File:Anglo-Saxon Great Square-Headed brooch (FindID 445960).jpg

English: An incomplete cast copper-alloy Great Square-headed brooch of Anglo-Saxon date. Only the bow and one side of the upper half of the footplate survive intact, the remainder of the brooch now missing due to old breaks. The bow is rectangular in form, slightly curved in profile and is faceted to give it a pyramidal form. At the centre of the bow is a flattened circular projecting knop. Extending from the base of the bow are the remains of the footplate, comprising the upper half of one side of the plate including one projecting side lobe. The lobe is flat, circular in form, integrally cast and decorated on its front face with applied silvering.

The front face of the foot between the lobe and bow has chip carved decoration in Salin Style I. This comprises a downards facing and incurving zoomorphic head with closed and hooked beak that probably originally formed one of two similar, opposing motifs each positioned to either side of the plate. The neck/body of the creature is formed from a double parallel ridge with a pelleted band between each ridge. This runs from the base of the bow to the base of the head, before curving around the beak to the centre of the side lobe and then downwards towards the now missing foot of the brooch. It is probable that the now missing opposite side of the footplate was decorated in a similar/symmetrical manner. This creates a small lozenge-shaped panel at the centre of the footplate, only part of which remains visible, that contains chip carved decoration of uncertain form but probably representing zoomorphic elements. All surfaces of the front face, with the exception of the side lobe, have the remains of gilding.

The back face is flat and undecorated and has an incomplete but integrally cast catchplate at the junction of foot and bow, which is flat, rectangular in form and missing its outer edge due to old breaks. The entire object measures 47.07mm in length, 35.93mm in width (13.58mm in width at bow), 2.72mm in thickness, 8.49mm in thickness at bow, and weighs 20.35g.

This is an incomplete fragment from the foot of an Anglo-Saxon Great Square-headed brooch. It finds close parallels in examples published by Hines (1997: pls. 67-70) and probably belongs to his Group XVII. He suggests a possible Scandinavian influence in the form of this group of brooches, but with some local variation. This group of brooches is dated by Hines to the 6th century AD, perhaps c.530-570 AD (Hines, 1997: pp. 231).