm hole in front of face. Now a slightly square shape, presumably very worn; the hole is just broken through to the edge. 1.59g.

CAM-9E05A7: COIN
Uncertain nummus of c. AD 310-317. House of Constantine, reverse illegible, probably SOLI INVICTO COMITI. Very worn and pierced twice; two 2 mm holes. 2.26g.

CAM-9E3644: FIGURINE
Three-dimensional copper-alloy figurine in the shape of a dolphin. The dolphin is 27 mm long, 9 mm wide and 11 mm tall. It has a pointed beak with a groove around it forming the mouth, and ring-and-dot eyes. The head and body are steeply humped and there is low-relief modelling to either side forming triangular fins. The dolphin’s left-hand fin has a small dot on it. There is a low longitudinal ridge forming a crest on the top of the body. The body then dips down to the junction with the tail, which has a rounded end. Although it would seem more likely for the tail to once have been flared, this rounded end appears original. From the flat underside of the dolphin projects a cylindrical shaft, 6 mm in diameter, which has a rectangular slot 9 x 2 mm cut through it beginning 2.5 mm from the end. The slot is orientated on the same axis as the dolphin. Just above the slot, all of the way around the shaft, is a slight staining, as if from iron corrosion. Presumably the shaft allowed the dolphin to be mounted onto something like a Roman household altar. The shaft is 30 mm long, though, which makes its sturdiness rather out of proportion to the chunky but small dolphin on top. The total length is 41 mm and it weighs 18.1g. No parallel has been found for this object within Roman votive figurines and so although it is cautiously identified as such, its function is very uncertain.

CAM-9F9881: VESSEL
Decorated body sherd of Grimston-type ware. Reduced grey sandy fabric with decoration of three horizontal incised lines 8-9 mm apart. Olive-green glaze on exterior only. Abraded edges. Grimston-type ware dates from the 12th to the 16th centuries (Laing, Pottery in Britain 4000 BC to AD 1900, p.97). 7.93g.

CAM-9FFFD3: BROOCH
Part of a circular openwork copper-alloy object with relief decoration. The fragment consists of part of the curving edge, which is decorated with transverse, slightly oblique nicks. This edge is bevelled on the reverse. The nicked border has a slight ridge running along its inner edge, and then the openwork and relief design begins. What survives is difficult to interpret, but appears to be symmetrical. The largest element of the design is an undecorated Y-shaped area, with a vertical stem which tapers away from a wide base. A tiny stub decorated with three raised longitudinal lines emerges from either side of the lower part of the Y's stem; to the right (as you look at it) this is then broken, but to the left it extends to a circular lobe divided into two by a curved line resembling that dividing a yin-yang diagram. Both halves of the circular lobe are decorated with short transverse ridges. There is a nearly circular hole to either side of this short triple-strand stub; the one below (nearest to the edge) is 1.5 mm in diameter and the one above is 2 mm in diameter. Above the larger hole, another short stub with triple-strand decoration emerges from the circular lobe to meet the base of the left-hand arm of the Y; there is a matching triple-strand stub extending from the base of the right-hand arm of the Y, but this is soon broken. A further triple-strand stub emerges from the other side of the circular lobe and is then broken. The arms of the Y have a tiny rounded hole in the crook between them, with a wide groove and then a ridge echoing the curve of the Y above. The top left of the circular lobe has a projection which is hard to read, but which appears to be a simple ridge. The reverse is undecorated and this fragment retains no means of attachment. All the breaks are fairly worn. The fragment is curved, suggesting that the complete object was domed. The surviving dimensions are 32 mm measured along the surviving edge and 23 mm perpendicular to this. It weighs 4.66g. It seems most likely that this is a fragment of a domed disc brooch of Scandinavian type, dating to the Viking Age (probably the tenth century). There are parallels recorded on the PAS database at CAM-371E87, NCL-7E9EE5 and NMS-E324E1, but they all have rather different asymmetric Jellinge-style decoration.

CAM-A1A4A8: DRESS FASTENER (DRESS)
Catch-piece from a 17th-century dress fastener, made from copper alloy with a white-metal coating. It consists of a large central oval plate with a rectangular loop at one end and a small pierced D-shaped lobe, with terminal projection, at the other. Similar pierced D-shaped lobes are found on either side, set slightly closer to the rectangular loop than to the other end. One is complete and one is now broken and incomplete (fresh break). The dress fastener is decorated with a pattern of incised lines which radiate out from the centre of the rectangular loop, forming perhaps a plant-like pattern with two straight lines in the centre and a pair of outcurving lines to either side. At the ends of these lines are short curved lines made by the use of a circular stamp held at an angle. In the spaces between are tiny ring-and-dot stamps and areas of stipple made from very tiny punchmarks. There is also a border of tiny ring-and-dot stamps. The reverse is undecorated except for the white-metal coating. It measures 38 x 26 mm and weighs 5.79g.

