Bronze Openwork Handle of Clasp-Knife from Saxton Road, Abingdon, Oxfordshire: Roman Handle Re-used in 6th or 7th century AD

Hare-coursing was one of the most popular sports in Roman Britain. Hares are still very common in Oxfordshire, and hare-coursing - which is now illegal - was still popular among University undergraduates in the 18th century.

The bronze handle, with its openwork design of a dog chasing a hare, is Romano-British. It must have been found and re-used by the later Anglo-Saxon inhabitants of this previously Roman town at the Confluence of the rivers Ock and Thames; it contained the remains of a (Saxon?) iron blade, and was buried in the grave of an Anglo-Saxon woman. Perhaps it had been held in her belt or girdle as it was found just below the ribs, point downwards.

In Anglo-Saxon times, women as well as men regularly carried personal knives about with them, worn on the person to assist in daily tasks.