File:Early medieval square-headed brooch two joining fragments. (FindID 135694).jpg

English: Two joining fragments from an early Anglo-Saxon great square-headed brooch, made from gilded copper alloy.

Fragment A - part of head plate and upper part of arched bow. Length 30.90mm, width 36.08mm, thickness c.7.9mm, weight 15.06g.

Fragment B - lower part of arched bow (joins fragment A) and upper part of foot. Length 32.02mm, width 28.21mm, thickness 9.91mm, weight 9.71g.

Approximate total length when joined, 60mm.

Fragment A: Most of the original rectangular or trapezoidal head-plate is missing, and there are no original edges, except for a short length (3.75mm & 4mm) of the straight, slightly downward-angled, lower edges to either side of the bow. What survives of the head-plate is the inner rectangular field (width 28mm, height from top of bow 10mm) at the top of the bow, with relief ornament of a central face-mask surrounded by debased interlace zoomorphic elements, including a possible foot with four toes to the left, and two curved limbs on the right. The lower halves of the plain line border (3.3mm width) to either side survive, with a small part of a further field on the left side. On the reverse of the head-plate is a double pin hinge, set approximately centrally at the top of the bow. There is some iron staining between the two hinge plates.

The arched bow, in cross-section slightly convex on the obverse and concave on the reverse, has three prominent ribs, down both edges and down the centre. There is a column of three ring-and-dot motifs to either side of the midrib. At the top, the midrib is decorated with two short (3.5-5mm length) narrow longitudinal grooves, which have probably worn away from the higher parts of the bow.

Fragment B: This has a shorter fragment of bow, again with three vertical ribs, the central one decorated with a pair of short longitudinal grooves at its base. To either side of the midrib is another ring-and-dot motif. Just a small section of the foot-plate survives, with no original edges. At the base of the bow is a face-mask, with a semi-circular ridge forming the hair or head-dress, joined to a short broad triangular nose. There is a round eye to either side and a larger rounded cheek below. Two outer bands and some inner ridges extend from below the nose. These would probably have become a lozenge-shaped field with incurved sides, with perhaps a narrow beaded border on the outside. Little of the remaining decoration survives. The damaged catchplate on the reverse of the foot-plate may not be complete; the surviving length is 21mm.

The two fragments have identical fine mid-green patinas, with some thick gilding surviving on the obverse of each. There is no gilding on the reverse.

Great square-headed brooches date from the sixth century. This brooch is so incomplete that a precise Hines Group cannot be assigned, but its surviving parts are perhaps closest to the Group III brooch from Chessell Down grave 22, on the Isle of Wight (Hines 1997, pl. 13b). Square-headed brooches range in date from the late 5th to the late 6th centuries - this brooch dates to the mid-late 6th century.

See Macgregor and Bollick 1993 (‘Summary Catalogue of the Anglo-Saxon Collections’, Oxford) p114 no.13.6, for a brooch with a similar, though not identical, scheme of decoration, with face masks and animal interlace.