Brooches in late Iron Age and Roman Britain. 1

471 Pages·2011·15.683 MB·English

by  Mackreth, D. F

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BROOCHES IN LATE IRON AGE
AND ROMAN BRITAIN
D. F. Mackreth
Volume I
Oxbow Books
Oxford and Oakville
Published by
Oxbow Books, Oxford, UK
© Oxbow Books and D. F Mackreth 2011
ISBN 978 1 84217 411 1
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
This book is available direct from
Oxbow Books, Oxford, UK
(Phone: [phone]; Fax: [phone])
and
The David Brown Book Company
PO Box 511, Oakville, CT 06779, USA
(Phone: [phone]; Fax: [phone])
or from our website
www.oxbowbooks.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Mackreth, Donald.
Brooches in late Iron Age and Roman Britain / D.F. Mackreth.
v. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-1-84217-411-1
1. England, Southern--Antiquities. 2. Brooches--England, Southern--History--To 1500. 3. Material culture--England, South-
ern--History--To 1500. 4. Iron Age--England, Southern. 5. England, Southern--Antiquities, Roman. 6. Excavations (Archae-
ology)--England, Southern. I. Title.
DA90.M33 2010
936.2--dc22
2010050973
Printed and bound by
Short Run Press, Exeter
To Graham Webster who caused more trouble than he intended
Alternative views:
There once was a brooch in a barrow
Whose main part was long thin and narrow
The pin had come off
One end was a trough
And the other was shaped like a marrow.
(Miriam Mackreth aet. 11)

