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Description: | An incomplete part of a cast copper-alloy cheekpiece from a medieval to post-medieval horse bit (see comments on dating below). The incomplete section is comma shaped and broken at the end which would have attached it to the rest of the bit. It is of openwork zoomorphic design which incorporates a quadruped (probably a stag). The animal has long pointed projections on its head which are probably intended to represent antlers. An eye is depicted by a sub-circular depression and the mouth and detail on the ears by incised lines. A faint zig-zagged line defines detail on the tail. The animal is joined to the frame at the antlers/head, the upright tail and at the bottom of the four legs. The front of the mount is faceted and the reverse is flat.John Clark (Curator Emeritus at the Museum of London) has provided a very close parallel for this object, published in the Antiquaries Journal 15 (1935), pages 76-7, and held by the British Museum. The published example reveals how this is just one part of a bridle bit and there would have been three other identical sections, situated in a symmetrical fashion, with one below the intact piece, mirroring it, below the side of the bit, and two situated in the same fashion on the other side of the bit.Two other incomplete examples are also held in the Museum of London collections (numbers MoL 7272 and A2440), both recovered from London. Other than these examples, there are very few with secure English findspots and John Clark has explained that they are actually an Irish type. There has been no secure dating for them in Ireland and they were once regarded as Iron Age (Hallstatt), then as Viking period. More recently examples recovered from Dissolution debris at Clontuskert Priory, and from excavations at Clough Oughter Castle (Co Cavan) suggest dates in the 16th or even 17th century (John Clark pers. comm.). Clark has suggested that the over-elaborate (and impracticable) mouthpiece on the British Museum example is unlikely to date from before AD 1600, although as a type they may go as far back as the medieval period (John Clark pers. comm.).John Clark suggests that the occasional finds in England may represent the presence of Irish 'hobelars' (light horsemen) in the English armies - a practice that started under Edward I. Hobelars apparently rode Irish style (no saddle, no stirrups) and perhaps rode with these native Irish bits (John Clark pers. comm.).The incomplete cheekpiece section measures 54.22 mm long, 41.99 mm wide, 4.99 mm thick and weighs 40.2 grams. It has a smooth mid-green patina.
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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