Copper-alloy Ring from Barton Court Farm, Abingdon, Oxfordshire: 5th century

The site of the Late Roman villa-style farmhouse at Barton Court Farm near Abingdon continued to be occupied after the 4th century, when late Romano-British as well as early Saxon-type material was lost or discarded into the ditch forming the south side of the villa enclosure.

The bronze strip out of which the ring is made was cut down from a bracelet; its large size would fit a man's finger. It is decorated with a frieze of fantastic animals: cat-like creatures with plumed tails, duck-like birds, and griffins, all drawn in quick lines and punched dots.

The style of engraving resembles that of 5th-century Quoit brooches, and so belongs to the latest ‘Romano-British’ style. Its decoration can be compared with that of a lost silver ring from Wantage and even more closely with a fine pair of gold bracelets from a treasure found at Hoxne, Norfolk. There is a growing body of evidence that a Romanised life-style continued long after political control ceased in AD 407. This ring, together with the continued existence of large settled sub-Roman community at Dorchester, is evidence of such a phenomenon in Oxfordshire.

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