PINS.
Pins for the purpose of fastening the dress or the hair seem to have been in use from very early times. Made of bone,[1402] they have been found associated with polished stone implements, and pins of the same material are of extremely common occurrence with Roman remains, and are not unknown at the present day. In the same manner, pins of bronze or of brass have remained in use ever since their first introduction during the Bronze Period, and it is, therefore, by no means easy, and, indeed, often absolutely impossible, to assign a date with any degree of confidence to such objects when found by themselves, and not in association with other remains of which the antiquity can be more readily determined. In the case of small or imperfect pins there is considerable difficulty in distinguishing them from awls, such as have already been described in Chapter VII. In other cases, it is often difficult to say whether bronze pins, certainly of great antiquity, are to be assigned to the Bronze Period properly so called, or the Late Celtic or Early Iron Period.
Fig. 447.
Heathery
Burn. ½
In describing the objects of this class, it will, perhaps, be best to take first such examples as have been found in the exploration of tumuli or in direct association with bronze weapons or instruments.
Among the numerous relics found in the Heathery Burn Cave, Durham, were a large number of bronze pins, of which one,[1403] 3? inches long, is shown in Fig. 447. Canon Greenwell has eleven others from 3 inches to 5? inches long, with flat heads, all from this cave, as well as one which has had its end hammered flat, and then turned over into a loop, so as to form the head. A socketed knife and many other objects from this cave have been described in previous pages.
Four imperfect bronze pins, without heads, the longest 3? inches long, were found in the hoard at Marden,[1404] Kent, with a sickle, dagger, and other objects.
Fig. 448.
Brigmilston. ½ | Fig. 449.
Everley. ½ |
What is termed part of a bronze pin, some chipped flints, and long ribbed beads of pottery, were found in the barrow called Matlow Hill,[1405] Cambridgeshire. Another, also fragmentary, was found with a flake of calcined flint, four jet beads, and burnt bones in a barrow on Wykeham Moor,[1406] Yorkshire, by Canon Greenwell. Others are mentioned by Bateman;[1407] but in all these cases, as Canon Greenwell[1408] has pointed out, the presumed pins may have been awls or prickers. The little pin found with a lance-head, a small urn, and some gold ornaments at Upton Lovel,[1409] Wilts, may have been of the same character, as also other pins mentioned by Sir R. Colt Hoare.[1410] A “fine brass pin” is described as having been found with glass, jet, and amber beads, together with burnt bones, in a barrow near Wilsford.[1411] A very fine one in a barrow at Lake,[1412] which, from the engraving, was probably an awl. The long pin with a handle found with a bronze celt and lance-head, or dagger, in a barrow at Abury,[1413] may also have been a tool of that kind. The bronze pins recorded to have been found in a barrow at Bulford,[1414] Wilts, likewise seem to come under this category.
In a barrow at Brigmilston[1415] an interment of burnt bones was accompanied by a pin of twisted bronze, 6 inches long, in the form of a crutch, the head perforated (Fig. 448), a small dagger of bronze, and two whetstones.
A smooth pin of the same character and nearly the same size, but broken, was found in a barrow at Normanton,[1416] in company with burnt bones, two bronze daggers, a whetstone, and a pipe of bone.
The curious pin, with two rings at the head, in each of which is another ring (Fig. 449), was found by Sir R. Colt Hoare in a barrow near Everley. The interment seems to have been in the hollowed trunk of a tree, but the bones were burnt. With them was a dagger with three rivets, and this instrument, which is described as having been in a sheath of wood lined with cloth. Its purpose is difficult to determine.
Fig. 450.—Bryn CrÛg. 1/1 — Fig. 451.—Taunton. ½ — Fig. 452.—Chilton Bustle. 1/1
Another pin (4½ inches), with a bi-lobed head and three perforations, was found with a two-looped palstave and a knife with an interment at Bryn CrÛg,[1417] near Carnarvon. It is shown in full size in Fig. 450.
Pins with large rings for their heads have occasionally been found. One such from Taunton,[1418] 7¾ inches, is shown in Fig. 451. It was found with palstaves, a socketed celt, rings, and other objects. The part forming the pin is bent, it would appear intentionally, but for what purpose it is difficult to guess.
Another with a straight pin was found at Chilton Bustle,[1419] Somersetshire. The annular part is divided in the middle, and is flat and thin. It is shown full size in Fig. 452.
