96 Transactions. 



broophes. rings, &c. 



Three brooches of silver, found iu the ruins of the ancient 

 Church of Middlebie, Annandale, in 1849, were presented to the 

 National Museum in 1851, One is formed of a plain ring two 

 inches in diameter, open to allow the pin to slip on. The second 

 measures 1^ inches in diameter, and is ornamented with four 

 (piatrefoils, one of which is on the hing-e of the pin. and all show 

 traces of having at one time been gilt. Equidistant between each 

 of the quatrefoils is a globular swelling or ball, partly roughened 

 with a prickly-like pattern. A similar specimen, but larger, found 

 iu the Tyne, is in the Museum at Newcastle-on-Tyne.' Another, 

 3 inches in diametei'. with six knobs, found near Norham Castle. 

 Northumberland, is in the National Museum. The third is an 

 amulet brooch in the form of a flattened ring, 1^ inch in diameter, 

 and bears on its upper face a talismanic inscription common on 

 brooches of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, as follows : — 

 " t IHESVS-NAZAREXVS-REX-IVDE." Several similarly inscribed 

 brooches have been found in Scotland and England. 



About the beginning of the year 1864 an interesting hoard of 

 brooches and rings was discovered in the course of ploug-hing a 

 field on the farm of Woodhead, Canobie, consisting of two per- 

 fect brooches and portions of two others, all of silver, two gold 

 finger rings, several jet beads, and a number of silver corns. The 

 finest of the brooches (fig 3) is formed of a rod of silver, 2^ inches in 

 diameter, and is ornamented with six rosettes, alternating- with six 

 prickly knobs arranged at equal distances. A prickly knob also 

 surrounds the hinge end of the pin, which is, unfortunately, imper- 

 fect at the point. The knobs appear to have originally been 

 gilt. A somewhat similar brooch, found at Carisbrooke Castle, 

 Isle of Wight, is assigned to the early part of the fifteenth 

 century.^ Another, with four rosettes and four knobs, found at 

 Langhope, Roxburghshire, in 1882, is in the National Museum. The 

 second perfect brooch (fig. 4) found at Woodhead, is talismanic like 

 the one found at Middlebie. It measures 2-j^ inches in diameter, 

 and is inscribed " f ihesvs-NAZARENVS-rex." The third is a frag- 

 ment similar to the one first described, and has been 2^ inches in 

 diameter when perfect. It still shows two rosettes and one knob, 



' Scott, Antiquarian Gleanini/s in the No7-th of' Eiif/tnnd, pi. xxxviii. 

 ' Arvha'alofjical Journal, Vol. ix., 185iJ, p. 110. 