CAM-A1BC45: STRAP FITTING
Strap-end or plate from a strap clasp, made from a long rectangular piece of undecorated copper-alloy strip folded in half and secured by a pair of copper-alloy rivets (one surviving, one missing). The surviving rivet appears designed to clasp material up to 4 mm thick. Width of strip varies from 9 to 10 mm; length of object, 26 mm; weight, 2.09g. The style of the rivet suggests a medieval date. Strap clasps were in use from the 13th to 15th centuries.

CAM-A1CE16: JETTON
Rose/orb jetton, now very worn but looking like an issue of Hanns Krauwinckel II (1586-1635). 19 mm in diameter, weight 0.53g. Obverse: one crown and one lis, of an original three of each, can be clearly seen around a rose. The inscription is unreadable. Reverse: orb with cross on top, within a double-strand trefoil with a point in each angle. The inscription begins GOTE...

CAM-A1EF24: BELL
Spherical bell made from cast copper alloy. The loop at the top is rectangular externally and oval internally. The upper half of the bell has two circular sound holes and extremely worn decoration of radiating grooves, probably originally petal shapes. The lower half has two circular sound holes joined by a long slot; part of the bell's body by one of the lower sound holes has cracked away. The lower half has extremely worn fish-scale decoration. The four sound holes are spaced evenly around the circumference and the two halves are joined by a raised seam. The pea survives, and is not made of iron but of a small pebble, which works perfectly well to produce a quiet tinkling sound. Length 35 mm, diameter 28 mm, weight 34.69g. It probably dates to the 17th to 19th centuries AD.

CAM-A1FB46: BELL
Spherical bell made from cast copper alloy. The loop at the top is rectangular externally and circular internally. The upper half of the bell has two circular sound holes, both blocked by iron corrosion. It also has extremely worn decoration of radiating grooves, probably originally petal shapes. The lower half has two circular sound holes joined by a long slot. Part of the bell's body, between one of the upper and one of the lower sound holes, has cracked away. The lower half has extremely worn fish-scale decoration. The four sound holes are spaced evenly around the circumference and the two halves are joined by a raised seam. Part of the iron pea survives, but is now small enough to slip in and out of the bell. Length 35 mm, diameter 28 mm, weight (with pea) 37.59g. It probably dates to the 17th to 19th centuries AD.

CAM-A20297: MOUNT
Decorated copper-alloy mount with a short cylindrical stub on the reverse. The disc has a flat centre with relief decoration which is now very worn. The reconstruction of the original design depends on which way up the disc is held, but a plausible suggestion is that it represents a horse or dog, looking to the right with two thick forelegs. A tree branch curves up from underneath the forelegs, around and over the back legs and rump of the horse to end behind its head. The branch looks a bit like a laurel wreath and gives a classical feel to the design. Around this central decorated panel is a broad groove with traces of gilding, then a ridge. The edge of the disc is angled back, giving the impression of a bevel. On the reverse, the short cylindrical stub has a rectangular depression in the centre which is surrounded by iron staining. The depression probably originally held a soldered-on iron spike or rivet for attachment. The size of the mount and the nature of the attachment suggest that it was fixed to furniture. The rather classical style of the decoration, yet chunky nature of the mount, suggest a 17th-century date. Diameter 33 mm, thickness (including the stub) 4mm, weight 10.76g.

CAM-A21243: BUCKLE
Copper-alloy buckle frame. Pentagonal in shape, it has a narrow offset bar and four broad sides to the outer edge. There are three circular bosses, one at each angle of the outer edge, and there appears to be decoration of two transverse grooves between each of the bosses. There are small raised areas on the reverse which suggest that the bosses are separately made and attached like rivets. 28 mm long, 27 mm wide, bosses 5 mm thick. 2.83g. Very corroded condition. There are similar buckles from Meols (Egan in Griffiths et al 2007, no. 759) and Winchester (Hinton in Biddle 1990, no. 1129), the latter from a deposit dated to the mid to late 13th-century.

CAM-A221B2: BUCKLE
Double-looped buckle frame, both loops oval, made from copper alloy with a shiny white-metal coating on both front and reverse. Both loops are D-shaped in cross-section, and one has a narrow groove at the pin rest. Pin missing. 26 mm wide, 34 mm long, 5.38g. Late medieval or early post-medieval, 15th to 17th century.

CAM-A23CC2: BUCKLE
Small copper-alloy double-looped buckle frame, both loops oval, very worn and one loop now broken and incomplete. Pin missing. 18 mm long, 14 mm wide, 0.74g. Late medieval or early post-medieval, 15th to 17th century.

CAM-A24512: BUCKLE
Copper-alloy double-looped buckle frame, both loops originally oval. Now twisted, and one loop broken and incomplete. The surviving loop is triangular in cross-section and has filemarks on the reverse. Pin missing. Original width 24 mm; length c. 26 mm; surviving weight 3.25g. Late medieval or early post-medieval, 15th to 17th century.

