Roman Brooches found in London and its Hinterland

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Frank Pemberton, April 2014 Recent Lecture

Frank began by saying his talk would be based on his work-in-progress. His study area was the City of London and Southwark. Although a lot of late Roman London was removed by Victorian cellars, earlier Roman London is more intact. But by the fourth century it was going downhill with overgrown sites, some buildings still standing but in ruins, and being quarried by locals. At the Museum of London he has inspected and identified nearly a thousand Roman brooches; most, as well as the excavations they came from, have not been published. So he first had to write up some of the sites to obtain dates. His talk would include: an introduction to the brooches; the three main Roman brooches; pre-Roman and Roman brooches; a short summary of imported enamel and plate brooches, worn by the elite and middle class; a case study of some brooches.

Some questions to be answered about each brooch were: how was it made? Who by? Where? Who for? Is it the same as or different from known types? How was it obtained? When was it in use? How was it discarded – in a ritual? Lost? Buried?

Some early brooches were made in one piece. Later, they were made as two pieces, using a different technique. Roman soldiers wore them – perhaps a certain type of brooch was worn by individual units within the legions. This might give information about social dimensions of the Roman army, and as these types of brooches are found around the landscape, this can give a picture of how the regiment moved around Britain. Hod Hill, Dorset is an Iron Age Hill Fort made into a Roman fort, with barracks inside - soldiers under the control of Vespasian, following up the initial invasion. It gave its name to “Hod Hill type” brooches, probably worn by the soldiers - the first type of brooches to be found.

Also found in Roman London and Southwark, circa 90 of these are at the Museum of London. And they are scattered around SE England, but not in the West. Some are on settlement sites. The army on policing duties? Or did the brooches belong to retired veterans?

The Aucissa is another type, made of brass. This has a large area between the brooch and its pin so could be used to fasten thick material, perhaps a cloak. These have been found all over the Continent, and along the Danube. There are about three different types, with both rounded or thin profiles. Different types for different legions? A lot have been found in Roman London, particularly along roads, also in Roman Southwark. Some have names inscribed on them.

Crossbow brooches – there are a couple in the Museum of London - appear much later, in the late third, early fourth century, possibly made as far afield as Hungary, or are local copies. They are mostly found as grave goods, and were worn by men, perhaps showing their official rank: they gave status. Perhaps someone demobbed from the army. Some are in silver and gold, some are highly decorated with fine detail. They can come apart: the pieces are screwed together. In a plaque of a Roman emperor and his family, father and son are wearing Crossbow brooches on the right shoulder - they held the toga in place on the shoulder. Crossbow brooches were not jewellery – they were functional. On the Continent, they are found along the Danube. There was a concentration of them at Richborough. Justine Bailey has done a project on the alloys used in these brooches. There is also a study by someone at the Institute of Archaeology doing an MA on Crossbow brooches.

At the end of the first century AD in Colchester there were “one pieces” – this even included the pin. These are very early, possibly even before the invasion – so perhaps worn by the Late Iron Age population, suggesting they also wore draped clothing, without buttons etc. They are thickly clustered in the London area, so perhaps London was not built on a greenfield site after all? There are also Colchester two-pieces – with the spring separate. These are also in the Museum of London. Headstud brooches were worn in pairs, one on each shoulder, with a chain – often gold – between.

Frank also looked at c120 jewellery brooches, which are mostly second and third century, imported from workshops in France. Made with different-coloured enamels, some are zoomorphic with fish, stags, hares, etc., or stars, axes, shields, chickens, horses, ducks – copies of day-to-day objects. One type is in the shape of a sandal – a cobbler’s sign? They must have been quite spectacular when worn. Plus there were disc brooches – there was a statue at Lullingstone Villa of a man with a disc brooch. In some burials in France, three to four brooches might be found – was the dead person wearing them, or were they placed there?

Various different types of these brooches - Colchester, Trumpet, Hod Hill – have been found in Surrey - they would have been in small agricultural settlements, such as the Ewell site, which is right on Stane Street - places would have been affected by the road. Perhaps a settlement was the last stop before London, the place where you freshened up.

Yvonne Masson