File:Anglo-Saxon gilt copper alloy great square headed brooch (FindID 853178).jpg

English: An Anglo-Saxon gilt copper-alloy Great Square Headed brooch. The brooch is of Hines's Informal Group, Subgroup IV (Hines 1997: 189, pl. 95b.

The brooch has a rectangular headplate with a rounded, integral silvered disc in all four corners. The headplate is decorated with a large rectangular frame, which contains an abstract animal motif. The bow is square in plan, domed, and has a flat circular knop in the centre, cast integrally with the brooch. The footplate is roughly pointed oval in plan and is highly decorated with chip carved motifs. In the centre is a lozenge of reserve metal, and this contains two rectangular panels each containing two dots. Three curved lines decorate the field to the lower left and lower right. To the upper left is possibly a claw, and to the upper right is possibly a beak. To either side of the footplate is a silvered side lobe. The footplate terminal lobe is shovel-shaped and silvered or tinned.

Two lugs for the pin are visible on the reverse of the headplate, and iron corrosion is located between these. A small catchplate is located on the reverse of the footplate.

The brooch was found in two parts in the ploughzone, separated by circa 9m.

This brooch is strikingly similar to one found at Welbourn (Lincolnshire), and is probably from the same workshop or artisan (Hines 1997: 189, pl. 95b).

This brooch is a hybrid, principally following the Group XV form, but with additional features of forms belonging to the groups XVI-XVIII and XX. This places the brooch in Hines's Phase 3 (Hines 1997: 201, table. 25), and probably around AD525-560.