Casgliadau Arlein

Near complete copper alloy Trumpet Brooch from the 1st or 2nd centuries AD.

This brooch is near complete with just the spring and pin now detached and in two fragments.

The axis bar is somewhat unusual in that, instead of a rod, it has a flat strip. The separate remains of the spring do no now fit easily onto the strip axis bar. The strip axis bar could be due to a repair or possibly a fragment of a swivelling chain-loop now lost, although the lack of a retaining pin may suggest there was not a chain-loop.

It is decorated with leaf mouldings at the base of the head and the top of the leg, flanking the disc button. The surface has a mid-green patina.

Three brooches of a similar type were found in previous Whitton excavations (Webster,J. 1981, p.174-75, nos 22-24), one of which has been dated to AD70-95. Webster (1981, p.174) also suggests an early date for the brooches, recognising them as appearing on pre-conquest 'native' sites as well as 'wholly Roman' sites. The Trumpet Brooch corresponds to Hull's 'Chester' Type 154.A, as outlined by Hattatt (1987, p125-8). These are distributed around the lower Severn and indicate Gloucester could be the centre of manufacture.