Fig. 454.
Fig. 455.
Fig. 456.
The one next figured ([fig. 456]) was discovered in Westmoreland, and described and engraved in the Archæological Journal, vol. ix. page 90. This beautiful fibula I here engrave of a reduced size. The ring, it will be seen, moves freely round the upper half of the brooch, the lower or flat part of which is divided so as to allow of the passage of the acus through it. “It is set with flat bosses, five on either side. Each of these flat dilated parts of this curious ornament appears to proceed from the jaws of a monstrous head, imperfectly simulating that of a serpent or dragon; and between the jaw is introduced the intertwined triplet, or triquetra, the same ornament which is found on the sculptured cross at Kirk Michael, Isle of Man, and on some Saxon coins.” This example is of silver. With it was found a silver armlet—a simple twisted bar of decreasing thickness towards the extremities, which are hooked. The dimensions of the fibula are, length of acus, eleven inches; greatest diameter of circular part, five inches; width of the dilated part, two inches; weight, 8 oz. 8 dwt.
Fig. 457.
By far the finest example found in England is the one next figured ([fig. 457]). It was found in 1862, near the picturesque village of Bonsall, in the High Peak of Derbyshire. It is of bronze, and is here engraved of its full size. The ring measures three inches and seven-eighths in its greatest diameter, and the acus, which is not engraved of its full length, is six inches and three-quarters long.