A HISTORY OF SUFFOLK 



Yorkshire also provides a parallel for the bronze nave-hoops included in the Santon Dow^nham 

 hoard. These were six in number, two of them being narrower but slightly larger in diameter and 

 fitting on to the broader ones, which had an outside diameter of about sl^in., and were 2| in. deep, 

 of fairly thick metal. Those found in a chariot-burial at Arras (British Museum) were over 5 in. 

 in diameter and I J in. wide, with a raised rib round the middle, but the metal was too thin to give 

 additional strength to the nave of the chariot wheel. The bronze band with incised lines found 

 folded up and in pieces in the bronze vessel may have originally served the same purpose. 



Other fragments definitely of late Celtic work are a thin bronze band 8| in. by if in. em- 

 bossed with a repeating pattern, rivet-holes separating the units of the design. Very similar bands 

 are preserved in the national collection from Rodborough Common, near Stroud, Gloucester. There 

 is also a bronze plate, forming the segment of a circle, with the curved edge moulded and the base 

 measuring 6| in. In the middle is a large patch or cover over an oblong opening, attached by two 

 rivets with movable heads in the form of ducks, and engraved with a circular geometrical design 

 on a hatched ground. Similar rosettes are engraved on the plate itself in the angles. The 

 movable water-fowl may have had some religious significance. 



There are several bronze ferrules, the use of which is uncertain, but one is in position at the 

 end of a cylindrical bone 5^ in. in length, slightly tapering towards the ferrule. Also a thin 

 bronze disk l^in. in diameter (perhaps the face of a brooch), embossed with a grotesque animal 

 much resembling one from Westhall, Suffolk.' A steelyard on the Roman principle io|in. long, 

 with well-made scale-pan 4 in. in diameter, may be mentioned here as having an open-work weight 

 with a triskele at the bottom, this being a favourite motive in the pre-Roman period.^ 



Late Celtic buckets of wood are not infrequently found, and the hoard included lengths of 

 thin bronze heavily tinned that probably belonged to a vessel or vessels of that kind. One edge is 

 cut straight to fit the top or bottom of the outside, while the other is deeply scalloped,** the distance 

 from point to point across each opening being about 3 j in. An arched handle, playing on two 

 rivets with broad round heads, is bent in two planes, the middle section being flat for convenience in 

 carrying ; and the diameter, as calculated from the span of the handle and two flat bands that may 

 also have belonged to it, is about 7 in. This agrees fairly well with the smaller of two from 

 Aylesford, Kent, which was covered outside with thin bronze plate.' 



Another group is unmistakably Roman, either as being imports from some richer part of the 

 Empire or copies of Roman models more or less common on the Continent. The most striking 

 specimen is a finely-made bronze jug [oenochoe) with trefoil lip and ornate handle with a lion's 

 head at the point of junction with the lip. The lower end of the handle where it joins the body 

 is in the form of a claw, and the whole is of elegant design, but the base was damaged and clumsily 

 patched before being included in the hoard. The height of the jug itself is fjin., the handle 

 rising 2 in. higher, and an approximate date is afforded by similar finds at Pompeii, which must date 

 before the destruction of that town in a.d. 79. 



There are also several hinges and drop-handles of various sizes and patterns, the former being 

 perhaps for use on armour, the latter for attachment to caskets or similar receptacles. Their staples 

 are still attached, and in one case show that the wood or other material through which they passed 

 was only |-in. thick. 



Another bronze of artistic interest is the fluted handle, 45 in. long, of a bowl or skillet that 

 may have been used ceremonially with the jug already described. Only a fragment of the bowl 

 remains on the handle, and the other end represents the head of a dog or other animal. 



Further evidence of date is afforded by nine brooches of various recognized forms, and all of the 

 1st or early and century. Three ranging between l^ and 2 in. consist of a rather massive bow 

 with solid catch-plate for the pin, and across the head a curved cover for the spring, which is 

 missing, but was originally caught in a hook or loop at the top of the bow. A fourth fragment, 

 consisting of the head and half the bow, retains part of the spirally-wound wire that gave tension 

 to the pin. Of the rest, two measuring 2f in. are furnished with cylindrical covers for the spring 

 and have a short broad bow connecting the head with a circular and lozenge plate respectively, 

 which form the ornamental part of the brooch. The foot' in both cases is grooved and slightly 

 spreading, while the catch-plate at the back is pierced, with a step-pattern bar across the opening. 

 Another brooch of kindred form has a pointed boss on the disk, and another somewhat smaller specimen 

 may once have had a boss of the same kind. The first four described agree in the main with those 

 included in the Polden Hill hoard,* while the rest are assigned on independent grounds to the first 

 half of the ist century.* 



' Iron Age Guide (Brit. Mus.), 1 29, fig. no. ' Ibid. 102, with figs. 



°* Compare Anderson, Scotland in Pagan Times : Iron Age, 129. ' Op. cit. 1 19, fig. 97. 



' For the spring-cover, tension-hook, and catch-plate perforated with step-pattern, see the Polden Hill 

 brooch figured in Iron Age Guide (Brit. Mus.), 128, fig. 109. 



' Koencn, Bonner J airbiicker, Ixxxvi, pi. iv, figs. 11, 18, p. 220 (Andernach). 