CAM-843967: CHATELAINE
Copper alloy chatelaine, of Roman date. Half of the rectangular main plate, along with the suspension bar, is missing (fresh break), but the surviving half is decorated with three horizontal zones of relief decoration bordered and separated by narrow flat-topped horizontal ridges. The upper and lower zones are filled with a single strand of angular waves, and the central line is a flat-topped ridge with transverse grooves forming a ladder pattern. In the centre of the upper edge is a biconical knob, and above this is a suspension loop set at 90 degrees to the main plate. The surviving lower corner of the main plate has a projecting loop, now broken (old break), which would originally have held one end of a suspension bar. This bar would have held small manicure tools.

CAM-84AC63: BROOCH
Copper-alloy annular brooch or buckle frame. The frame is circular and undecorated, 26 mm in diameter externally and 18 mm internally, and 2 mm thick. In cross-section the frame is a pointed oval with the outer arris filed down. The pin is made from circular-section copper-alloy wire with distinct longitudinal grooves and striations; close to the end there are hammer marks as if an attempt has been made to flatten it. The pin is c. 1.5 mm in diameter and 27 mm long, but the tip may have been lost through corrosion. Similar objects are classed by Egan and Pritchard (1991) as buckle frames. Their no. 31, from a context of c. 1300-c. 1350, is very similar in size and shape but has a chunkier pin.

CAM-851477: BROOCH
Very worn small-long brooch with missing foot. The headplate is essentially square, with double cut-outs in each corner forming T-shaped knobs. Most of the two side knobs is missing but enough survives of the top knob to be able to reconstruct the shape; remarkably, a line of dot-and-crescent stamps survives along the upper edge of this knob. In the centre of the lower edge of the headplate, continuing the line of the bow, is a raised square panel with a line of similar stamps forming a border around (not on) its sides and upper edge. On the reverse is what appears to be a double pin bar lug with remains of the iron pin bar and some of the spring. The bow is pyramidal, having a triangular facet top and bottom and a longitudinal ridge joining the two. The reverse is hollowed. The break, at the bottom of the bow, does not seem either particularly worn or particularly fresh. This brooch must always have been thin and flimsy.

CAM-85A086: BUCKLE
Copper-alloy double-looped buckle frame, both loops rectangular. One loop is now incomplete. Surviving loop is a quarter-circle in cross-section and has possible traces of a white-metal coating. The central bar has a dip in the middle, probably due to wear from the pin, which is now missing. Width 23 mm; original length c. 34 mm; surviving weight 2.99g. Late medieval or early post-medieval, 15th to 17th century.

CAM-85CA81: BUCKLE
Copper-alloy double-looped buckle frame, both loops originally oval; one loop now largely missing. Surviving loop is a low D shape in cross-section. A copper-alloy pin survives on the central bar, with one end wrapped around to form a simple loop and the other end pointed. There is a slight swelling at the junction of loop and shaft, and the pointed end would have rested on the missing outer edge. Width 24 mm; original length c. 32 mm; length of pin 18 mm; surviving weight 2.6g. Late medieval or early post-medieval, 15th to 17th century.

CAM-863783: BUCKLE
Copper-alloy double-looped buckle frame, one loop trapezoidal and one loop D-shaped. Both loops are triangular in cross-section; the central bar projects beyond the frame. Pin missing. Maximum width (across bar) 17 mm; length 22 mm. Weight 2.47g. Late medieval or early post-medieval, 15th to 17th century.

CAM-867454: BUCKLE
Copper-alloy double-looped buckle frame, both loops probably originally identical, but one now almost completely missing. The surviving loop is kidney-shaped, i.e. oval with an incurved outer edge, and is a flattish oval in cross-section. The centre of the outer edge is embellished with a broad moulding at the pin rest. The bar projects slightly beyond the frame, and a copper-alloy pin survives; the pin is very simple, with one end pointed and the other wrapped around the bar. Maximum width 32 mm; original length c. 43 mm; length of pin 23 mm. Weight 5.35g. Late medieval or early post-medieval, 15th to 17th century.

CAM-86A5C7: BUCKLE
Fragment of copper-alloy buckle from a sword belt. The lower edge survives, together with part of the central bar, which ends in an integral suspension loop turned at right angles; this suspension loop would originally have held a hook fixed onto a scabbard. The buckle would originally have had two rectangular loops, and as the lower corner of one survives, an original length of c. 32 mm can be reconstructed. The cross-section of the surviving loops, and the suspension loop, is rectangular; the cross-section of the bar is roughly circular. The fragment weighs 3.99g. Sword belts with buckles such as these were worn in the 16th and 17th centuries.

