Find Spot record 15258 - Metal Detector Find from Parkside Farm

<1> Portable Antiquities Scheme, Various, Portable Antiquities Data Import, LVPL-48CA23 (Digital Archive). SCH5212.

A silver fragment possibly from a strap end or a terminal. The fragment is formed of a folded sheet of silver decorated on both sides with incised engraved lines and secured with a rivet. The cavity within is compacted with a material which may be due to the object's burial. Affixed to this folded sheet is a finial in the form of a beast's head, possibly a lion, and a collared knop. On the reverse of this fitting the knop is in the round and the beast's head section is flat, this tapers to a point along the back the engraved sheet of silver. No clear comparison for this object can be found. From the orientation of the finial it would appear that this object was made to be suspended and the flattened back until the spherical knop indicates that it was designed to lie flush against another surface.

There are some similarities with the terminals of buckles, see for example the construction of a belt chape dating to fourteenth or fifteenth century in (3). See also strap ends formed of two sheets and a cast knop discussed in (4). For broad comparisons with medieval dress fittings formed of sheet silver and a collared knop see two cases from the PAS database, YORYM-1B6B74 (2007T658) and BH-00C4E4 (2006 T275). The beast head motif is one commonly found in medieval metalwork, for example a brooch decorated with double-headed beasts found in Dorset, DOR-5CC922 (2013T886).

As no direct parallels can be found for this object it is not possible to affix a firm date for its manufacture and it is likely to be medieval or post-medieval in date. Dimensions: Length: 35.51 mm Width: 12.46 mm Thickness: 5.7 mm Weight: 6.6g

<2> The British Museum, Portable Antiquities Scheme Online Database, LVPL-48CA23 (Web Site). SCH5176.

<3> Bailey, G., 1999, Detector Finds 1, p.11, fig.7 (Book). SCH9003.

<4> Egan, G & Pritchard, F, 1991, Dress Accessories 1150-1450, p.143-144, nos. 676-684 (Monograph). SCH6503.