In Fig. 493 is shown full-size a mysterious object, consisting of a tube with a slight collar at each end, having on one side a long narrow loop of solid metal subquadrangular in section, and on the other an elongated oval opening, a part of the side of which has been broken away. It was found with a number of socketed celts, knives, and other articles in the hoard at Reach Fen, Cambridge, already often mentioned. With it was also another smaller object of the same kind, shown in Fig. 494. This, however, has the orifice in the front, and not at the side opposite the loop, the section of which in this case is circular. One end of the tube is plugged up with a bronze rivet. The mouth of the oval opening is rough, and has no lip to it, as in the other case; and within the tube there are remains of wood. I have a broken specimen found at Malton, near Cambridge, of the same character as Fig. 493, but with the loop round in section, and both shorter and stouter. The end of the tube is cast with a flat plate closing the aperture, except for a central hole about ? inch in diameter. I have another specimen much like Fig. 493, but the loop is longer and flatter, and beneath it the tube has a long oval opening with a lip around it, as well as a somewhat shorter opening on the opposite side of the tube. The loop also has a deep groove on its inner side extending its whole length. I am not sure where this object was found, but there is little doubt of its being English.

An object like Fig. 493 was found with socketed celts, gouges, and hammers at Roseberry Topping,[1547] Yorkshire, in 1826. With them was a flat quadrangular whetstone(?) and fragments of a flat plate of bronze, the ends hollowed and with crescent-shaped openings or lunettes in them, and with staples for attachment at the corners. There are three rivet-holes on the convex side of the lunettes.

Another object of the same kind was found with a socketed celt, a hollow ring, gouge, &c., at Melbourne,[1548] Cambridge. There were two of these looped tubes found with spear-heads, socketed celts, broken swords, &c., near La Pierre du Villain,[1549] Longy, Alderney.

In the great hoard of bronze spear-heads, &c., found at Broadward,[1550] Shropshire, was a short object of this kind about 1½ inch long, with the loop as large in diameter as the tube and extending the whole length, so as to give it the form of the letter D. The orifice of the loop is only ½ inch long. This specimen is shown in Fig. 495. Another seems to have been found at the same time.

A fragment of another was in the collection of the late Lord Braybrooke.

An example, like Fig. 493, but somewhat broken, was in the deposit of Notre-Dame d’Or, now in the Poitiers Museum.

Another (2¾ inches), almost identical with Fig. 493, was found in a hoard with other objects near Amiens, and is now in the museum of that town.

Another of much the same kind was found at La Parnelle, Manche.[1551]

I have an object from the Seine at Paris, which appears to belong to the same class as the tubes lately described, though without any loop. The tube is in this instance about 3 inches long, with small flanges at each end; and through the middle of it is an oval opening about 1 inch by ? inch, with mouth-pieces standing out on each side of the tube, making the whole length of the oval cross-tube thus formed nearly 1¼ inch. Each mouth-piece has two parallel beads running round it. I am at a loss to assign a purpose to it.

Those with a loop seem to me possibly intended as clasps for leather straps or belts, one end of which passed through the metal loop and was sewn or fastened to the strap so as to form a loop of leather, while a corresponding loop at the other end was inserted into the oval mouth-piece, so that a pin passed down inside the tube would go through it and secure it. This pin need not have been of metal, but of some more perishable material.

The objection to this view is that the side orifice in the tube is not in all cases opposite to the loop, but in one instance at least at right angles to it. A second suggestion is that they were loops in some manner attached to wooden or leather scabbards of swords, which could at any time be detached by withdrawing a pin that passed down the tube. Whatever purpose they served, they do not appear to have been permanently attached to any other article, as in no instance have any rivet-holes been observed in them.

Some of the hollow rings found in Ireland with transverse perforations through them, appear also to have been made for attachment at will to leather or cloth by means of a pin passing through the cross-holes, which at once converted the rings into brooches or buckles of a peculiar kind.