CAM-878997: BUCKLE
Almost circular copper-alloy buckle frame with central bar and iron pin. The cross-section throughout the loops and bar is circular; the pin survives well. A similar copper-alloy/iron buckle from London is thought to be from a spur, and was found in a deposit dating to c. 1350-c. 1400 (Egan and Pritchard 1991, no. 214).

CAM-87C954: BUCKLE
Oval copper-alloy buckle frame with straight offset bar. The outer edge is thickened into a flattened roll-moulding decorated on both faces with a series of transverse ridges. Two in the centre form a pin rest, and then there is a slightly smaller pair to either side. The corners of the roll-moulding are slightly thickened. The bar has a slight hump in the centre, caused by wear from a plate. Similar buckles from London date from the late 12th to the late 14th century (Egan and Pritchard 1991, p. 76).

CAM-87F902: BUCKLE
Oval copper-alloy buckle frame with straight bar. The outer edge is thickened into a flattened roll-moulding decorated on one face with a series of transverse grooves. Two in the centre form a pin rest, and there is a further groove close to each corner. The bar, and the sides of the frame, are very worn. Similar buckles from London date from the late 12th to the late 14th century (Egan and Pritchard 1991, p. 76).

CAM-883DA6: BUCKLE
Neatly made oval copper-alloy buckle frame with offset straight bar. The outer edge is thickened into a roll-moulding with a recess in the centre which would originally have held a separate sheet roller. Similar buckles from London have been found in deposits dated to c. 1270 to c. 1400 (Egan and Pritchard 1991, nos. 298, 301, 315, 317).

Neatly made oval copper-alloy buckle frame with offset straight bar bearing traces of an iron pin. The outer edge is thickened into a roll-moulding with a recess in the centre holding a separate sheet roller. The roller is decorated with longitudinal ribbing and there is a patch of iron corrosion on it, presumably from the pin. Similar buckles from London have been found in deposits dated to c. 1270 to c. 1400 (Egan and Pritchard 1991, nos. 298, 301, 315, 317).

CAM-88A882: BUCKLE
Oval copper-alloy buckle frame with offset straight bar. The outer edge is thickened into a roll-moulding with a recess in the centre holding a separate sheet roller. Similar buckles from London have been found in deposits dated to c. 1270 to c. 1400 (Egan and Pritchard 1991, nos. 298, 301, 315, 317).

CAM-88D8F2: BUCKLE
Oval copper-alloy buckle frame and part of plate. The frame has an offset straight bar; the outer edge is thickened into a roll-moulding with a recess in the centre holding a separate sheet roller. The roller is now corroded into position; it has a central grooved pin rest running around both faces. The remains of a copper-alloy plate are wrapped around the bar. This has frame recesses cut into either corner, and a slot for the pin, and two separate copper-alloy rivets. Both upper and lower plates are broken at the rivet holes. The plate is a maximum of 14 mm wide and the surviving length is 10 mm. The frame is 21 mm wide and 19 mm long, and the entire object weighs 6.02g. Similar buckles from London have been found in deposits dated to c. 1270 to c. 1400 (Egan and Pritchard 1991, nos. 298, 301, 315, 317).

Flimsy oval copper-alloy buckle frame. The frame has an offset bar; the outer edge is thickened into an ornate solid pointed shape which is decorated on one face with grooves. The decoration is not symmetrical; there is a central grooved pin rest, and to one side a groove in front of a moulding and to the other side a groove in front of a double moulding. The straight bar has wear marks from a plate. The buckle frame is 21 mm wide and 17 mm long and weighs 1.37g. It is similar to a buckle from a late 14th-century context in London (Egan and Pritchard 1991, no. 297).

Small copper-alloy buckle frame, oval internally with an offset straight bar; the outer edge is pointed externally and has a grooved pin rest. The loop of a copper-alloy pin survives on the bar, with a groove across at the junction of the loop and shaft. White-metal coating over all surfaces of both frame and pin. It measures 15 mm long and 15 mm wide, and weighs 1.21g. Similar buckles from London have been found in deposits dated to c. 1270 to c. 1400 (Egan and Pritchard 1991, nos. 306-310).

CAM-895E77: BUCKLE
Small copper-alloy buckle frame, D-shaped internally; the outer edge has a central grooved projection forming the pin rest. There is a moulding across one side near the bar, but this has no pair across the other side. There are traces of a black coating, perhaps black ‘lacquer’ (a linseed oil coating). It measures 16 mm long and 19 mm wide, and weighs 1.31g. This is a rather amateurish copy of the ‘lipped’ buckle frames from London, found in deposits dated to c. 1270 to c. 1400 (Egan and Pritchard 1991, nos. 306-310). The moulding on the side near the bar is also found on the frames of strap clasps made from the late 13th to early 15th centuries.

CAM-EBF632: BUCKLE
Small D-shaped copper-alloy buckle frame with narrowed bar. The frame is a flattish oval in cross-section, with a well-preserved shiny white-metal coating on the reverse which has completely worn off the upper surface. There are also filemarks on the reverse. This buckle frame is similar to one from London which was found in a deposit dated to c. 1330 to c. 1380 (Egan and Pritchard 1991, no. 420).

