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A provincial Roman spur from Longstock, Hants, and other spurs from Roman Britain*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2011

Hugh de S. Shortt
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Extract

In 1953 a bronze prick-spur was found without other remains, at a depth of about 2 ft. on Cleave Hill, in the parish of Longstock, Hants (no. 17, fig. 1, pl. XIV). The finder, Mr. J. Chandler, presented it to the Salisbury Museum (ace. 21/54) and it is recorded and illustrated in the Museum's Annual Report (1955), p. 11 pl. 1a.

It is of extremely delicate manufacture, and the riveted prick appears to be ornamental rather than useful. It is also ornamented with a row of dots in circles round the heel, and these are enclosed in expanding lines all engraved in the bronze. The edges are lightly serrated. The arms are engraved with a spiral line, which seems to imitate the leather binding of some rougher iron prototype. Delicate bronze rings, attached to the loops, have flattened ends which are pressed together and probably once held a light leather strap, though the bronze has broken away leaving only parts of the rivet holes. There are few ornamental features from which to date this spur, but according to Jahn's typology it should fall within the first Century A.D.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Antiquaries Journal , Volume 39 , Issue 1-2 , April 1959 , pp. 61 - 76
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1959

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References

page 61 note 1 Jahn, M., Der Reitersporn (Leipzig, 1921)Google Scholar (Mannusbibl. no. 21), with a list of Roman spurs found in Germany, pp. 118–20.

page 61 note 2 Second Âge du Fer (1914), p. 1202, fig. 514.

page 61 note 3 Zschille, und Forrer, , Der Sporn in seiner Formenentwicklung, I (1891), pls. 1 and 11Google Scholar; II (1899), pls. XXI and XXII.

page 61 note 4 Wheeler, R. E. M., Rome beyond the Imperial Frontiers (1954), p. 39.Google Scholar

page 62 note 1 Arch. Journ. I (1844), 246, and J.B.A.A. iii (1848), 119, fig. Ashmolean Museum, John Evans Collection from J. Warren of Ixworth.

page 62 note 2 P.S.A. 2nd ser. iii (1867), 422, fig.

page 62 note 3 P.S.A. Scot. 5th ser. iii (1917), 232–3, fig. 1, no. 3.

page 65 note 1 Wright, T., The Celt, the Roman and the Saxon (1861), p. 355.Google Scholar

page 65 note 2 Warne, C., Ancient Dorset (1872), pl. IIIGoogle Scholar opp. p. 155.

page 65 note 3 Smith, C. Roach, Collectanea Antiqua, vi, pt. I (1862)Google Scholar, p. 7, pl. III.

page 65 note 4 C. Lacy, de L., History of the Spur (c. 1905), p. 23Google Scholar, pl. VI.

page 65 note 5 (1922), p. 84. See also J.B.A.A. iii (1848), 98, fig.

page 65 note 6 Wheeler, R. E. M., London in Roman Times (1930), p. 151Google Scholar, fig. 58.

page 66 note 1 Bushe-Fox, J. P., Richborough—Third Report (1932), p. 79Google Scholar, no. 20 and pl. X, but the Zugmantel object quoted from O.R.L. xxxii, pl. XII, 106, is not a spur but part of a bridle-bit.

page 66 note 2 Jacobi, L., Das Römerkastell Saalburg, p. 534.Google Scholar Jacobi also illustrates (p. 510, fig. 83) as Roman, buckles of recent date from the same site.

page 66 note 3 Arch. Journ. xiii (1856), 179, fig.; Oxoniensia, xiv (1949), 27, pl. III a; V.C.H. Oxon. i, 299, n. 6; Ashmolean Museum, RIOO, from the Rev. J. Gordon of Elsfield, 1900.

page 66 note 4 Cotton, M. A., Clausentum (1958), p. 45Google Scholar, fig. 12, nos. 6 and 7.

page 67 note 1 Arch. Journ. xiv (1857), 83.

page 68 note 1 J.B.A.A. xii (1856): James, J., ‘On the Pryck-Spur’, p. 217Google Scholar n., pl. XXVII, no. 4.

page 68 note 2 Gomme, G. L., The Gentleman's Magazine Library—Romano-British Remains, pt. i (1887), p. 7Google Scholar, quoting, The Gentleman's Magazine (1838), pt. ii, p. 650.Google Scholar

page 68 note 3 Arch. xxiii (1831), 415.

page 69 note 1 Arch. Journ. iv (1847), 65, quoting Lysons, Samuel, An Account of Roman Antiquities Discovered at Woodchester in the County of Gloucester (London, 1797), pl. XXXV.Google Scholar