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Description: | Two copper-alloy fragments which are parts of an early Anglo-Saxon circular horse-harness mount of Allington Hill type. The mount has settings for garnet and shell which are now empty. The decoration consists of a central circular setting, surrounded by an inner field of intertwining zoomorphic decoration and then by an outer field filled with a four-strand plait. Around the edge is a band of short incised radial lines. Two empty settings sit astride the line which separates the two main fields; one has the remains of some white material. There is a small rivet hole just outside each of the surviving settings. The reverse has no evidence of pin fittings. There appear to be slight traces of gilding on one of the fragments (see below). This mount is closely paralleled by two gilded copper-alloy discs found at Allington Hill in Cambridgeshire, one now in the Ashmolean Museum (MacGregor and Bolick 1993, no. 47.1) and the other now in the Cambridge University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. In particular, the inner field of zoomorphic decoration on both the Creslow and the Allington Hill mounts consists of a procession of originally four backward-looking animals whose front legs interlace with the hindquarters of the animal in front (Speake 1980, 46 and 62-3, describes this motif on the Allington Hill mounts). The construction of the animals in this field, with a broad ridge between narrower contour lines, is also similar on both mounts. The Creslow mount seems to be slightly less sophisticated in its design, however, with a simple ribbed outer border rather than the triple decorated border of the Allington Hill mounts.The Allington Hill mounts have been interpreted as box mounts, with the rivet holes implying a secondary use (Evison 1962, 54), but since the discovery of another similar mount on the horse-harness at Sutton Hoo Mound 17 it is known that these items are from harness (Fern 2005, 53-57). The presence of rivet holes on the Creslow mount as well as the Allington Hill mounts is interesting and may show that they were commonly re-used. Further examples are known from Spelsbury, Oxon., Standlake, Oxon., and Gilton, Kent (MacGregor and Bolick 1993, nos. 47.2-47.5) and another rally find is recorded on the PAS database at FAHG-33D653.Recording of this object (both fragments) was undertaken under difficult conditions at a rally. Subsequent examination of the photograph has suggested that the object may retain traces of gilding; this cannot, however, now be confirmed.
Original Image | Publisher: | http://finds.org.uk | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/r... | Go to resource |
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