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Description: | Incomplete cast copper alloy rotary key of Medieval, mid-fourteenth to mid fifteenth century date (AD 1350 - AD 1450). Length 66mm, width 10mm. Weight? The hollow drilled shank is 44mm in length and 10mm in width. This circular hollow cavity extends the full length of the shank and is 5mm in diameter. The outer part of the shank is octagonal in cross-section. Between the shank and the elaborate bit is a channel which is 5mm in width and is parallel to the shank. The bit is 16.5mm in length, 18.5mm in width and has a maximum thickness of 9mm. The clefts and wards are symmetrical. Between the shank and the bow is a collar, a cabled knop of ten spirals. The collar is 8mm in width and oval in cross-section (13mm x 11mm). The bow is incomplete and has two old breaks. One break has occurred where it joined the collar and the other break has occurred along the length of the bow, 14mm from the collar. The surviving part of the bow is sub-triangular in cross-section and the bow, when complete, would have been lozenge-shaped. The open end of the shank, the clefts and wards have sharp edges and do not appear to have been subject to much wear. This may suggest that the key had a short life. | Format: | text/html | License: | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ | Publisher: | The Portable Antiquities Scheme | Rights holder: | The Portable Antiquities Scheme | Subjects: | archaeology | Temporal: | 1270
1350 | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Creator: | Frank Basford | Identifier: | http://www.finds.org.uk/database/artefac... | Language: | en-GB | Format: | text/html | Go to resource |
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