Another object of a similar character, but with the ring larger (being oval and 4½ inches by 3 inches) and with the pin part shorter, was found in a barrow between Lewes and Brighton,[1420] with a long pin, to be subsequently mentioned, and a pair of looped bronze bracelets, like Fig. 482. These are now in the museum at Alnwick Castle. Another (6 inches, with ring 2 inches in diameter), probably from a Wiltshire barrow,[1421] is in the collection at Stourhead.
A pin of the same character from the Lake-dwellings of Savoy has been figured by Rabut.[1422]
Another form has a smaller ring at the top, and the pin beneath is usually curved. Fig. 453, from Wilde,[1423] shows an example of this kind. One of the two pins reported to have been found with bronze bridles and buckles of “Late Celtic” character, as well as with a bronze lance-head and socketed celt, at Hagbourn Hill,[1424] Berks, was of this type. The other had a flat head.
I have a pin of the same kind (4¼ inches) found at Holt,[1425] Worcestershire. It has, however, a small cross, formed of five knobs, attached to the front of the ring. It was found in the bed of the Severn, and was presented to me by Mr. G. Edwards, C.E. The pins of this character seem to belong to quite the close of the Bronze Period, if not indeed to the “Late Celtic.”
A much larger form of pin appears, from its style of ornamentation, to belong more truly to the Bronze Period. That shown in Fig. 454 was, indeed, found with a bronze sword, spear-head, and palstave, in the Thames at the mouth of the river Wandle,[1426] Surrey, and is now in the British Museum. It is 7¾ inches in length, and the bulging portion in the centre is pierced probably for some means of attachment. The point, Mr. Franks thinks, was purposely curved. He regards the pin as having been intended to adorn the hair or fasten the dress.
Another pin, of much the same fashion, 12½ inches long, also has the point curved. The bulging portion is in this instance nearer the head, which, moreover, has a piece of amber set in it, and there is a small loop on the side of the pin, as in Fig. 457, instead of a hole through the bulging part. This specimen was found in a mine near the river Fowey,[1427] at a depth of ten fathoms from the surface, when a new work was begun for searching after tin ore.
The long pin already mentioned as found in a barrow near Lewes[1428] has an expanded head with a boss upon it, and about 4 inches below, an ornamented lozenge-shaped plate, beneath which is a small loop for attachment.
Large pins of the same character have been found in the Lake-dwellings of France, Switzerland, and Italy.
Fig. 455.
Scratchbury. 1/1 | Fig. 456.
Camerton. ? |
A large bronze pin, 13½ inches long, found on Salisbury Plain,[1429] is described as having a flattened head, ornamented on one side with a pattern. This which is now in the British Museum is, however, of the late Celtic Period.
It is by no means impossible that these larger and heavier pins may at times have served as piercing-tools and even as weapons. The stiletto survives as a ladies’ piercing-tool, but no one at the present day would “his quietus make with a bare bodkin;” though there was probably a time when both stiletto and bodkin served a double purpose, and were used, as occasion might require, either as weapons or as tools.
Smaller pins, ornamented at the blunt end, have not unfrequently been found.
A fragment of one discovered by Sir R. Colt Hoare in a barrow at Scratchbury, is engraved in his unpublished plate, and has also been figured by Dr. Thurnam, F.S.A.,[1430] in his memoir so often quoted. It is here reproduced as Fig. 455. Another from a barrow at Camerton,[1431] Somerset, has a hollow spheroidal head, with a double perforation. The head and upper part of the stem are decorated with parallel rings and oblique hatching, as may be seen in Fig. 456. In character this pin much resembles some of those from the Swiss Lake-dwellings.
A very similar pin was obtained from a barrow near Firle,[1432] Sussex, by Dr. Mantell.
A fine pin, nearly 12 inches long, with a head of this shape, was found near Enniskillen. The upper part of the pin is ornamented, with groups of five small beadings round it, and between these are spiral ribs, forming many threaded screws alternately right- and left-handed.[1433]
A long pin from Galway,[1434] of which the lower part is twisted into a spiral, has a head with a notch in it, much like that of a modern screw.
Fig. 457.
Ireland. ½ | Fig. 458.
Ireland. ½ | Fig. 459.
Cambridge. ½ | Fig. 460.
Ireland. ? | Fig. 461.
North of Ireland. ½ |
The pins with spherical heads, ornamented by circular holes, with concentric circles around them, so common in the Swiss Lake-dwellings, are as yet unknown in Britain. I have, nevertheless, a portion of what appears to be the large spherical head of a pin, which formed part of the hoard found at Dreuil, near Amiens. Instead of holes, however, it has bosses at intervals, with concentric circles round them. In the spaces between are bands of parallel dotted lines.[1435] Some of the Swiss pins have knobs of tin, or some other metal than bronze, and even red stones inlaid in the perforations, so that not improbably those which now show merely holes in the metal may have been inlaid with horn or some perishable material.