This purpose has already been suggested by Mr. T. O’Gorman, in the Journal of the Royal Historical and ArchÆological Association of Ireland.[1552] He there describes a bronze pin with two thick bronze rings upon it, which was found with two large rings of bronze, four rings of about the same size as those on the pin, a large socketed celt, and a bronze hammer, in what appears to have been a sepulchre near Trillick, Co. Tyrone. These objects are now all in my own collection, and, as will be seen in Fig. 496, there can be no doubt of an efficient form of double buckle being presented by the pin and rings. Whether it was used for fastening a cloak or tunic, as suggested by Mr. O’Gorman, or for some other purpose, I need not stay to examine. I think, however, that the discovery of the pin and perforated rings in juxtaposition throws some light upon the character of other rings with cross perforations, of which many have been found in Ireland. One of these is shown in Fig. 497, borrowed from Wilde.[1553] I have one of precisely the same character, 2? inches in diameter, with a cross perforation through the two projecting mouth-pieces, slightly oval, and about the size to receive a common pencil. Vallancey[1554] has figured others, in one of which there is a cross-pin with a small ring at each end, somewhat like a horse’s bit.[1555]

Others, with numerous small loops round the circumference, and with central bosses secured by pins, or occasionally with cross arms within them, appear to be of later date and to have had bands of chain-mail attached. In some of the plain rings, however, there is a portion of a strap of bronze left, which Sir W. Wilde regards as having served to connect the ring-chains, of which he thinks that coats of mail were made. Under any circumstances, these perforated rings seem to come under the category of fastenings or clasps, to which the looped tubes already described may also be referred.

A perforated ring was in the hoard found at Llangwyllog,[1556] Anglesea, already mentioned.

That shown in Fig. 498 was found by Canon Greenwell, F.R.S., in a barrow in the parish of Cowlam,[1559] Yorkshire, together with an armlet (Fig. 486) and a necklace of glass beads, on the body of an aged woman. The pin was of iron, which had replaced the original of bronze. I have a somewhat similar brooch from Redmore, near St. Austell, Cornwall, as well as one of longer form and with a larger disc, which was found in a barrow near Bridlington, together with two remarkable buckles formed of penannular rings. These were described by the late Mr. Thomas Wright[1560] (who has figured them) as undoubtedly Roman, but their character is decidedly “Late Celtic.” Other brooches of the same character as the figure, found in the Thames, London, and near Avebury, Wilts, are in the British Museum.

In Fig. 499 are shown three full-size views of one of two bronze buttons from the Reach Fen hoard in my own collection. There is a sharpness and smoothness about their faces which suggests their having been finished by some process of turning or rotary grinding. The centre and raised bands, though similar, are not identical in the two, or it might have been thought that they were cast in a metal mould. Four others were found at the same time.

A button of almost the same size and pattern was found with a razor and other objects at Llangwyllog, Anglesea.[1562] One of the same character, but of larger size (1¾ inch), was found with a gouge, socketed celts, &c., at Kensington.[1563] It has a central boss and two raised ridges. Both these buttons are now in the British Museum.

In the Heathery Burn Cave, Durham, was a small button, ¾ inch in diameter, with one loop at the back; and another larger (1½ inch), with five loops at the back, one in the centre, and the four others at equal distances around it forming four sides of an octagon. This larger button has a series of concentric rings or grooves on the face; the small one has a central pointed boss with one groove around it.

Some curious buttons, like half barrels in shape, were found with a hoard of bronze objects at St. Genouph (Indre et Loire), and are preserved in the Museum at Tours. Numerous buttons of circular form have been found in other parts of France.

Buttons of various sizes and shapes have also been found in abundance in the Swiss Lake-dwellings.

A clay mould, apparently for buttons of this kind, is in the Museo Civico at Modena.

In the cemetery at Hallstatt immense numbers of small button-like objects have been found, some of the warriors’ coats having been completely studded with them. Some of these are not more than ? inch in diameter, nearly hemispherical, and with a small bar cast across them inside.

A peculiar annular button with two loops at the back, found with bronze swords (see Fig. 353) and a flat-headed pin (Fig. 464) at Edinburgh,[1564] is represented in Fig. 500. The original is now in the Antiquarian Museum at Edinburgh. It has been thought to be the mounting of a belt.

Bronze discs of larger size than any ordinary buttons or clasps are occasionally found. One such, 3¹/₅ inches in diameter, with three concentric circles engraved on one of its faces, was discovered at Castell y Bere, Merionethshire.[1565] Another was found at Wolsonbury Hill,[1566] Sussex. A third, about 5 inches in diameter, with raised concentric rings upon it, is in the Scarborough Museum. One found at Inis Kaltra,[1567] Lough Derg, between Clare and Galway, has been figured. It has a hollow conical projection like the umbo of a shield, surrounded by five concentric raised rings, the interval between the second and third being about double that between any other pair. The inner side has grooves corresponding with the external ridges, and across the inside of the hollow umbo is a small bar of metal. The diameter of this ornament is 4¾ inches. It is now in the British Museum. In many respects such discs resemble the so-called tutuli of the Scandinavian antiquaries, though the long-pointed form has not been found in the British Islands.

