File:Early-medieval mount, Vessel mount (A) (FindID 629384).jpg

English: A pair of incomplete copper alloy strap loop fittings dating to the medieval period. The mounts are stylistically very similar and may have come from the same mould and as they were found in close proximity likely came from the same belt. The fittings have different decorative attributes and are therefore described separately.

Mount A) An animal's head and snout, with upturned lip, is set horizontally with a slightly raised head. The snout narrows and a small area appears to have been damaged through use, as this is the section that would have fitted into the loop to secure the fitting in place. The snout is accentuated by four or five ribbed mouldings arranged transversely across the snout. The head is simply rounded with shallow linear depressions representing the eyes. There is another vertical linear narrowing on the top of the head. The neck of the beast is simply a rectangular bar of copper alloy, extending at a near-right angle from the back of the head. The underside of the neck is plain and undecorated but the outside has four transverse ribs with panels of cross-hatching or simple linear scores between. There is an area of raised, double ribbing that forms a raised panel near the base of the 'neck'. Below a final transverse rib the neck bends outwards another c.45 degrees and would have continued into a sharp curved section with upright loop. Mount A measures 67.42mm high, is 10.63mm wide and a maximum of 6.5mm thick. The head is 21.05mm long and 10.24mm wide. It weighs 26.9 grams.

Mount B) The second mount is comparable to Mount A, however the snout is complete and the decoration down the neck differs. It is also shorter than Mount A, having broken before the lower 45 degree bend. The snout of Mount B has a flat front and has two nostrils formed by simple indentations. The mouth is delineated by a recess around the front and sides of the snout. The same ribbing is seen as on the snout of Mount A. The sides of the head on Mount B have been damaged. The neck of the beast has the same number of ribs as Mount A as well as the raised section, however the decoration on the panels is different. There is only one main area of decoration, one large saltire in the upper portion of the neck. Mount B measures 56mm high, is 10.6mm wide and a maximum of 7.4mm thick. The head is 23.2mm long and 10.78mm wide. It weighs 29.1 grams.

Several similar strap fittings have been recorded on this database; records DENO-A644F2 and LVPL-F93B22 have broken in the same way as the two recorded here, while records BH-4A9D88 and BH-6A99D5 are complete examples and illustrate how the fitting would have worked and have been worn.

Although there are stylistic similarities with Romanesque art of the 12th and 13th centuries AD, it is probable that these strap fittings are of a slightly later date, c. 14th or 15th century AD.