Roman (late 1st to 2nd century) brooch, Dragonesque type: The copper alloy brooch is incomplete and the pin is missing. It is an S-shape abstract zoomorphic form with turned in head at the terminal. Only one head remains the other is missing. The remaining head has a small circular cell topped with blue enamel which is representative of an eye, an openwork small circular cell at one edge may represent an ear and a short ridge represents the mouth. The body has a transverse band across the centre which is filled with circular and lozenge cells with settings now empty probably originally filled with blue enamel and what is now a blue enamel in the outer triangular cells. The reverse is undecorated and is relatively flat except for the body element which is undulating. The brooch has a well-developed green patina. The length is 33mm, the width is 22mm.

Dragonesque brooches are a native British type of brooch which is most common in the north (Bayley and Butcher, 2004:171). Hunter (2010, 101) comments that enamelled dragonesque brooches were more popular on military sites and urban settings, and the non-enamelled dragonesque brooches were more popular in rural/ native sites. When the enamelled brooches are looked at more closely, Hunter concludes that type A2 were popular in both military and nucleated settlements, A3 types were popular on nucleated settlements only. This dragonesque brooch can be classified as a Hunter Type A2a.

Bayley, J. and Butcher, S., 2004 Roman Brooches in Britain: A technological and Typological Study Based on the Richborough Collection London: Society of Antiquaries

Hunter, F. 2010 "Changing Objects in Changing Worlds: Dragonesque Brooches and Beaded Torcs." In A Decade of Discovery: Proceedings of the Portable Antiquities Scheme Conference 2007. British Archaeological Reports 520.