CAM-EC44E7: BUCKLE
Small oval copper-alloy buckle frame, with a narrowed offset bar and quarter-circle cross-section. There is a lobe at either end of the bar and patches of iron staining all over frame and bar. It measures 15 mm long by 18 mm wide, and weighs 2.58g. This buckle frame is similar to one from London which was found in a deposit dated to c. 1270 to c. 1350 (Egan and Pritchard 1991, no. 274).

CAM-EC8032: BUCKLE
Long D-shaped copper-alloy buckle frame, now worn and bent. The bar was originally straight, and the sides have the vestiges of transverse ridges near the bar. In the centre of the curved outer edge is a large collared knop. This buckle frame is similar to one from London which was found in a deposit dated to c. 1300 to c. 1350 (Egan and Pritchard 1991, no. 421); there are also several from Meols (Egan in Griffiths et al. 2007, nos. 622-5).

CAM-ECCD27: BUCKLE
Copper-alloy buckle frame with integral forked spacer plate. The frame is oval, with a pointed (but not grooved) projection at the pin rest; the frame has bevelled edges throughout with visible filemarks. The forked spacer has traces of solder on both faces where the decorative top and bottom plates were attached, and a slot forming a bar over which the pin could swivel. Length 40 mm, width of frame 22 mm, width of spacer plate 13mm, weight 3.7g. This buckle type dates to the 14th century.

CAM-ECF650: RING
Copper-alloy ring, diameter 20 mm externally and 12 mm internally. In cross-section it is a slightly flattened circle, 3 x 4 mm. The ring has one point of considerable internal wear and has a nice mid green patina. Possibly a medieval buckle or brooch frame.

CAMHER-860E56: JETTON
Jetton of Rose/orb type, very worn and with fragmentary edges. Issued by Hans Krauwinckel II, working 1586-1635.

CAMHER-862B65: BRACELET
Fragment of narrow copper-alloy bracelet. Although both ends are broken, the curve of the bracelet is still obvious. It is decorated with continuous, slightly oblique, ribbing made up of quite broad grooves which reach right to the edges of the bracelet. The edges are not straight and parallel, but wiggle as if the more fragile edges of the grooves have become more worn than the more robust edges of the ridges. Flat cross-section. Quite corroded, with some parts of the surface missing. Maximum width 5 mm; uncurled length of fragment, 53 mm. Weight 2.12g. Roman, late third or fourth centuries AD.

CAMHER-864ED7: BRACELET
Fragment of narrow copper-alloy bracelet. Although both ends are broken, the curve of the bracelet is still obvious. It is very worn and the decoration is unclear in places, but there appears to be a zone of narrow oblique grooves at either edge, pointing in different directions to give a chevron effect but with the centre unmarked. Then there is a zone of similar oblique grooves in the centre, this time not reaching the edges. In places the decoration appears to be worn away completely. Flat cross-section. Total uncurled length of fragment, 87 mm; width, 5 mm. Weight 3.85g. Roman, late third or fourth centuries AD.

CAMHER-867260: BRACELET
Fragment of narrow copper-alloy bracelet. One end is broken (old break) and the other is sharply pointed; the curve of the bracelet is still obvious. It is apparently undecorated, although very corroded. Plano-convex cross-section. Uncurled length, 80 mm. Width 3 mm. Weight 3.84g. Probably Roman, late third or fourth centuries AD.

CAMHER-868496: FINGER RING
Fragment of copper-alloy bracelet terminal that has been converted into a finger-ring. The original bracelet was flat and 7 mm wide, and may have been decorated with small dots perhaps along either edge, although the presence of many small corrosion pits makes this uncertain. One end is cut straight across, and the other preserves the original snake-head terminal of the bracelet, which has a slight flattening around the edge but no other detail or decoration. The finger-ring is large, 20 x 22 mm internally. The bracelet is Roman, late third or fourth centuries AD, and it was probably converted to a finger-ring in the late Roman period too. 6.09g.

CAMHER-869537: BRACELET
Fragment of copper-alloy bracelet. One end is (oldish break) but the other retains a curled-back snake-head terminal. The body of the bracelet is very worn, but some decoration can just be seen – a groove running along either edge, with oblique nicks surviving in some places across the groove. Very close to the terminal, the oblique grooving seems to run right across the width of the bracelet, and it may be that the lines appear to be across the groove only because they are worn away from everywhere else. The bracelet drastically narrows at the surviving terminal, then turns back on itself and ends in a snake’s head. This is rather stylised, and looks perhaps more like a flower bud; there are two lobes, like sepals or ears, at the back of the head and no eyes or any other detail survives. Uncurled length 90 mm; maximum width 6 mm; weight 10.74g. Roman, late third or fourth centuries AD.

