IRON AGE BROOCH

-300

A near complete cast copper alloy late Iron Age La Tène II style brooch, dating to the period c. 300 - 200 BC. The brooch is broadly irregular in plan and is rectangular in cross section; in profile it is gently bowed (forming a shallow C shape). The overall shape of the brooch is formed from three interlocking / conjoining circular hoops, within each hoop is a saltire cross formed of spokes emanating from a central projecting boss or knop. The overall form is shaped like a wheel. It is likely that these spokes were formed by drilling / cutting the shape rather than being cast. From the external edge of each circular wheel small circular shaped knops extend; similar shaped knops also extend from the upper and lower edge. The front face of the brooch is also decorated with a series of incised / engraved designs, comprising a pair of shallow cut circumferential hoops which extend around the mid-point of each wheel. The space within these hoops is then further divided by radiating lines further dividing the front face into small sub-rectangular panels. Each of the three wheels has a variation on this design. Further the junctions between each circular wheel is shaped with a shallow V cut into the surface to augment / embellish the curved nature of the bow. Each knop which extends from the external edge also has a small incised line around its base, although abrasion has distorted this. The reverse face is plain and undecorated. At either end of the bow of the brooch two small projecting lugs extend; all are abraded and one remains as a small scar on the surface. It is likely that these projections held the spring and catchplate. The upper pair are encrusted in an iron corrosion, probably representing all that remains of the spring and pin. The brooch has a mid brown coloured smooth polished patina which has been abraded in places. Where abrasion has occurred a light green active copper corrosion is present; this effects the reverse of the brooch more significantly where areas of shallow pocking are present.A direct parallel has not been found - although a similar fragmentary example is recorded on the PAS database from Ashley, Cheshire (LVPL132), other similar Wheel shaped brooches are recorded on the PAS database from Barrow, Cumbria (LANCUM-520697), Roxby-cum-Risby, North Lincolnshire (NLM-A01FB1), and Keepers, Staffordshire (WMID-C83644). The last two examples are similar to Hull and Hawkes Type 2B which are dated to the later Iron Age, specifically within the La Tene II style of metalwork. It should be further noted that the style of the wheel's on this brooch from Ludlow, Shropshire is similar to that seen on Wheel like Votive models and miniature objects similar to examples recorded from Shrewsbury, Shropshire (HESH-C53CF4) and Roxby-cum-Risby, Lincolnshire (NLM-EBBF3A) as well as those illustrated by Philip Kiernan (2009: 11-39).Sophie Adams (specialist in early and middle Iron Age brooches) has been consulted about this find and she notes: It clearly has evidence for a double lugged hinge with what appears to be the remnants of an iron pin. The catchplate would fit nicely with the simple hooked catchplates found on plate-like brooches from the Middle Iron Age. I'd place it with the the Type 2Ba2 brooches within my corpus because of the wheel like forms but it could also slip into the 2Bb plate brooches. Hull and Hawkes were well aware of the mixed nature of their 2B brooches and it is only with the greater quantity of finds now available that it has been possible to attempt subdivisions based on their form. The unique nature of Middle Iron Age brooches means that defining any as a particular type means forcing it into a box it will never quite fit. (pers comm: 5/2/15)Adams (2013: 65-66) further notes that: Brooch type 2Ba2: comprises "openwork brooches with integrated foot and low arched or almost flat bow that is pierced by openings creating a decorative form such as a wheel shape. Some of these brooches are further decorated with applied material such as the knobs of probable coral on the Newnham Croft brooch [Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology:Accession number 1903:211] or the small dots of inlay on the metal detected find [on PAS database] from Roxby-cum-Risby, North Lincolnshire (NLM-A01FB1). There are six brooches of this type in Adams national corpus.The brooch measures: 52.9mm length, 24.5mm width, each wheel is 17.2mm in diameter and 3.4mm thick. The knops on the side are 4.5mm wide and project 3.2mm. The projecting hoops on the reverse measure 2.8mm in diameter, project a maximum of 4.3mm and have a space of 3.7mm between them. The brooch weighs 14.9 grams.