Enamelled Brooch from Northfield Farm, Long Wittenham, Oxfordshire: 2nd century AD

Although used functionally to fasten clothing (the Romans had no buttons), Roman brooches are usually small and delicate, like this little lozenge-shaped plate brooch from the 2nd-century farmstead at Long Wittenham. On the reverse were a hinged pin and a catch-plate under the notched ring and red-enamelled hexagon; the two-sided knobs are purely decorative.

The unusual design, with three raised stages, the first and third with knurled edges, culminating in an enamelled diamond impressed with five tiny glass bands, is known from a very small number of closely similar examples from as far away as Norfolk, the Isles of Scilly, and the Rhineland: presumably they were all created by one workshop.

Like the little bronze spoon, the enamelled brooch was found at Northfield Farm on the Thames bank near Long Wittenham in the remains of a 2nd-century Romano-British farmstead.

© 1998 Oxfordshire Museum Service, Setúbal Museums and the Benaki Museum