An irregularly rounded flat plate of bronze, about 5 inches by 5½, and 1? inch, thick, apparently hammered out, was found with leaf-shaped spear-heads and a sword at Worth,[1568] Devon. I have a round flat plate, about 6½ inches in diameter and ? inch thick, found near Clough, Co. Antrim, which bears deep hammer marks in sets of parallel grooves on both faces. Perhaps such plates were destined to be still further drawn out into sheets for the manufacture of caldrons or other vessels.

In the Heathery Burn Cave, already so often mentioned, were about ten convex plates, with a raised rim round their edge, a small hole in the middle, and four loops cast on at the back. One of these is shown in Fig. 501.[1569] With them were found about the same number of broad hoops, of which an example is given in Fig. 502.

These are dexterously cast in one piece, with a groove inside corresponding with the raised central ridge on the outside. Their diameter is only about 4? inches, while that of the discs is about 5-3/10 inches. It is difficult to see any connection between the two forms, though from the correspondence in their numbers a connection at first sight seems probable. The hoops have been spoken of as armlets, but I can hardly regard them as such. Most of the specimens are in the collection of Canon Greenwell, F.R.S., though thanks to his kindness I have an example of each; and two hoops and a disc are in the British Museum. Canon Greenwell has two other discs of a somewhat similar character, found with spear-heads and socketed celts near Newark. They are 5¼ inches in diameter, with a raised rib round the margin and a central hole. The surface, instead of being regularly convex, rises more rapidly towards the centre, so as to make a kind of cone with hollowed sides. There are no loops nor any means of attachment on the interior. It may be that a shank was riveted through the central hole, as was the case with some analogous conical objects from Hallstatt.

Without expressing any definite opinion on the subject, I may call attention to a certain analogy that exists between these hoops and discs, and the hoops and axle ends of Gaulish chariots of the Early Iron Age. The naves of the wheels of the chariot found in the tomb of la Gorge Meillet[1570] (Marne) had bronze hoops on either side of the naves, and an ornamented plate at each end of the axle. The hoops, however, are made of plates riveted together, and were not cast in one piece, and the centre of the plates is open, though crossed by an iron pin.

Fragments of what may have been discs of the same kind, with a hole in the centre and four small bosses at intervals around it, were found in the hoard at Stanhope,[1571] Durham, which comprised spear-heads, celts, &c., much like those in the Heathery Burn Cave.

Similar large discs with concentric circles upon them, and having loops at the back, have been found in various parts of France, Switzerland, and Italy.[1572]

Another and smaller disc with a central hole, having a short collar round it, is shown in Fig. 503. This is only the rough casting; and at one time I thought it was merely a waste piece or jet from the foundry, as it was discovered with moulds, celts, &c., in the Isle of Harty hoard. Another disc of the same kind was, however, found with the hoard of bronze at Yattendon,[1573] Berks, which shows so much finish all over that it would seem to have been adapted for some special purpose, and not to have been merely a piece of waste metal. Another disc of the same kind was found in the hoard at Haynes Hill,[1574] Kent, and was regarded as part of an utensil. Mr. Franks informs me that an example with a rather longer tube has been found in Brittany. In the Yattendon hoard were also some fragments of thin bronze plate very highly planished on one face, and a hollowed conical piece of bronze, not unlike an extinguisher; but the purpose for which either of these was intended is a mystery.

Returning to bronze objects which appear to be in some manner connected with straps, I may cite some loops or slides of which an example is given in Fig. 504. The original is not in this case English, having formed part of the hoard found at Dreuil, near Amiens. But a specimen of the same size and shape, though rather more convex on the faces, is in Lord Braybrooke’s collection at Audley End, and was, I believe, found with other bronze objects, including a hollow ring, in Essex. At first sight such objects might appear to be intended for mouth-pieces of scabbards, but on trial I find that the opening is not wide enough to allow of the passage of a sword blade, much less to admit of a thickness of leather or wood in addition. They seem more probably to be slides, such as might have served for receiving the two ends of a leather belt.

In the Dreuil hoard was also a flat kind of ferrule, about 2¼ inches wide and closed at the end, which may have served as a sort of tag or end to a broad strap. There were also socketed celts and knives.

In concluding this chapter, it may be observed that although I have attempted to give in it some notice of various forms of bronze relics of many of which the use is uncertain, yet that I do not pretend that the list here given comprises all such objects as have been discovered in Britain. In several hoards of bronze there have been found portions of thin plates and fragments of objects the purpose of which is unknown; and I have thought it best not to encumber my pages with notices of mere fragments about which even less is known than about the mysterious articles to the description of which, perhaps, too much space has already been allotted.