Prologue
Why did I choose brooches to study? I can lay the blame why I did not resort to the camera; after all, I was familiar
firmly at the feet of Graham Webster who instigated with the problems of photographing buildings, both inside
the carefully tiered courses on excavation for amateurs and out. The reason was simple: a drawing can be given
at Wroxeter. The Advanced Course, last held in 1963, as many detailed views as are necessary and obscure detail
required the student to choose a class of object to study made clear. Photographs are fine, but what is gained in
using what was, for those times, a good archaeological initial speed is lost in subsequent study: photographs are
library assembled for the course. The intention was, no less easy to sort than index cards. A drawing with notes
doubt, to illustrate the general difficulty in carrying out was both much cheaper and more effective, and this is as
such a study in a short time with only a general library and true today as it was then.
no actual collections. I chose brooches on the grounds that After 500 items had been quickly gathered the road
they looked vaguely interesting and were certainly prettier began to get harder. The amount of excavation carried out in
than, say, horseshoes or tiles. The point about inadequacy the earlier 1960s was, in total area, minute compared with
of time and resources was quickly made. what was to follow in the 1970s and later. The production
In 1963 one had what was known to everyone as of excavation reports was limited and they were very small,
Camulodunum, now Hawkes and Hull 1947, and the nearly all going into county journals. Therefore, the only
chapter on brooches in Collingwood’s The Archaeology way forward was to visit museums and go through journal
of Roman Britain and that was that. Sir Ian Richmond’s runs at a major library. I dealt with museums at Scunthorpe,
attempt to inject some sense into Collingwood’s useless Lincoln, Newark and Nottingham University, Cirencester
alphabetical system (Collingwood and Richmond and Devizes fairly rapidly, but there were constraints of
1969, Chapter 15) was well-intentioned but a failure: cost and time. I only had a limited annual holiday, and
Collingwood did not use the whole alphabet and the sparse means. Although a member of the RAI with free
term “Dolphin” has bedevilled the literature ever since. access the Library of the Society of Antiquaries, I only
Thereafter, there were various excavation reports in which really had the weekend to visit, which was not much use.
small finds were treated on a scale of good to bad, the As the 1960s progressed, I got sucked more and more into
former being at the level of Richborough IV and the excavation and finally, I went to university. Thereafter, all
latter being the Great Casterton excavations 1, 2 and 3 was changed. The prime constraints of dealing with material
(Corder 1951, 1954 and 1961) in which small finds as still remain, but I was fortunate in being asked to report on
such did not figure. There was, of course, Excavations at newly excavated assemblages, and the flood of publication
Camerton, Somerset (Wedlake 1958) which was both since 1970 has made life relatively easy. However, museum
good and bad: there was a discussion at least by M. R. collections are still grossly under represented in my index,
Hull, but the objects were very poorly illustrated. There only that of the University Museum at Cambridge being
were other reports in which the brooches were merely an addition of any consequence.
diagrams, so badly drawn that even a basic type could By 1965 I knew that at least 2,000 brooches were
hardly be distinguished. It would be invidious to name needed before anything really useful could emerge from
any example – every student of any class of material will the material. I started a separate site index to record which
have come across such. brooches occurred on what sites. By 1975 features which
Using the library of the Thoroton Society of had not been conceived ten years earlier in assemblages
Nottinghamshire, my local society, I began a card index on were beginning to show. The biggest groups of brooches
the small, and cheap, 5 by 3 inch size. I soon became aware proved to be the Colchester and its Derivatives. I decided to
that M. R. Hull had been working on brooches for thirty leave detailed classification until later and so grouped them
years with a view to publishing and, being sensitive of under how the pins were mounted. Until then, “artistic”
treading on toes, I asked Sir Ian Richmond, the then doyen aspects were the chief means used to divide the material.
of Romano-British studies, whether I should continue. My method was, in its way, just as arbitrary as putting all
His advice was to carry on. As I could not know what was with bulbous foot-knobs, or all with enamel, together. The
going to be significant, I drew every item I came across chief value of my method was that the technical aspect was
and have never regretted the arduous labour. I was asked safe: “Art” could wait. As it happens, by accident I had
vi Prologue
stumbled upon a great truth, but brooches had already years before A.D. 43. The acceleration in Iron Age studies
been classified as having hinged pins or springs mounted since the middle 1960s has been such that it would take a
in the Polden Hill method etc., and everyone knew, of very fool-hardy person indeed to insist that a political act
course, what a “Poor Man’s Brooch” was. in one particular year immediately changed what a society,
Once I had the 2,000 records, it was obvious that I governed by custom and tradition, wore.
would need at least 5,000 and then the figure became This brings me to the limits set by this study. It covers
10,000 and that is probably a fair base for study: new types what I call Late La Tène styles, the full Roman period
are now excessively rare. More than 99% of the material and those elements amongst Penannulars which may or
coming my way can be slotted into existing categories may not have had an influence on the styles which are
and new sub-varieties are easier to spot and deal with. undeniably post-Roman in every sense. Now that I have
In the beginning I ignored the large Plate Brooch group over 15,000 items, the need to accumulate more before
and Penannulars. The first exclusion was unfortunate for committing myself to some positive views has gone. What
those wanting reports naturally expected all brooches follows is an attempt to bring order and sense to what can
to be included. Penannulars I put off for much longer, at times appear to be a mass of intractable and gradually
Mrs Fowler’s paper being so easy to use, but I had to rotting metal.
give in as I realised that, if dating had improved for all Lastly, let me apologise for having devised a monster
classes of material, then it would have also done so for of a classification system: brooches were made in their
Penannulars. Originally I had thought I would only deal millions, types and variations came and went and we only
with post-conquest brooches: “Iron Age” brooches could have the pitiful remnants of a bewilderingly diverse scene.
be ignored. This was an easy decision, it being commonly Somehow, the sheer range which can be detected has to be
thought that the Colchester was a mainly post-conquest given a semblance of a system, a cloak of decent ordering.
type, the dearth of published Iron Age collections hiding Whether I have succeeded depends upon the users of the
from view what was actually happening in the 100 to 150 system and to them I wish the best of luck.
Acknowledgements
It gives me great pleasure to mention a few friends or sparsely populated lands, as far as brooches are concerned,
colleagues, among so many, who have sent me material between the Humber and Hadrian’s Wall. I am also grateful
without being solicited. Firstly, the late Dr. Grace to Jeffrey May who supplied valuable material from the
Simpson, having undertaken the task of dealing with the equally sparse lands of the Trent Valley. My thanks go to
Hull Corpus, sent me several of M. R. Hull’s original Nina Crummy for useful discussion, always to the point.
drawings. Dr. Simpson also sent me copies of drawings Alas that Graham Webster did not live to receive a copy
of the South Cadbury brooches. Bill Milligan of Norwich of the work he unwittingly inspired.
Castle Museum is chiefly responsible, along with David Christine, my wife, did more than just offer encouraging
Gurney, for filling in the once blank spaces of Norfolk. words. Had it not been for her numbering of the brooch
Ian Stead and Valery Rigby sent me copies of the drawings index to form the master serial list for the database, I doubt
which appeared in Stead’s (1976) account of excavations if I would have begun to create that as soon as I did and her
in Lincolnshire, as well as those at Baldock (Stead and sub-editing skills have been invaluable. Thereafter, there
Rigby 1986) and in the King Harry Lane cemetery (Stead was much sorting of bibliographical material as well as the
and Rigby 1989). To have these before publication was more arduous chore of filling in fields in the database. As
invaluable, as has been acknowledged in many footnotes, for bibliographic problems, I give my thanks to Adrian
although the slow rate of publication has meant that there James of the Society of Antiquaries Library for dealing with
are fewer of these in print than could have been the case. tiresome minutiae which I had forgotten to add.
The same applies to Margaret Snape for permission to refer The original card indices of the brooches and sites,
to her M. Phil thesis before it appeared in print (Snape are deposited in the British Museum where they can
1993). Nick Griffiths has kept me supplied with items be consulted. The locations, or collections, along with
from almost the whole of the south of England, and Hilary the names of known excavators and the bibliographical
Cool and Martin J. Dearne provided brooches from the citation are on the attached CD-ROM.