CAMHER-86B091: BRACELET
Short fragment of wide copper-alloy bracelet, 18 mm wide and 20 mm long. One end is bent and broken, but the other is original, and cut straight across. This terminal is decorated with four transverse zones of what looks like rouletted ornament; two strips of circles in the centre, flanked with a strip of ribbing on either side. The rest of the fragment is decorated with longitudinal lines; the edges each have a groove cut across with tiny nicks, then a broad flat-topped ridge, then a broad groove, and in the centre a series of narrower grooves and ridges. It weighs 2.35g. Roman, 1st - 2nd centuries AD.

CAMHER-86CC72: BRACELET
Two joining fragments from a wide copper-alloy bracelet, 16 mm wide; the fragments are c. 29 mm and c. 27 mm long and weigh 2.52g and 2.16g respectively. No terminal of this bracelet survives. The fragments are decorated with two broad longitudinal grooves down the centre, and running down the middle of each groove are some obliquely set oval pellets giving the impression of cabling. Quite corroded. Roman, 1st-2nd centuries AD. Similar examples are known from Colchester (Crummy 1983, 37, no. 1566, fig. 38) , Verulamium (Waugh & Goodburn 1972, 31, fig. 31).

CAMHER-86DCE5: SPOON
A fragmentary Roman spoon made from copper alloy with a white-metal coating and dating to the second or third centuries AD. The bowl must originally have been oval, but the far end is now torn away and too damaged to reconstruct its precise original shape. The handle is also incomplete, but appears to gently change from a circular cross-section to a tall rectangular cross-section; it then expands to a curve below, with a circular perforation, and an upper part decorated with V-shaped ribbing. The curved part then extends forward to attach to the back of the bowl in a long tail. Crummy (1983, 69) dates oval spoons to the 2nd to 4th centuries. Surviving length 96 mm, surviving width at least 30 mm, thickness 9 mm, weight 9.88g.

CAMHER-86EBF0: ANNULAR BROOCH
Fragment of flat annular brooch, made from copper alloy and decorated on both faces. At one end the brooch has broken at the pin constriction, and a tiny stub of the bar on which the pin originally hinged can be seen on the edge of the object. At the other end the oblique break is fairly worn. On one face, the panel of decoration is enclosed within a groove, leaving a reserved border around three edges. It seems to represent fronds of stylised leaves. On the other side, there is a narrower reserved border around three sides, but the panel is divided into two narrow bands by a central groove. The outer band is decorated with ladder pattern and the inner appears to be another ring of stylised leaves. The frame is 6 mm wide and the fragment weighs 2.26g. Medieval, 13th to 15th century.

CAMHER-870745: PLATE BROOCH
Copper-alloy plate brooch, circular and originally c. 25 mm in diameter. The plate is now bent and a little is missing. There are extensive traces of a whitish substance, probably decayed enamel, across the front, but no colour or design can be made out; the red colour of the exposed metal beneath is a common copper corrosion product in the presence of enamel. On the reverse is an integrally cast raised strip with a pair of hinge lugs at one end and a curled-over catchplate at the other. Roman, 2nd century AD. 3.45 g.

CAMHER-871938: PLATE BROOCH
Copper-alloy plate brooch. The central plate is lozenge-shaped, with bevelled edges around a deep central recess. There is a knop at each corner. Two opposing knops have a pair of hinge lugs and a catchplate, and they are longer, each decorated with a single bead (convex moulding) and reel (concave moulding). The other two knops are smaller, each decorated with a single bead moulding between a pair of collars. The brooch measures 32 mm long along the axis of the pin (now missing) and 24 mm at right angles to this. It weighs 2.69g. From the parallels in Hattatt (nos. 1090 and 1094) it seems likely that the central lozenge-shaped plate would have been filled with enamel, and there are some whitish traces of possible enamel in the central recess. 2nd century AD.

CAMHER-8760E5: COIN
Groat of Mary I. Obverse worn almost completely flat. On the reverse, two quarters of a shield bearing fleurs-de-lis can just be seen, together with some of the inscription VERITA/S TEM/[PORIS FILIA] (Truth, the daughter of Time). A mintmark intended to represent a pomegranate appears between VERITAS and TEMPORIS. North 1960. 1553-4. Diameter 22 mm, weight 1.4g.

CAMHER-878075: STRAP END
Cast copper-alloy forked spacer plate from a composite strap-end, now incomplete. One arm is largely missing, and the other is also probably incomplete, although the break is old. The arms have traces of solder on each face, and form a straight or slightly tapering shape with a pointed end. In the centre of the pointed end is a large flattish knop, with a collar beneath. The knop consists of a flared moulding with a second moulding and then a terminal beyond; this was probably intended to represent an acorn in its cup. There is a casting flaw on one face, resulting in the collar being incomplete here. Surviving length 39 mm; surviving width 19 mm (originally probably a little wider). 3.11g. Strap-ends of this type date broadly to the 14th century (Egan and Pritchard 1991, nos. 676-684).

