Fig. 481.—West Buckland. ½
Another form of bracelet, probably of earlier date than some of those represented in the previous figures, is of the type shown in Fig. 482. It consists of a long bar of bronze, either circular or subquadrangular in section, doubled over so as to leave a broad loop in the middle, and then curved round so as to form the bracelet, the two ends of the bar being bent over to form a hook, which engages in the central loop. That shown in the figure was formerly in the collection of the late Sir Walter Trevelyan, and is now in the British Museum. As will be seen, the edges are in some parts minutely serrated. The original was discovered with two others, and a ring of the same metal, in a moss at Ham Cross, near Crawley, Sussex.
—— Fig. 482.—Ham Cross. ½ —————— Fig. 483.—Heathery Burn. ½
Four others, forming two pairs, neatly placed round a torque, were found at Hollingbury Hill,[1497] near Brighton, as already described. They are now in the British Museum. I have seen two others of the same kind which were found at Pyecombe, Sussex. They are in the collection of Mrs. Dickinson, of Hurstpierpoint. Another was found in a barrow near Brighton,[1498] with the long pin already mentioned, and is now at Alnwick Castle. This was slightly ornamented with a kind of herring-bone pattern.
Bracelets constructed on the same principle are sometimes formed of much thinner wire. One from the Heathery Burn Cave,[1499] already so often mentioned, is shown in Fig. 483.
Another of the same size and character, but made of even thinner wire, was found with a bronze razor, a button, and other antiquities, in the bed of a stream near Llangwyllog Church,[1500] Anglesea. These objects are now in the British Museum. The type is not confined to Britain, for a bracelet clasping in the same manner was found in the Lac du Bourget.[1501]
Penannular bracelets, like Fig. 473, with the ends slightly expanding, have been not unfrequently found in Ireland. One engraved by Wilde[1502] is described as of pure red copper.
In many there are large cup-shaped ends at about right angles to each other. One from Co. Cavan is shown in Fig. 484. I have another of the same type, but much smaller and lighter, from Ballymoney, Co. Antrim.