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Description: | Medieval shield shaped horse harness pendant made from copper alloy. The pendant is decorated with an enamelled design on the front and is plain and undecorated on the reverse. Part of the hanging mechanism on the pendant survives; it comprises a perforated lug which is set at ninety degrees to the hanger. Attached to this (by means of an iron pin through the hole) is a second hanging device to allow the pendant to move freely once the whole thing was attached to a strap or mount.
The front of the pendant depicts a lion rampant guardant. The background is greeny-blue and as green was a very rare colour in arms of the period, the background is presumably blue giving: ??azure, a lion rampant guardant???? Guardant, meaning the face is looking outwards, is unusual for a lion rampant and narrows the possibilities for this arms down.
It is possible that the arms belonged to Sir John Holland (although other references to Holland arms have the background ??semy lys?? (sprinkled with fleur de lys)). More likely, the arms belonged to Robert de Dalton (c.1410). The Daltons were Yorkshire/Lancashire landowners, holding lands at Dalton in Yorkshire. There are several villages with this name in the area including one near Rotherham and one near Northallerton.
The pendant weighs 14.65g and measures 55.8mm in length, 24.8mm in width and 6.52mm in thickness. | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Creator: | Marshall, Anna - Portable Antiquities Scheme | Identifier: | http://www.findsdatabase.org.uk/hms/pas_... | Language: | en-GB | Go to resource |
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