CLASPS, BUTTONS, BUCKLES, AND MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTS.
THERE still remain to be noticed a number of objects in bronze, of
some of which the precise nature and use are now hardly susceptible of
being determined; and of others but so few examples are known that they
are best placed in a chapter which, like the present, is intended to
treat of miscellaneous articles. It has occasionally been observed of
antiquaries that when at a loss to explain the use or destination of
some object of bronze or brass, their usual refuge is in the suggestion
that it formed some portion of harness, or was what is termed a
horse-trapping. To judge from what may be seen on the dray-horses and
waggon-horses of the present day, future antiquaries, in examining
the relics of the nineteenth century, will have some justification in
assigning a vast number of forms of ornamental pendants and tongueless
buckles to this comprehensive class of trappings; while a number
of curious instruments of brass and other alloys, some of them not
unlike complicated dentists’ instruments, will probably be given up
in despair, though now in most cases susceptible of being recognised
by the adept as destined to extract cartridges or their cases from
breech-loading guns. If these puzzles await future antiquaries, those
of the present day must be pardoned for occasionally being at fault as
to the destination of some ancient instrument or ornament, and they may
even be forgiven for making suggestions as to probable uses of such
objects, provided they do not insist upon possibilities being regarded
as strong probabilities, much less as facts.
In Fig. 493 is shown full-size a mysterious object, consisting of
a tube with a slight collar at each end, having on one side a long
narrow loop of solid metal subquadrangular in section, and on the
other an elongated oval opening, a part of the side of which has been
broken away. It was found with a number of socketed celts, knives,
and other articles in the hoard at Reach Fen, Cambridge, already
often mentioned. With it was also another smaller object of the
same kind, shown in Fig. 494. This, however, has the orifice in the
front, and not at the side opposite the loop, the section of which
in this case is circular. One end of the tube is plugged up with a
bronze rivet. The mouth of the oval opening is rough, and has no lip
to it, as in the other case; and within the tube there are remains of
wood. I have a broken specimen found at Malton, near Cambridge, of
the same character as Fig. 493, but with the loop round in section,
and both shorter and stouter. The end of the tube is cast with a flat
plate closing the aperture, except for a central hole about ⅛ inch in
diameter. I have another specimen much like Fig. 493, but the loop is
longer and flatter, and beneath it the tube has a long oval opening
with a lip around it, as well as a somewhat shorter opening on the
opposite side of the tube. The loop also has a deep groove on its
inner side extending its whole length. I am not sure where this object
was found, but there is little doubt of its being English.
[Illustration: Fig. 493.—Reach Fen. 1/1]
[Illustration: Fig. 494.—Reach Fen. 1/1]
[Illustration: Fig. 495.—Broadward. 1/1]
An object like Fig. 493 was found with socketed celts, gouges, and
hammers at Roseberry Topping,[1547] Yorkshire, in 1826. With them
was a flat quadrangular whetstone(?) and fragments of a flat plate
of bronze, the ends hollowed and with crescent-shaped openings or
lunettes in them, and with staples for attachment at the corners.
There are three rivet-holes on the convex side of the lunettes.
Another object of the same kind was found with a socketed celt, a
hollow ring, gouge, &c., at Melbourne,[1548] Cambridge. There were two
of these looped tubes found with spear-heads, socketed celts, broken
swords, &c., near La Pierre du Villain,[1549] Longy, Alderney.
In the great hoard of bronze spear-heads, &c., found at
Broadward,[1550] Shropshire, was a short object of this kind about
1½ inch long, with the loop as large in diameter as the tube and
extending the whole length, so as to give it the form of the letter
D. The orifice of the loop is only ½ inch long. This specimen is shown
in Fig. 495. Another seems to have been found at the same time.
[Illustration: Fig. 496.—Trillick. ½]
A fragment of another was in the collection of the late Lord
Braybrooke.
An example, like Fig. 493, but somewhat broken, was in the deposit of
Notre-Dame d’Or, now in the Poitiers Museum.
Another (2¾ inches), almost identical with Fig. 493, was found in a
hoard with other objects near Amiens, and is now in the museum of that
town.
Another of much the same kind was found at La Parnelle, Manche.[1551]
I have an object from the Seine at Paris, which appears to belong
to the same class as the tubes lately described, though without any
loop. The tube is in this instance about 3 inches long, with small
flanges at each end; and through the middle of it is an oval opening
about 1 inch by ⅜ inch, with mouth-pieces standing out on each side of
the tube, making the whole length of the oval cross-tube thus formed
nearly 1¼ inch. Each mouth-piece has two parallel beads running round
it. I am at a loss to assign a purpose to it.
