Proc. Hampshire Field Club Archaeol. Soc. 53, 1998,109-119 (Hampshire Studies 1998) THREE EARLY ANGLO-SAXON METALWORK FINDS FROM THE ISLE OF WIGHT, 1993-6 .ByMARKSTEDMAN ABSTRACT A Cruciform Brooch, a Disc Brooch and a Frank- Description ish/Merovingian Bronze Bowl are discussed in the light of Though incomplete in form the object under ex­ the relationship between Late Roman villas and Early amination has a grey green patina which exhibits a Anglo-Saxon cemeteries and settlements. TheirJindspots arehig h degree of scratch and wear. However the also commented upon in regard to the suggested reuse of artefact fortunately seems free of any active corro­ Bronze Age download barrow cemeteries as properly sion. In its damaged state, from the top knob- boundary markers. The Island's Early Anglo-Saxon settle- headed terminal to the break in the artefact's 'bow' ment,focusing upon downland springlmes, is also discussed. spine, it measures 47.5 mm in length. The object seems to have suffered damage in antiquity, since the breaks in the artefact are not clean. Its bow 'spine' is gendy angled within the front piece, yet A CRUCIFORM BROOCH FROM the foot plate is missing below the break. It is of BLOODSTONE COPSE, solid construction, rather than being hollow in EAGLEHEAD DOWN, NEAR RYDE form, which could suggest that the artefact was an (Figsl&2) earlier variant or of a localised type (Eagles 1993, 133). On 9 August, 1995, a Mr Beeney brought a series The foot plate of the brooch is missing below of artefacts to the Isle of Wight Archaeological the break in the bow, which in turn has been Centre for identification purposes. These included severed at the point where the single pin connects a fragment of a brooch which was collected as a at the reverse lug. The lower zoomorphic terminal surface find whilst the owner was metal detecting would have been demarcated from the rest of the around a spring line in Bloodstone Copse, Eagle- bow by a laterally incised decoration (Hattatt head Down, near Ryde. The find spot was 1987, 303). This terminal would have been in­ centred upon NGR SZ 5002 5753. The exact scribed with a stylised animal head motif as a form provenance of the object is uncertain, as it was of decoration. The design would also have been found within a scrape made by a wild animal. characterised by two raised circular dots for eyes. However, its position at the base of the slope of the From the reverse side, it can be seen that there downland escarpment suggests that it could have was a single iron axis bar which held a spring been deposited within colluvium through the proc­ coil. This has been broken away from the axis ess of hill wash. bar, perhaps lending weight to the supposition It is considered that the Find came from an that the artefact was originally lost or discarded Early Anglo-Saxon cemetery or from secondary rather than being possibly attached to the clothing burials from a large Bronze Age cemetery of of a buried inhumation from within or around the thirteen ploughed-out barrows, which was situ­ suspected Anglo-Saxon cemetery. The pin has ated upslope to the west upon the escarpment of been cleanly removed, as the artefact at the reverse Eaglehead Down and located through aerial pho­ is completely free from the residue of corrosion tography. (Rogerson 1985,203). fc*-;*-.* *'ji 15S F1 Eaglehead Copse F2 Frogland's Farm i Downland over 125m F3 Bowcombe Down Saxon cemetery 4 Shalcombe Down Saxon cemetery 5 Chessell Down Saxon cemetery 6 Newbarn Down Saxon cemetery 7 Clatterford Roman villa 8 Carisbrooke Castle g Arreton Down Saxon cemetery N I o Wooton Saxon ceramic scatter II Ashey Down Late Roman settlement 12 Ashey Down Bronze Age barrow cemetery 13 Eaglehead Down barrow cemetery 14 Brading Roman villa/Saxon settlement 15 Bembridge Down Saxon cemetery + kilometres 10 Fig. 1 Map of the Isle of Wight, showing sites mentioned in the text STEDMAN: THREE EARLY ANGLO-SAXON METALWORK FINDS FROM THE ISLE OF WIGHT, 1993-6 111 brooch. This date has been supported by Reich- stein who attributes the design and form to a date of c. AD 500. Catherine Mortimer and John Hines also support a date centred upon the 5th century (Stoodley 1996; 1997, Pers. Comm.). There is a strong possibility, however, that the deposition of the brooch within the suggested funerary context at Eaglehead Down may have been at a later date. Intensive wear patterns on the artefact could be indicative of a well-handled family heirloom. It is unwise to assign an ethnic attribution to an artefact such as this. This brooch type was previously unknown on the Isle of Wight, and is, on the whole, more usually attributed to 1 cm areas of Anglian settlement within England. Dr