English: Copper alloy bead. Cast barrel-shaped possible bead, some doubt being raised by the ample diameter (c.7mm) of the putative stringing hole. Abraded with some spalling. If this identification is sustained this might be a paternoster bead from a rosary, dividing decades of beads of other material. If this was indeed its function, this would imply that those other beads were unusually large for this bead to have served to separate them. The devotional practice of the rosary was believed to have been promulgated particularly by the Dominican Order or Blackfriars, who were firmly established in Britain by the mid 13^th century. An alternative function as a knob from a small handle of later date might also be entertained. Suggested date: possibly Medieval, 1250-1500.

Diameter: 13mm, Height: 9.5mm, Weight: 2.60gms