Those with a loop seem to me possibly intended as clasps for leather
straps or belts, one end of which passed through the metal loop and
was sewn or fastened to the strap so as to form a loop of leather,
while a corresponding loop at the other end was inserted into the
oval mouth-piece, so that a pin passed down inside the tube would go
through it and secure it. This pin need not have been of metal, but of
some more perishable material.
The objection to this view is that the side orifice in the tube is
not in all cases opposite to the loop, but in one instance at least
at right angles to it. A second suggestion is that they were loops in
some manner attached to wooden or leather scabbards of swords, which
could at any time be detached by withdrawing a pin that passed down
the tube. Whatever purpose they served, they do not appear to have
been permanently attached to any other article, as in no instance have
any rivet-holes been observed in them.
Some of the hollow rings found in Ireland with transverse perforations
through them, appear also to have been made for attachment at will to
leather or cloth by means of a pin passing through the cross-holes,
which at once converted the rings into brooches or buckles of a
peculiar kind.
This purpose has already been suggested by Mr. T. O’Gorman, in the
_Journal of the Royal Historical and Archæological Association of
Ireland_.[1552] He there describes a bronze pin with two thick
bronze rings upon it, which was found with two large rings of bronze,
four rings of about the same size as those on the pin, a large
socketed celt, and a bronze hammer, in what appears to have been a
sepulchre near Trillick, Co. Tyrone. These objects are now all in my
own collection, and, as will be seen in Fig. 496, there can be no
doubt of an efficient form of double buckle being presented by the
pin and rings. Whether it was used for fastening a cloak or tunic,
as suggested by Mr. O’Gorman, or for some other purpose, I need not
stay to examine. I think, however, that the discovery of the pin and
perforated rings in juxtaposition throws some light upon the character
of other rings with cross perforations, of which many have been
found in Ireland. One of these is shown in Fig. 497, borrowed from
Wilde.[1553] I have one of precisely the same character, 2⅜ inches
in diameter, with a cross perforation through the two projecting
mouth-pieces, slightly oval, and about the size to receive a common
pencil. Vallancey[1554] has figured others, in one of which there is
a cross-pin with a small ring at each end, somewhat like a horse’s
bit.[1555]
[Illustration: Fig. 497. Ireland. ½]
Others, with numerous small loops round the circumference, and with
central bosses secured by pins, or occasionally with cross arms within
them, appear to be of later date and to have had bands of chain-mail
attached. In some of the plain rings, however, there is a portion of a
strap of bronze left, which Sir W. Wilde regards as having served to
connect the ring-chains, of which he thinks that coats of mail were
made. Under any circumstances, these perforated rings seem to come
under the category of fastenings or clasps, to which the looped tubes
already described may also be referred.
A perforated ring was in the hoard found at Llangwyllog,[1556]
Anglesea, already mentioned.
Large rings, such as those described in the last chapter, may also have
served as connections for bands or straps.
There is, indeed, numismatic evidence that among the Ancient Britons,
shortly after the time of Julius Cæsar, rings were employed as
connecting links between the different straps forming the harness of
war-horses. On a gold coin of Verica,[1557] engraved on the title-page
of Akerman’s “Ancient Coins of Cities and Princes,” and now in my
own collection, there is on the reverse a warrior on horseback. The
engraving of the die is exquisitely minute, and the warrior’s saddle is
shown to be secured by four girths, and by straps running from it round
the chest and the hind-quarters to keep it in position. On the shoulder
and the haunches there are rings to which these straps are joined, and
from each of these rings another strap runs down to pass below the
body of the horse. Each ring, therefore, has three straps secured to
it, one running forwards, another backwards, and the third downwards.
Rings with three loops for straps attached occur among Etruscan
Antiquities.[1558]
[Illustration: Fig. 498.—Cowlam. 1/1]
Of brooches proper, with a pin attached by a spring or hinge, and
secured by a hasp or catch, none are, I think, known in Britain which
can with safety be assigned to an earlier period than the Late Celtic.
That shown in Fig. 498 was found by Canon Greenwell, F.R.S., in a
barrow in the parish of Cowlam,[1559] Yorkshire, together with an
armlet (Fig. 486) and a necklace of glass beads, on the body of an
aged woman. The pin was of iron, which had replaced the original
of bronze. I have a somewhat similar brooch from Redmore, near St.
