File:Medieval Buckle. (FindID 133608).jpg

English: A cast copper alloy hollow buckle of medieval date. Length 21.0mm, width 17.0mm and 15.0mm thick. Weight 8.94g.

The object is hollow and in the form of a dog's head that forms an ornate outside edge of a buckle. The mouth is open wide and each side as well as the top is moulded to form ears, eyes, eyebrows, cheeks and apointed snout. The underside of the object is smooth. At the top of the rear part of the head, along the longitudinal centre-lin is a V-shaped groove that may have servred as a pin- rest. This area, on and around the groove, has a deposit of iron corrosion. The edges of the rear open part are all cast finished except for a stub at each lower corner which have old breaks. The stubs are the surviving parts of what were probably projecting arms (the sides of the frame) that incorporated an integral transverse pin bar.

The object is corroded. However traces of a mid-brown patina are visible. paticularly on the smooth underside.A similar object is recorded on the Portable Antiquities Scheme database at DENO-F09717.

This type of buckle has been studied by A. Rogerson and S. Ashley, who have christened it the 'gaping-mouth beast' buckle. It is the subject of a forthcoming article in Medieval Archaeology (2011). They consider that the head is of Romanesque appearance and a 12th-century date is therefore likely.