CAMHER-879EC6: PURSE
Purse Hanger Small copper-alloy purse hanger, or arched pendent mount, from a belt. There is a central lobe divided from two arches by engraved oblique lines. One of the arches is now largely missing (fresh break) but the other is complete, and ends in a horizontal bar with a small ridge on the lower edge, set slightly in from the end, forming a hinge which would have swivelled on a mount. Surviving width 34 mm; probable original width c. 46 mm. Top to bottom, 13 mm. Thickness, 2 mm. Weight, 1.78g. These purse hangers date to the middle of the 13th century (Egan and Pritchard 1991, 219-224).

CAMHER-87B132: STRAP FITTING
Strap fitting made from a single slightly tapering sheet of copper alloy, bent in half and originally secured at the wider end by a single rivet, now missing. There is a wide gap at the central fold and the corners here have been obliquely trimmed, suggesting that the fold was perhaps intended to suspend something like a pendent mount or to hold something like a strap clasp. The fitting is decorated on the front half with a saltire (a diagonal cross) made up of neatly engraved zig-zag or rocker-arm ornament. The backplate is undecorated and is slightly narrower than the front. Maximum width, 12 mm; length, 20 mm; thickness at fold, 3 mm. 1.8g. Medieval, probably 13th or 14th century.

CAMHER-87C1F4: STRAP FITTING
Incomplete strap fitting made from copper-alloy sheet. The fitting is 12 mm wide at the attachment end and has a single central rivet hole here; it then continues to a loosely bent fold where the corners are obliquely trimmed, suggesting that the fold was designed to hold or link to another element. The object is broken at the fold. The fitting is decorated with fine incised lines; there is a pair of transverse lines at the attachment end and near the fold, with a saltire (a diagonal cross) in between. Surviving length19 mm; weight 0.88g. Medieval, probably 13th or 14th century.

CAMHER-87D615: STRAP FITTING
Strap fitting made from two tapering pieces of copper alloy sheet, held together by a copper-alloy rivet at the apex and a second in the centre of the wider end. One plate is decorated with incised lines; it appears to have a double line across the middle dividing it into two small panels, the wider of which at least seems to have a border around. Within each panel is a double-line saltire (diagonal cross). The edges are rather abraded and quite a bit of surface is now missing. 10 mm wide, 18 mm long, rivet c. 2 mm thick. 0.87g. Medieval, probably 13th or 14th century.

CAMHER-87FA22: BUCKLE
Outer edge of a buckle frame, made from copper alloy with a white-metal coating on both faces. The exterior is smoothly curved and has a grooved border. The inner edge is incurved to produce a loop which is kidney-shaped internally. The reverse is slightly concave. Surviving width 43 mm, length of fragment 17 mm, weight 6.89g. This fragment is from a double-looped buckle frame similar to that illustrated by Ross (Buckles 1250-1800) nos. 440 and 571. 17th or early 18th century.

CAMHER-880A07: BRACELET
Fragment of Roman bracelet made from thin flat copper-alloy strip. One end has a flared and flattened terminal broken across a central perforation, and the other end is broken (old break). The bracelet is decorated with multiple motifs; next to the terminal are six transverse grooves, then there is a narrow longitudinal groove between rows of edge nicks, then six more transverse grooves. A large ring-and-dot motif comes next, then two more transverse grooves. There is then a slightly raised square area, divided by grooves into two longitudinal panels, each decorated with four small dots or possibly worn ring-and-dot motifs. Between this and the broken end is a short flat area which has a grey appearance; this may be an area of solder resulting from an attempt at repair. The bracelet tapers from 7 mm wide at the break to a minimum of 4 mm wide, and is also at least 7 mm wide at the pierced terminal. Perhaps about half the bracelet survives, still curved to fit around the wrist; the surviving (un-curled) length is 75 mm. It weighs 4.56g. Narrow bracelets like these are dated to the late 3rd and 4th centuries (Crummy 1983, 37, and nos. 1724-1732.

CAMHER-881C04: SPOON
Copper-alloy spoon with white-metal coating. The oval bowl has all its edges broken, and surviving dimensions of 43 mm long and 30 mm wide. The handle is short and very chunky, with a pointed-oval cross-section. The white-metal coating extends over the smooth interior of the bowl, up the handle, and over the end of the handle to continue down the back, suggesting that the short handle is the result not of breakage but of deliberate manufacture. The handle meets the bowl at its back rather than its edge. The back of the spoon has relief decoration of a well modelled human face, with brow, eyes, nose and long wavy hair; the mouth appears less well made, being just a pair of short straight grooves, but this may be the result of wear. The face is the right way up when the spoon is held with handle uppermost. At the base of the handle, above the face, is an elegant triple moulding, perhaps intended to represent the leaves of a plant. There are some scratches and damage, as well as green corrosion and a russet brown patina, which obscure the details of the relief design, but it has a very classical appearance and must date the spoon to the Roman period. Finding a parallel for the short chunky handle or the relief decoration, however, is harder; in some ways the proportions look more like that of Roman bone spoons, but again the short handle and the relief decoration are not commonly found among bone spoons.

