Fig. 503.—Harty. ½
Another and smaller disc with a central hole, having a short collar round it, is shown in Fig. 503. This is only the rough casting; and at one time I thought it was merely a waste piece or jet from the foundry, as it was discovered with moulds, celts, &c., in the Isle of Harty hoard. Another disc of the same kind was, however, found with the hoard of bronze at Yattendon,[1573] Berks, which shows so much finish all over that it would seem to have been adapted for some special purpose, and not to have been merely a piece of waste metal. Another disc of the same kind was found in the hoard at Haynes Hill,[1574] Kent, and was regarded as part of an utensil. Mr. Franks informs me that an example with a rather longer tube has been found in Brittany. In the Yattendon hoard were also some fragments of thin bronze plate very highly planished on one face, and a hollowed conical piece of bronze, not unlike an extinguisher; but the purpose for which either of these was intended is a mystery.
Returning to bronze objects which appear to be in some manner connected with straps, I may cite some loops or slides of which an example is given in Fig. 504. The original is not in this case English, having formed part of the hoard found at Dreuil, near Amiens. But a specimen of the same size and shape, though rather more convex on the faces, is in Lord Braybrooke’s collection at Audley End, and was, I believe, found with other bronze objects, including a hollow ring, in Essex. At first sight such objects might appear to be intended for mouth-pieces of scabbards, but on trial I find that the opening is not wide enough to allow of the passage of a sword blade, much less to admit of a thickness of leather or wood in addition. They seem more probably to be slides, such as might have served for receiving the two ends of a leather belt.
In the Dreuil hoard was also a flat kind of ferrule, about 2¼ inches wide and closed at the end, which may have served as a sort of tag or end to a broad strap. There were also socketed celts and knives.
In the same hoard was a loop fluted on one face, like Fig. 505, but with four divisions instead of three, and 2½ inches wide. The loops shown in Figs. 505 and 506 formed part of a large hoard found near Abergele,[1575] Denbighshire, and described in the Archæologia, whence my cuts are copied. There were present in the hoard forty-two loops or slides of this kind, though of various widths, as well as eighteen buttons, a reel-shaped object like Fig. 377, and numerous rings, some of them almost like buckles in shape. There were also several double rings fitting the one within the other, the inner about 1¼ inch in diameter and the outer about 2⅛ inches. They are cast hollow, and on the inner ring is a loop which fits into a hole in the outer ring. In the same hoard was the remarkable object shown half-size in Fig. 507. It consists of three pairs of irregular oval plates with loops, through which is passed a bar of bronze. Mr. Franks, who has described the hoard, says that “the loops show marks of wear, and the whole was probably a jingling ornament to be attached to horse-harness. Objects of the same nature have been found with bridle-bits, and are engraved in Madsen, Afbildninger,[1576] and in Worsaae’s Nordiske Oldsager, Fig. 266.”
These examples, however, do not present such close analogies with the Welsh specimen as do some interlinked rings with flat pendants found at Plonéour,[1577] Brittany, with looped palstaves and a flat quadrangular knife. Some other analogous objects are mentioned by M. Chantre,[1578] who has also described several sistrum-like instruments, to which M. de Mortillet[1579] is inclined to assign an Eastern origin.
Reverting to the Abergele hoard, I may add that Mr. Franks regards it as belonging to the close of the Bronze Period, and conjectures that most of the objects which it comprised formed part of the trappings of a horse.
Bronze bridle-bits, such as have been found in various parts of the Continent,[1580] have very rarely been found in Britain, though occasionally discovered in Ireland. In the British Isles they appear for the most part, if not in all cases, to belong to the Late Celtic Period.
