File:HARNESS PENDANT (FindID 601180).jpg

English: A cast, copper alloy, heraldic medieval harness pendant with enamel, dating from AD 1250-1400. It is a "heater shaped" shield, similar to "London Museum Catalogue" 1940, page 118, figure 38(I). It is complete with its suspension loop, although this is slightly split at the top. It has considerable red enamel surviving, but has lost its metal finish. Otherwise the surface has a dark brown patina with some green verdigris. The pendant is somewhat bent; the bottom point sticking forward from the rest of the pendant. It does not affect the integrity of the of the pendant at all, and the enamel not much. It measures 40.44mm including the loop x 27.66mm wide, and is 3.41mm thick. The loop itself is 8.18mm long x 6.77mm thick. It weighs 12.25gm.

The heraldry on the pendant is gules (red), fretty or (gold) OR argent (silver); and a label of 4 points. This actual pendant is pictured on C.J's Metal Detecting website pages, as an example of a shield shaped pendant. It is item 3.47 on gallery page 3 of the "Medieval Pendants and Mounts" section. It is not described.

There is a very similar pendant on the PAS database SUR-E1B431. There are two more similar on the database; NMS-579D64 and WMID-90B081; but these do not have a label. None of these have a metal finish. If the non enamelled parts were or (gold) it is certain the arms would have belonged to a member of the Audley family. See Humphery- Smith "Anglo Norman Armory" page 456. A Hugh d'Audley bears the arms with a label, see Foster "A Dictionary of Heraldry", page 7. If they were argent (silver), Humphery-Smith gives more than one alternative, page 457. But the most likely family is Huddleston.

It would be convenient if the metal was silver and the family Huddleston. The township of Huddleston is no more than 5 miles from the find spot of Castleford. John de Huddleston who lived at Huddleston is mentioned in the Pipe Rolls of 1273. He bears the arms without a label. The same arms, with a label, are borne by Adam Huddleston and Richard Huddleston; see Foster, page 118. Their arms are doubtless differenced by a label to show they are relatives of John.