Casgliadau Arlein

In poor condition, only the body of the bow remains. The head stud is of pointed oval shape, defined by a ridged bronze wall; a series of bronze walls crosses the centre of the stud dividing it into a roughly crescentic shape above and a heart shape below, each originally filled with turquoise enamel; at the centre of the stud the bronze walls diverge to form another crescentic shape, probably originally filled with a different coloured enamel, perhaps yellow, with, below, a raised lozenge of bronze. A flanged margin runs down each side of the bow, and an enamelled panel ornaments the brooch from the head stud to the lost foot; the ornament consists of a series of enamelled lozenges, defined by bronze walls, flanked down each side by corresponding triangular sinkings; turquoise enamel is evidenced in the triangles and there are traces of yellow enamel on some of the lozenges. The brooch may be compared with four examples from Nor'nour which have pointed oval studs and a similar pattern of enamel ornament on the bow; the Nor'nour examples have a distinctive incised cross on the bow above the stud and it may be suggested that they are the product of a single workshop, perhaps situated in the south west of England in view of the distribution of other examples displaying the same feature cited by Hull. Since the upper part of the bow is missing it cannot with certainity be assumed that the Usk brooch is a product of the smae source, but the treatment of the internal area of the head stud on the examples from this group from Cirencester, Stockton and Charterhouse-on-Mendip, described by Hull, perhaps reinforces this suggestion. The casual find from Biglis, appears to be another of the same kind as the Usk brooch, though also in poor condition.