Harford Farm Brooch

Harford Farm Brooch
The back of the brooch

The Harford Farm Brooch is a 7th-century Anglo-Saxon disk brooch.[1] The brooch was originally made in Kent and was found along with a number of other artifacts during an excavation of an Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Harford Farm in Norfolk.[1][2][3] The brooch measures 72 millimetres (2.8 in) across[3] and was found in grave 11.[4] The front of the brooch is gold decorated with glass and garnets while the backplate is silver.[5] On the back of the brooch there is a runic inscription reading "ᛚᚢᛞᚪ:ᚷᛁᛒᛟᛏᚫᛋᛁᚷᛁᛚᚫ" (luda:gibœtæsigilæ), which Norfolk Museums & Archaeology Service translates as “Luda repaired the brooch”; however “may Luda make amends by means of the brooch” has been offered as a translation by Alfred Bammesberger in the journal Neophilologus.[6] In addition to the runes, the back of the brooch also has a scratched zoomorphic decoration.[7]

The brooch is now on display at Norwich Castle.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b "Harford Farm Disc Brooch". Norfolk Museums & Archaeology Service. Retrieved 3 October 2012.
  2. ^ a b "Anglo Saxons and Vikings at Norwich Castle Gallery". A Sense Of Place. BBC. 21 May 2004. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  3. ^ a b "The Harford Farm assemblage". Art Fund. Retrieved 3 October 2012.
  4. ^ Williams, Howard (2006). Death and Memory in Early Medieval Britain. Cambridge University Press. pp. 67–72. ISBN 1139457934.
  5. ^ Ashwin, Trevor; Penn, Kenneth; Davis, Mary (1992). "A silver composite disc brooch from Harford Farm, Caistor St Edmund". The Quarterly (5): 12–16.
  6. ^ Bammesberger, Alfred (2003). "The Harford Farm Brooch Runic Inscription". Neophilologus. 87 (1). Springer Science: 133–135. doi:10.1023/A:1021277926944. S2CID 160608493.
  7. ^ Martin, Toby F (December 2011). "7" (PDF). Identity and the Cruciform Brooch in Early Anglo-Saxon England: an Investigation of Style, Mortuary Context, and Use (Ph.D.). University of Sheffield. p. 314. Retrieved 22 January 2015.