Martin Welch, however, is unwilling to pre­ Fig. 2 Cruciform brooch from Bloodstone Copse, Eaglehead scribe an 'Anglian' label to the object, since Down cruciform brooches have been also found in Jutish East Kent. The Isle of Wight and South­ ern Hampshire have been traditionally regarded The artefact's small square head plate is sur­ as having had cultural traditions which were mounted by three knob-headed terminals, that more akin to the Jutish people (Yorke 1990, 137; seem to have been cast as a complete component. Arnold 1982). Perhaps the closest parallel to this However, the third right-hand horizontal termi­ object is a terminal of a copper-alloy Aberg Group nal is missing. The knob-headed terminals have I or II Jutish' cruciform brooch from the sub-Ro­ been subject to a great degree of wear and tear man and Early Anglo-Saxon site at Northbrook and cannot be evaluated as being spherical in Farm, Micheldever Johnston 1998). The Isle of form. They are certainly not polyhedral in de­ Wight artefact may have exhibited a similar zoo- sign as exhibited by other brooch variants. morphic terminal which is thought to represent a These knob-headed terminals would have horse. been joined to the axis bar head plate thus Few known comparisons have been found in giving the brooch an overall width of 50 mm. Central Southern England except one notable metal Along the centre of the brooch's front piece detector find at Hod Hill, Dorset (Eagles & Mortimer the bow spine has a very badly worn raised 1993, 132). The significance of this artefact is of linear decoration which can just be discerned: some note, as alongside an equal-armed brooch unfortunately the design is badly worn and is with an animal terminal, the artefact is one of 'the indeterminate. earliest Anglo-Saxon objects to be found within the heartland of Wessex. (Hampshire, Wilt­ shire, and Dorset)' (Eagles 1995, 13). It was Classification and parallels found close to the site of a Roman building The object can be identified as closely resem­ situated below the Hod Hill hillfort adjacent to the bling an Anglo-Saxon cruciform brooch in River Stour. design and form (McGregor & Bolick 1993, Finds in England from within sealed contexts in 95-7). It is fairly close to the variant described cemeteries include brooches in Graves 52 and 55 as Aberg 1926 Group 1. Earlier academic think­ in Westgarth Gardens, Suffolk (West 1988, ing suggests that this brooch type was common 59-60), Grave 26 from Spong Hill in Norfolk during the period AD 450-500 and is derived fTomalin 1996, Pers. Comm.) and Grave 17 at from the continental Teutonic 'P' shaped Brancaster, Norfolk (Rogerson 1985, 203). Other 112 HAMPSHIRE FIELD CLUB AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY examples cited also include the brooch from sphere of Southern Central England, there is a Grave 13 at Girton. Cambridgeshire (Rogerson similar trend in which the burial sites themselves 1985, 205). exist upon or near land boundaries, as well as being sited in or near existing settlements (Bonney 1966, 28). Thejind-spot and its possible sigtificance The find spot of the brooch is also significant The brooch would appear to be from a secondary with respect to the relationship between Early or primary barrow burial. This is strongly sup­ Anglo-Saxon and Romano-British setdements. It ported by the location by aerial photography of a was found within the environs of a Romano-Brit­ Bronze Age barrow cemetery of some thirteen ish settlement situated adjacent to the springline at barrows on the downland escarpment to the west, the mouth of the Eaglehead Coombe. Such sites which may have been the focus for a Saxon could be the focus of Anglo-Saxon occupation, cemetery; also by a scatter of sub-Roman and as demonstrated by the nearby Brading villa, unabraded Early Anglo-Saxon pottery from that where there is evidence of sub-Roman activity site and from a sealed stake-hole context at the and an Early Anglo-Saxon building (Trott 1997, spring line below (Stedman forthcoming). Pers. Comm.). The Brading site was also related The find spot of the brooch is within 100 m to a late Romano-British settlement on the of the Newchurch/Brading parish boundary downland above, with its adjacent Bronze Age (Margham 1996, Pers. Comm.). The barrow and secondary Anglo-Saxon barrow cemetery at cemetery on the downland may have been re­ Ashey Down (Drewett 1970). This would rein­ spected by the Newchurch/Brading parish force Dr Arnold's hypothesis that the Island's boundary, which may not have originated Early Anglo-Saxon setders farmed and lived until the Late Saxon period with the estab­ within visual contact of their downland barrow lishment of the new church.