EARLY MEDIEVAL STIRRUP

1000

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.