File:Anglo-Saxon bell (FindID 600069).jpg

English: A fragment of an iron hand-bell plated with copper-alloy using the 'fusion-plating process' (Bourke 1980; 1983). The bell is quadrangular in plan with a flat crown (top); only approximately one quarter of the crown survives. A circular patch of iron corrosion is visible at the top, perhaps representing the remains of the cross-piece (handle). This corrosion extends as a short stump underneath, and is visible on the top also. Two fragments of the face survive, both of which flare to the breaks below, thus probably originally giving the mouth of the bell a quadrangular form. Patches of copper alloy survive on both the interior and exterior, indicating that this bell was made using the 'fusion-plating process' (Bourke 1980; 1983). The length of the incomplete top of the bell measures 3mm, while the width - which appears complete at the corner - measures 23mm.

The original dimension of the bell is unclear, but a comparision with other bells suggest that the crown could have been as wide as 85mm, and as long as 143mm.

Copper-brazed iron bells of quadrangular form originated in Ireland in the 7th century, and continued in production until the 10th century (Bourke 1980: 55-61).

The bell is smaller, but similar in form to one discovered in the grave of an Anglo-Saxon smith at Tattershall Thorpe, Lincolnshire, dated to between c. 660-670 (Hinton 2000), p.44, fig. 30). The condition of the Tattershall Thorpe bell suggested that it was already old at the time of deposition, and the location of the item in the grave demonstrated that it belonged with other tools rather than with the scrap metal. Iron bells have also been found in association with tool hoards elsewhere at Flixborough (Leahy 1995) and Mastermyr (Arwidsson and Berg 1983 in note 15, 28-9). Other examples from graves have all been dated to the 7th or early 8th centuries (Hinton 2000: 45; Geake 1997: 102). Parallels on the PAS database include WILT-99FB4B and WMID-09C695.

Larger braized hand-bells are well known in Ireland where many have been discovered on monastic sites dating between 600 and 900 (Bourke 1980). Indeed, one such site at Clonfad, Co. Westmeath has provided evidence for the production of copper-brazed iron hand-bells (Stevens 2010). Those known from Scotland - which are also assigned a 7th or 8th century date - are attributed to the influence of the Irish church but have a greater size range, from 60mm to 326mm tall (Bourke 1983: 464). The Scottish series of brazed iron bells have been interpreted as evidence for the activity of Columban monks and the influence of the Columban church (Bourke 1983: 466). Caldwell et al note that 'bells appear in some of the earliest surviving literature on the Insular Church, and that by about AD600 the bell appears to have become such an accepted part of the Christian landscape that a monk's reponse to its sound can be regarded as one of the distinguishing features of a life of holiness' (Caldwell et al 2012: 227). Stevens (2010) argues that copper-brazed iron hand-bells, which frequently appear - and seem to be produced - in monastic settings in Ireland, were a type of bell exclusively used in ecclesiastical settings. Bourke elaborates, noting three primary uses of insular hand bells: to regulate monastic time, to punctuate the liturgy, and to animate religious ritual. Bourke also notes that 'their status was subject to elevation and bells were routinely transformed into trophies or relics of the saints despite their origin as accessories in communal ownership' (Bourke 2013: 2).

A key question is whether the English series of bells - which are frequently of much reduced size, and which often have sub-oval bases rather than quadrangular ones - share the same monastic associations. In England Anglo-Saxon bells have been found on a variety of high status sites and also within graves (Hinton 2000: 47), and the series demonstrates a greater range of sizes to those from Ireland and Scotland, particularly at the lower end where one example from York stands just 17mm tall (Ottaway 1995: 7). At the other end examples from Repton (Ottaway 1995: 7) and Tattershall Thorpe (Hinton 2000) stand over 100mm tall, though these are still much smaller than the Irish and Scottish examples.

Ottaway has suggested that smaller bells may have been hung around the necks of beasts (Ottaway 1995), but recent attempts to reconstruct the technological process of making copper-brazed iron bells have shown it is a demanding and complex task. To this extent it seems unlikely that they were used simply as animal bells.

It is possible that they were used by private individuals as a way of alerting others to his or her presence. Hinton, for instance, points to King Wihtred's law code of c. 695, which states that 'if a man from a distrance or a foreigner goes off the track, and he neither shouts nor blows a horn, he is to be assumed to be a thief, to be either killed or redeemed (Hinton 2000: 47; Whitelock 1979: 398).

However, the present bell was discovered on a site that has produced a large quantity of objects dating to the Middle Saxon period (circa 650-800), including a further five probable bells (LIN-4B37F8; LIN-B17DA7). The apex of LIN-4B37F8 is similar to the present example by being quadrangular in plan, and slightly domed, which is a feature more in keeping with the Irish and Scottish examples, including the example contained within the Kilmichael Glassary Bell-shrine (Caldwell et al 2012). The site assemblage also includes a significant quantity of Ipswich ware, imported glass, an inscription in lead, several hundreds of pins, stylii and a glass mount that shares similarities with Irish ecclesiastical objects. The site is located on a marsh-island close to the coast, and recent excavations have begun to illustrate the monastic nature of the settlement. Radiocarbon dates from some of the burials indicates 650-710.

References

Arwidsson and Berg (1983) The Mastermyr Find: A Viking Age Tool Chest from Gotland

Bourke, C. (1980) 'Early Irish Hand-Bells', The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, Vol. 110, 52-66

Bourke, C. (1983) 'The hand-bells of the early Scottish church', Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 113, 464-468

Bourke, C. (2013) 'Early Breton Hand-bells Revisited'. Melanges Bernard Merdrignac, pp.275-281.

Caldwell, D.H., Kirk, S., Markus, G., Tate, J. and Webb, S. (2012) 'The Kilmichael Glassary Bell-shrine'. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 142, 201-244

Geake, H. (1997) The Use of Grave-Goods in Conversion Period England, c. 600- c. 850, British Archaeology Reports British Series, 261 (Oxford)

Hinton, D. A smith in Lindsey: the Anglo-Saxon grave at Tattershall Thorpe, Lincolnshire, Society for Medieval Archaeology Monograph Series No. 16

Leahy, K. (1995) 'The Flixborough Hoard', Current Archaeology 141

Ottaway. P. (1995), 'The Products of the Blacksmith in Mid-Late Anglo-Saxon England, Part 2' <a href="http://www.pjoarchaeology.co.uk/academic-consultancy/anglosaxon-ironwork.html">http://www.pjoarchaeology.co.uk/academic-consultancy/anglosaxon-ironwork.html</a> accessed 14.6.2012.

Whitelock, D. (ed.) (1979), English Historical Documents c. 500-1042, 2nd edn. (London)