Austell, Cornwall, as well as one of longer form and with a larger
disc, which was found in a barrow near Bridlington, together with two
remarkable buckles formed of penannular rings. These were described by
the late Mr. Thomas Wright[1560] (who has figured them) as undoubtedly
Roman, but their character is decidedly “Late Celtic.” Other brooches
of the same character as the figure, found in the Thames, London, and
near Avebury, Wilts, are in the British Museum.
[Illustration: Fig. 499. Reach Fen. 1/1]
Another article in use for fastening or attaching parts of the dress
is the button, which claims a high antiquity. I have elsewhere[1561]
described some made of stone and jet, in which a V-shaped perforation
in the body of the button afforded the means of fastening it to the
dress. In the bronze buttons a legitimate loop or shank is found, which
is cast in one piece with the button itself.
In Fig. 499 are shown three full-size views of one of two bronze
buttons from the Reach Fen hoard in my own collection. There is a
sharpness and smoothness about their faces which suggests their having
been finished by some process of turning or rotary grinding. The
centre and raised bands, though similar, are not identical in the two,
or it might have been thought that they were cast in a metal mould.
Four others were found at the same time.
A button of almost the same size and pattern was found with a razor
and other objects at Llangwyllog, Anglesea.[1562] One of the same
character, but of larger size (1¾ inch), was found with a gouge,
socketed celts, &c., at Kensington.[1563] It has a central boss and
two raised ridges. Both these buttons are now in the British Museum.
In the Heathery Burn Cave, Durham, was a small button, ¾ inch in
diameter, with one loop at the back; and another larger (1½ inch),
with five loops at the back, one in the centre, and the four others
at equal distances around it forming four sides of an octagon. This
larger button has a series of concentric rings or grooves on the face;
the small one has a central pointed boss with one groove around it.
Some curious buttons, like half barrels in shape, were found with
a hoard of bronze objects at St. Genouph (Indre et Loire), and are
preserved in the Museum at Tours. Numerous buttons of circular form
have been found in other parts of France.
Buttons of various sizes and shapes have also been found in abundance
in the Swiss Lake-dwellings.
A clay mould, apparently for buttons of this kind, is in the Museo
Civico at Modena.
[Illustration: Fig. 500.—Edinburgh. 1/1]
In the cemetery at Hallstatt immense numbers of small button-like
objects have been found, some of the warriors’ coats having been
completely studded with them. Some of these are not more than ⅜ inch
in diameter, nearly hemispherical, and with a small bar cast across
them inside.
A peculiar annular button with two loops at the back, found with
bronze swords (see Fig. 353) and a flat-headed pin (Fig. 464) at
Edinburgh,[1564] is represented in Fig. 500. The original is now in
the Antiquarian Museum at Edinburgh. It has been thought to be the
mounting of a belt.
Bronze discs of larger size than any ordinary buttons or clasps are
occasionally found. One such, 31/5 inches in diameter, with three
concentric circles engraved on one of its faces, was discovered at
Castell y Bere, Merionethshire.[1565] Another was found at Wolsonbury
Hill,[1566] Sussex. A third, about 5 inches in diameter, with raised
concentric rings upon it, is in the Scarborough Museum. One found at
Inis Kaltra,[1567] Lough Derg, between Clare and Galway, has been
figured. It has a hollow conical projection like the umbo of a shield,
surrounded by five concentric raised rings, the interval between the
second and third being about double that between any other pair. The
inner side has grooves corresponding with the external ridges, and
across the inside of the hollow umbo is a small bar of metal. The
diameter of this ornament is 4¾ inches. It is now in the British
Museum. In many respects such discs resemble the so-called _tutuli_
of the Scandinavian antiquaries, though the long-pointed form has not
been found in the British Islands.
[Illustration: Fig. 501.—Heathery Burn Cave. ⅓]
An irregularly rounded flat plate of bronze, about 5 inches by 5½, and
1⅛ inch, thick, apparently hammered out, was found with leaf-shaped
spear-heads and a sword at Worth,[1568] Devon. I have a round flat
plate, about 6½ inches in diameter and ⅛ inch thick, found near
Clough, Co. Antrim, which bears deep hammer marks in sets of parallel
grooves on both faces. Perhaps such plates were destined to be still
further drawn out into sheets for the manufacture of caldrons or other
vessels.
