Page:VCH Rutland 1.djvu/158

 A HISTORY OF RUTLAND points stamped in the metal, while round the edge are punch marks of trian- gular form. Slight as it is, this kind of ornament is frequently found (as at West Stow, Suffolk; Sleaford, Lincolnshire; Faversham, Kent), but how or where it was worn remains a question. The annexed figure represents the head, bow, and upper portion of the foot of a square-headed brooch,*** found at Land Close, Market Overton. It is, as usual, of bronze, and much of the original gilding remains on the front. The two outer bor- ders of the head recall earlier work, before the animal motive had been adopted, but there are also features of decadence that point to the end of the 6th century. In the centre of the head may be distinguished two detached legs of a quadruped placed horizontally, furnished with several claws or toes ; but below them the animal design is so debased as to be unintelligible. At the upper angles are „ „ T, two pointed ovals in relief, with plain gilt surfaces, riG. 7. 1 ORTION OF BRONZE | -Ifll Brooch, Market Overton (f) clcarly survivals of the enamel or garnet settings seen in this position on a few specimens 29 in England ; while below the bow are the normal heads, also much debased, that curve to right and left with open jaws, as on fig. 8 of the coloured plate. Behind the head is the rusted stump of an iron pin between two perforated lugs. Part of a girdle-hanger, a plain bronze girdle-end beautifully patin- ated, and a spindle-whorl of Kimmeridge shale complete the list of Market Overton finds that can be definitely referred to the pagan Anglo-Saxon period ; but it may be added that coins of Constantine, an iron padlock key, some iron binding, the point of a sword-sheath, and two Roman brooches have also been collected from the site, with a saucer-shaped vessel of thin bronze 4J in. in diameter, peculiar in having a small hole pierced in the centre of the base. Its date is uncertain, but its good patina suggests antiquity, and it may perhaps be explained as a water- clock of the kind employed by the early Britons."" The bowl, always of very thin bronze with flattened base, was placed on the surface of water, and allowed to fill through the perforation : on sinking in a definite time, it was emptied and replaced. This cumbersome method of measuring time has been known in India and Ceylon from very early times ; but whether it was derived thence by the Britons of our Early Iron Age or independently invented here is a question at present unanswered ; nor is it possible to decide whether the Market Overton specimen belongs to the British, Roman, or Anglo-Saxon periods. The shape is peculiar, and the proximity of a plain globular vase of Anglo- Saxon date suggests that this kind of clock was not altogether supplanted by the Roman form, in which the water dripped from one vessel into another. " When perfect it must have resembled one from Billesdon, figured in colours V.C.H. Leics. i, 238, fig. i on plate. »« V.C.H. U'arw. i, 285, fig. 6 on plate. '" Proc. Soc. Jntij. xxi, 326. 104