Strap fastener

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This bronze strap fastener was found at Hop Pringle on the Crookston Estate at Stow in Midlothian. It was used, probably on a harness, sometime during the first two centuries AD.

The harness fitting is of a type known as a button-and-loop fastener. It was used with two straps: one strap fastened through the loop, and the button would fix through the eye in the second strap.

Leather on harnesses rarely survives, but the metal fittings and ornaments are often preserved. Some of the fittings, such as this one, resemble fasteners used on clothing, and were presumably used where decoration rather than strength was wanted.

Record details

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• Online ID: 000-100-036-546-C
• Image Rights Holder: National Museums Scotland
• Project: National Museums Scotland
  Project description   View all records in project
• Ref: National Museums Scotland  X.FG 31
• Date: Between 0 and 200 AD
  
• Material: Bronze; leaf-shaped; partly serrated edges; incised midrib; with loop
  Fastener, dress
  
• Dimensions: 1.90" L x 1.05" W; loop 1.05" L
  
• What: Fastener, dress
  
• Subject:
• Who:
• Where: Scotland, Midlothian, Stow, Crookston Estate, Hop Pringle Farm
  
• Event:
• Description: Elaborate bronze button-and-loop dress fastener in the shape of a leaf, found on the farm of Hop Pringle, Crookston Estate, Stow
  
• References:
  • MacGregor, Morna. Early Celtic art in North Britain. Leicester: Leicester University Press, 1976, vol. 1, pp. 132-3. 
• Translations:
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