In the Heathery Burn Cave, already so often mentioned, were about ten
convex plates, with a raised rim round their edge, a small hole in the
middle, and four loops cast on at the back. One of these is shown in
Fig. 501.[1569] With them were found about the same number of broad
hoops, of which an example is given in Fig. 502.
[Illustration: Fig. 502.—Heathery Burn Cave. ⅓]
These are dexterously cast in one piece, with a groove inside
corresponding with the raised central ridge on the outside. Their
diameter is only about 4⅜ inches, while that of the discs is about
5-3/10 inches. It is difficult to see any connection between the two
forms, though from the correspondence in their numbers a connection at
first sight seems probable. The hoops have been spoken of as armlets,
but I can hardly regard them as such. Most of the specimens are in the
collection of Canon Greenwell, F.R.S., though thanks to his kindness I
have an example of each; and two hoops and a disc are in the British
Museum. Canon Greenwell has two other discs of a somewhat similar
character, found with spear-heads and socketed celts near Newark. They
are 5¼ inches in diameter, with a raised rib round the margin and a
central hole. The surface, instead of being regularly convex, rises
more rapidly towards the centre, so as to make a kind of cone with
hollowed sides. There are no loops nor any means of attachment on the
interior. It may be that a shank was riveted through the central hole,
as was the case with some analogous conical objects from Hallstatt.
Without expressing any definite opinion on the subject, I may call
attention to a certain analogy that exists between these hoops and
discs, and the hoops and axle ends of Gaulish chariots of the Early
Iron Age. The naves of the wheels of the chariot found in the tomb of
la Gorge Meillet[1570] (Marne) had bronze hoops on either side of the
naves, and an ornamented plate at each end of the axle. The hoops,
however, are made of plates riveted together, and were not cast in one
piece, and the centre of the plates is open, though crossed by an iron
pin.
Fragments of what may have been discs of the same kind, with a hole in
the centre and four small bosses at intervals around it, were found
in the hoard at Stanhope,[1571] Durham, which comprised spear-heads,
celts, &c., much like those in the Heathery Burn Cave.
Similar large discs with concentric circles upon them, and having
loops at the back, have been found in various parts of France,
Switzerland, and Italy.[1572]
[Illustration: Fig. 503.—Harty. ½]
Another and smaller disc with a central hole, having a short collar
round it, is shown in Fig. 503. This is only the rough casting; and
at one time I thought it was merely a waste piece or jet from the
foundry, as it was discovered with moulds, celts, &c., in the Isle
of Harty hoard. Another disc of the same kind was, however, found
with the hoard of bronze at Yattendon,[1573] Berks, which shows so
much finish all over that it would seem to have been adapted for
some special purpose, and not to have been merely a piece of waste
metal. Another disc of the same kind was found in the hoard at Haynes
Hill,[1574] Kent, and was regarded as part of an utensil. Mr. Franks
informs me that an example with a rather longer tube has been found
in Brittany. In the Yattendon hoard were also some fragments of thin
bronze plate very highly planished on one face, and a hollowed conical
piece of bronze, not unlike an extinguisher; but the purpose for which
either of these was intended is a mystery.
Returning to bronze objects which appear to be in some manner
connected with straps, I may cite some loops or slides of which
an example is given in Fig. 504. The original is not in this case
English, having formed part of the hoard found at Dreuil, near Amiens.
But a specimen of the same size and shape, though rather more convex
on the faces, is in Lord Braybrooke’s collection at Audley End, and
was, I believe, found with other bronze objects, including a hollow
ring, in Essex. At first sight such objects might appear to be
intended for mouth-pieces of scabbards, but on trial I find that the
opening is not wide enough to allow of the passage of a sword blade,
much less to admit of a thickness of leather or wood in addition.
They seem more probably to be slides, such as might have served for
receiving the two ends of a leather belt.
In the Dreuil hoard was also a flat kind of ferrule, about 2¼ inches
wide and closed at the end, which may have served as a sort of tag or
end to a broad strap. There were also socketed celts and knives.
[Illustration: Fig. 504.—Dreuil, Amiens. 1/1]
[Illustration: Fig. 505.—Abergele. 1/1]
[Illustration: Fig. 506.—Abergele. 1/1]
[Illustration: Fig. 507.—Abergele. ½]
In the same hoard was a loop fluted on one face, like Fig. 505, but
with four divisions instead of three, and 2½ inches wide. The loops
shown in Figs. 505 and 506 formed part of a large hoard found near
Abergele,[1575] Denbighshire, and described in the _Archæologia_,
whence my cuts are copied. There were present in the hoard forty-two
loops or slides of this kind, though of various widths, as well as
eighteen buttons, a reel-shaped object like Fig. 377, and numerous
rings, some of them almost like buckles in shape. There were also
several double rings fitting the one within the other, the inner
about 1¼ inch in diameter and the outer about 2⅛ inches. They are
cast hollow, and on the inner ring is a loop which fits into a hole
in the outer ring. In the same hoard was the remarkable object shown
half-size in Fig. 507. It consists of three pairs of irregular oval
plates with loops, through which is passed a bar of bronze. Mr.