Pins with flat heads, sometimes of large size, are of not unfrequent occurrence, and appear to belong to the Bronze Age.
An Irish example with a small loop at the side is shown in Fig. 457, from a specimen in my own collection. It has apparently at some time been longer. Some German pins[1436] are provided with side loops in the same manner.
Fig. 462.
Keelogue Ford. ½ | Fig. 463.
Ireland. ½ |
A large pin, 8? inches, with the upper part beaded, and with a small side loop, was in the hoard found near Amiens, and is preserved in the museum of that town. With it were socketed celts, a sickle, &c.
A pin of the same general form, but without any loop and with a more ornamental head, also from Ireland, is shown in Fig. 458, and an English example, found near Cambridge, in Fig. 459.
One with a plain flat head, and 11¾ inches long, is figured by Wilde (Fig. 446).
Similar pins with flat heads have been found in the Lake-dwellings of Savoy and Switzerland.
The large flat heads are often highly ornamented.
The pin from Ireland, of which the head is shown in Fig. 460,[1437] one-third of the actual size, is 13½ inches long. This cut and Figs. 453, 462, 463, and 465, are kindly lent by the Royal Irish Academy.
The ornamental expanded heads, which usually have a conical projection in the centre, are more frequently turned over so as to be in the same plane as the pins and be visible when stuck into a garment. Fig. 461 is from a specimen of my own found in the North of Ireland.
Fig. 462, from Wilde,[1438] shows a small pin of the same kind, found at Keelogue Ford.
Occasionally the head seems disproportionately large to the pin.
That of which the highly ornamented head is shown in Fig. 463,[1439] is only 5½ inches long, while the head itself is 2¼ inches in diameter.
A grand pin of this kind from Ireland, with the head 4? inches in diameter, and the pin 10¾ inches long, is in the British Museum. The face of the disc has five concentric circles upon it, with triangles, squares, and ring ornaments between them.
A Scottish specimen of the same character as Fig. 462 (9 inches), found at Tarves, Aberdeenshire, together with bronze swords, is in the same collection. The head is 1? inches in diameter. Another of the same type from Ireland[1440] is said to have had the cone originally gilt.
The head of another, which was found with a number of bronze swords at Edinburgh,[1441] is shown in Fig. 464. This discovery seems to prove that the pins of this type belong to quite the latter part of the Bronze Period.
Pins with flat heads turned over so as to be parallel with their stems are of common occurrence in Denmark.[1442] They are usually ornamented with concentric ribs, and the heads are sometimes plated with gold. The stems are also often decorated.
———— Fig. 464.—Edinburgh. 1/1 ———— Fig. 465.—Ireland. ½
Another form of pin has a cup-shaped head, not unlike the termination of the large gold clasps, like drawer-handles, so frequently found in Ireland. One of these is shown in Fig. 465, borrowed from Wilde.[1443]
An example of this kind was found in the Heathery Burn Cave. Another pin of this type, 10? inches long, with the cup-shaped head ? inch in diameter and ½ inch deep, with a small cone projecting in the bottom of the cup, was found with a bronze sword and two spear-heads in peat near the Point of Sleat,[1444] Skye.
Sir W. Wilde has given figures of numerous other types of pins, but they nearly all belong to a later period than that of which I am treating. That from a brooch at Bowermadden, Caithness, engraved in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland,[1445] is also of later date. Altogether the subject of pins belonging to the Bronze Age in the British Islands is one of which, in the present state of our knowledge, it is difficult to treat satisfactorily, so few of the more highly developed types having been found in actual association with other bronze relics. In England especially the rarity of bronze pins, as compared, for instance, with their abundance in the Lake-dwellings of Southern Europe, is very striking. As will subsequently be seen, there is nearly as great a scarcity of bracelets and of some other ornaments. It may be that for personal decorations the jet and amber, which during our Bronze Age were so much in fashion for ornaments, suited the native taste better than decorations manufactured from the same metal as that which served for tools and weapons; and that when metal was used gold had the preference. At the same time, for useful articles, such as some kinds of pins, bronze may well have served, and it is to be observed that no pins decorated with gold have as yet been found with bronze weapons in Britain, though they have occurred in other countries.