CAMHER-8829C2: BROOCH
Corroded remains of a Colchester one-piece brooch made from copper alloy. It has tiny stubs of rectangular wings, a forward-facing hook worn to a tiny curved spike, the remains of the pin as another spike, and a very corroded circular-section bow curving down to a point. The remains of a catchplate can be seen as a thin fin on the reverse of the foot. The metal is a rough brown. Late Iron Age or early Roman, c. 20-60 AD. 41 mm long. 2.15g.

CAMHER-883FA5: BROOCH
Late Iron Age to early Roman brooch of Nauheim derivative type, made from a flat strip of copper alloy. At one end the strip has been wound into a spring; the chord passes under the bow and is then broken, so that the other half of the spring and the pin are missing. The surviving spring half has two turns and then widens into a bow 5 mm wide, which is decorated with a border groove down each edge. The bow gently tapers again, but the very end of the bow and the catchplate are missing (fresh breaks). Despite being small and flimsy, the brooch seems to be well made. 1st century BC to 1st century AD 25-100. Total length, 38 mm. Maximum surviving width (at spring) 9 mm. Weight 1.48g.

CAMHER-884BC4: HARNESS MOUNT
Openwork mount, perhaps from horse harness. In shape it is a little like an urn, with a projecting stem, then a rounded base decorated with incised lines radiating from the junction of base and stem. The upper part has two large circular perforations, 5 mm in diameter, with a transverse groove above and below. Above, the mount is damaged and possibly distorted, but there appears to be a long narrow transverse oval perforation in the centre, and then a straight or slightly incurved top edge which projections slightly to either side. On the reverse are two integral rivets, one large with an integral circular rove between the two circular perforations, and the other just a stub but perhaps originally identical, at the junction of the stem and base. 30 mm long and a maximum of 24 mm wide; 9 mm thick with complete rivet. 8.18g. Similar mounts are thought to be military horse trappings. Roman, conventionally dated to the second and third centuries.

CAMHER-885B35: BROOCH
Very unusual and probably significantly early small-long brooch. The headplate is of cruciform type, with a small thick rectangular headplate and three half-round knobs. The headplate is undecorated except for a small curved bevel in one lower corner (the other is obscured by iron corrosion) and a central circular perforation 3 mm in diameter. The side knobs are no thicker than the headplate, and are now slightly corroded, but it appears that they were originally decorated with a broad transverse groove between a pair of narrower transverse grooves. The top knob is slightly larger, thicker, and set at an angle to the headplate. It has a collar at the base, possibly originally decorated with a transverse groove or two; above this collar it is identical in decoration to the side knobs. When viewed from the side with the foot vertical, the headplate leans backwards towards the top, but the top knob is vertical. On the reverse are a pair of pin bar lugs, both now broken, one at either end of the headplate just before the side knobs start. There is a fair amount of iron corrosion present and one pin bar lug is blocked completely. The junction between the headplate and the bow is marked by two tapering steps, and then the bow proper starts. This is thick and chunky, with an almost-horizontal panel, rectangular in cross-section, decorated with a pair of edge nicks and then the usual narrow-broad-narrow groove arrangement as on the knobs. At the bottom of the bow there is probably a matching panel, but the brooch is more corroded here and only the grooves can clearly be seen. In between, the bow is arched; the reverse is flat, the sides sharp and flat, and the top bevelled. The foot begins with a very short panel which is rectangular in cross-section and decorated with a pair of edge nicks. Below this, a longer panel has a flat top and bevelled sides similar to the central part of the bow. There is a catchplate on the reverse of these two sections which is stained with iron corrosion from the pin. The catchplate is not quite complete; it is on the right side of the brooch, viewed from the reverse, and curls over towards the left. Below the catchplate, another short rectangular-section panel is decorated with a set of narrow-broad-narrow grooves, but again there are some patches of corrosion on the edge and any edge nicks cannot be seen. The foot then ends in a circular terminal 8 mm in diameter; this is not now perfectly circular, as part of the lower edge has been worn away. The bow and foot are closely paralleled on a brooch from Shakenoak, Oxfordshire (Vierck in Brodribb et al vol III (1974), 78-83; also MacGregor and Bolick 1993, no. 15.83). The head is closer to an example from Fairford (MacGregor and Bolick 1993, 15.82); both of these examples seem to be early in the development of the small-long brooch. This brooch should perhaps date to the second half of the fifth century. 55 mm long and 24 mm across the maximum width of the headplate. 16.74g.