Franks, who has described the hoard, says that “the loops show marks
of wear, and the whole was probably a jingling ornament to be attached
to horse-harness. Objects of the same nature have been found with
bridle-bits, and are engraved in Madsen, _Afbildninger_,[1576] and in
Worsaae’s _Nordiske Oldsager_, Fig. 266.”
These examples, however, do not present such close analogies with
the Welsh specimen as do some interlinked rings with flat pendants
found at Plonéour,[1577] Brittany, with looped palstaves and a flat
quadrangular knife. Some other analogous objects are mentioned by
M. Chantre,[1578] who has also described several _sistrum_-like
instruments, to which M. de Mortillet[1579] is inclined to assign an
Eastern origin.
Reverting to the Abergele hoard, I may add that Mr. Franks regards it
as belonging to the close of the Bronze Period, and conjectures that
most of the objects which it comprised formed part of the trappings of
a horse.
Bronze bridle-bits, such as have been found in various parts of the
Continent,[1580] have very rarely been found in Britain, though
occasionally discovered in Ireland. In the British Isles they appear
for the most part, if not in all cases, to belong to the Late Celtic
Period.
[Illustration: Fig. 508.—Dreuil. 1/1]
Another form of bronze objects of uncertain use is shown in Fig. 508,
which is taken from a French and not an English original. This formed
part of the Dreuil hoard; and as in so many respects the articles
comprised in this deposit present analogies with those found in
England, it appeared worth while to call attention to this particular
object. It is a kind of semicircular flap, with a hole running through
the beaded cylinder at top. What was its purpose I cannot say, though
I have a thin gold plate of the same form, but decorated with ring
ornaments, that was found at Hallstatt. It may be merely a pendant.
Among other miscellaneous objects of bronze may be mentioned an
article of twisted bronze already cited at p. 51. It has a flat tang
for insertion into a handle, in which are four rivet-holes. Beyond
the handle project two twisted horns, which seem to have nearly or
quite met, so as to form a somewhat heart-shaped ring. In the centre
opposite the tang is a long slot with a chain of three circular rings
attached. The whole covers a space of about 6½ inches in length by
4½ inches in breadth. With Sir E. Colt Hoare, “I leave to my learned
brother antiquaries to ascertain” what was the ancient use of this
singular article, which was found in a barrow at Wilsford,[1581] with
a stone hammer, a flanged bronze celt, and other objects in company
with an unburnt body.
Portions of three sickle-like objects, with a kind of square tang,
through which is a large hole, were found with a palstave and a flat
celt and many other bronze antiquities, near Battlefield, Salop.[1582]
These measure about 7 inches by 7¼ inches, and their purpose is as
much veiled in mystery as that of the Wilsford relic, with which they
present a slight analogy.
The flat annular and horseshoe-shaped plates—the one 13 inches in
diameter, and the other 2 feet 1 inch long—found with an oblong
cup-shaped boss on the hill of Benibhreæ,[1583] in Lochaber, appear
to me to be probably Late Celtic.
Some of the curious spoon-like articles[1584] of bronze occasionally
found in all parts of the United Kingdom may also belong to the Late
Celtic Period, and most of them probably to quite the close of that
period, if not to a later date.
The remarkable bronze rod, about 18 inches long, with small figures
of birds and pendent rings upon it, found near Ballymoney,[1585]
County Antrim, is probably of later date than the Bronze Period: as
are also the curious figures of boars and other animals found near
Hounslow.[1586]
In concluding this chapter, it may be observed that although I have
attempted to give in it some notice of various forms of bronze relics
of many of which the use is uncertain, yet that I do not pretend that
the list here given comprises all such objects as have been discovered
in Britain. In several hoards of bronze there have been found portions
of thin plates and fragments of objects the purpose of which is
unknown; and I have thought it best not to encumber my pages with
notices of mere fragments about which even less is known than about
the mysterious articles to the description of which, perhaps, too much
space has already been allotted.