EARLY MEDIEVAL PRICK SPUR

750

Small prick spur made from copper alloy. The sides are curved, forming less than half of a circle; they do not extend into the straight arms of a U shape like most spurs. They are D-shaped in section, with the internal straight face undecorated, and the external curved face decorated with slightly asymmetric bead-and-reel mouldings. Each side has two long curved mouldings, each with a narrow moulding at either end; but one side has the two narrow mouldings in the middle separated by a slightly wider moulding in the centre (the drawing minimises the differences).Beyond the outermost narrow moulding are animal-head terminals. These are formed by expanding the D shape slightly, and taking a scoop out of either edge to form a nose. Between the last narrow moulding and the nose, each terminal has two holes drilled for eyes. Beyond the nose, there is a narrowed zone with two grooves dividing it up into three; the interpretation of this zone is unclear. The terminals end with rectangular panels which are split to take the ?leather strap, with shaped ends and a single round-headed copper-alloy rivet each.The neck of the spur is circular in section and consists of three successively narrower steps. The narrow end of the neck has iron corrosion from a separate goad; it is now not possible to see how this was attached. Projecting at right angles to the neck (upwards or downwards; it is impossible to see which) is an extension of uncertain purpose, perhaps to stabilise the spur on the ankle. This has a D-shaped section like the spur sides, and is decorated with two fairly broad mouldings and then two narrow ones, and ends in a very stylised version of the animal-head terminal, with the scoops out of either side but without the drilled holes or the tripartite lobe. The spur measures 61.5 mm from terminal to terminal, and the sides are 8 mm wide max. The maximum 'width' is from one side of the neck to the end of the right-angled projection, which measures 19 mm.The only parallels known come from Lyng and Bawsey in Norfolk (see Norfolk SMR, and Geake 2001, 239; fig. 6f for the Lyng example), and from Pakenham and Icklingham in Suffolk (Hinton 1974, 55-6 for both). These copper-alloy spurs are unlike earlier spurs (in graves) and later (Viking) spurs, both in their shape and their material (the earlier and later spurs are made of iron and the sides are a deep U shape). At the moment they appear to be a rare East Anglian type and deserve fuller study and publication. This spur would certainly deserve a place in Norwich Castle Museum.