Record ID: NMS-8488EE
Object type: MIRROR CASE
Broad period: MEDIEVAL
County: Norfolk
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
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 an…
Created on: Tuesday 13th December 2022
Last updated: Thursday 20th April 2023
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: NMS-38706A
Object type: SOCKETED AXEHEAD
Broad period: BRONZE AGE
County: Norfolk
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
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 …
Created on: Wednesday 8th February 2023
Last updated: Monday 17th April 2023
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: NMS-37CA51
Object type: PALSTAVE
Broad period: BRONZE AGE
County: Norfolk
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
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 …
Created on: Wednesday 8th February 2023
Last updated: Monday 17th April 2023
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: NMS-7E0297
Object type: WEIGHT
Broad period: POST MEDIEVAL
County: Norfolk
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
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…
Created on: Monday 30th January 2023
Last updated: Monday 17th April 2023
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: NMS-7DD71B
Object type: SPINDLE WHORL
Broad period: MEDIEVAL
County: Norfolk
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
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.
Created on: Monday 30th January 2023
Last updated: Monday 17th April 2023
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: NMS-7DA399
Object type: BROOCH
Broad period: MEDIEVAL
County: Norfolk
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
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).
Created on: Monday 30th January 2023
Last updated: Monday 17th April 2023
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: NMS-7D0591
Object type: BROOCH
Broad period: IRON AGE
County: Norfolk
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
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 whi…
Created on: Monday 30th January 2023
Last updated: Monday 17th April 2023
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: NMS-7D7C83
Object type: PIN
Broad period: IRON AGE
County: Norfolk
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
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 …
Created on: Monday 30th January 2023
Last updated: Monday 17th April 2023
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: NMS-CD6871
Object type: BROOCH
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: Norfolk
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
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 point…
Created on: Monday 27th February 2023
Last updated: Thursday 13th April 2023
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: NMS-F58EF7
Object type: WHISTLE
Broad period: POST MEDIEVAL
County: Norfolk
Workflow stage: Published
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 …
Created on: Thursday 26th May 2022
Last updated: Thursday 13th April 2023
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: NMS-E248A4
Object type: VERVEL
Broad period: POST MEDIEVAL
County: Norfolk
Workflow stage: Published
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 o…
Created on: Thursday 19th August 2021
Last updated: Thursday 13th April 2023
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: NMS-312C0B
Object type: VERVEL
Broad period: POST MEDIEVAL
County: Norfolk
Workflow stage: Published
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…
Created on: Thursday 15th September 2022
Last updated: Thursday 13th April 2023
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: NMS-3B5DA9
Object type: RING
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: Norfolk
Workflow stage: Published
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 oth…
Created on: Thursday 6th May 2021
Last updated: Monday 10th April 2023
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: NMS-33E456
Object type: PENDANT
Broad period: POST MEDIEVAL
County: Norfolk
Workflow stage: Published
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 s…
Created on: Friday 10th December 2021
Last updated: Thursday 30th March 2023
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: NMS-735932
Object type: UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT
Broad period: ROMAN
County: Norfolk
Workflow stage: Published
Description: Fragment of partly gilded silver, with ornament in a chip-carved style, made by using a range of stamps or punches. It is flat and sub-rectangular, with one straight original long edge which is smooth and rounded in cross-section. The other edges are all rougher and more right-angled in cross-section; the remaining long edge is nearly straight, and the short edges are V-shaped and nearly parallel to each other. Under magnification it can be seen that most of the other edges are cut; the only broken edge appears to be part of the angled-in short edge (the upper part on…
Created on: Tuesday 8th March 2022
Last updated: Saturday 25th March 2023
Spatial data recorded. This findspot is known as 'near Diss', grid reference and parish protected.

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Record ID: NMS-0385C4
Object type: SPINDLE WHORL
Broad period: MEDIEVAL
County: Norfolk
Workflow stage: Awaiting validation
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.
Created on: Tuesday 28th January 2020
Last updated: Saturday 25th March 2023
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: NMS-6D8084
Object type: SCABBARD
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: Norfolk
Workflow stage: Published
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 sq…
Created on: Thursday 7th January 2021
Last updated: Wednesday 22nd March 2023
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: NMS-7CCEFB
Object type: PENDANT
Broad period: MEDIEVAL
County: Norfolk
Workflow stage: Published
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 ha…
Created on: Tuesday 26th April 2022
Last updated: Wednesday 22nd March 2023
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: NMS-56A0CE
Object type: PENDANT
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: Norfolk
Workflow stage: Published
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 …
Created on: Tuesday 11th October 2022
Last updated: Wednesday 22nd March 2023
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: NMS-FE0563
Object type: STUD
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
County: Norfolk
Workflow stage: Published
Description: Circular gold stud or mount, inlaid with cloisonné garnets with curved tops to form a hemispherical domed boss. There are also detached fragments of garnet and gold foil, bagged separately. The object was originally built up on a gold sheet backplate, but this is now largely missing apart from a narrow strip around the edge. Onto this was fixed the cell walls, made from thin gold sheet, which form a central cross with a stepped or T-shaped cell at the end of each arm. There are therefore eight cells, one at the end of each arm and one in each of the …
Created on: Tuesday 25th January 2022
Last updated: Wednesday 22nd March 2023
Spatial data recorded. This findspot is known as 'Norwich area', grid reference and parish protected.