Harraton, Romano British Brooch

In November 1996 two members of the pubic from St George's Estate, Harraton, Washington brought an unusual Romano-British brooch to Arbeia Roman Fort for identification. The brooch is a chatelaine brooch, which originally would have had a small toilet set, consisting of tweezers, nail cleaner and ear scoop, suspended from it. These are now missing. The main part of the brooch, decorated with enamel of three colours, is in good condition. Brooches of this type date to the 2nd century A.D. They are extremely rare, just 15 other examples being known, only one of which was found in the North. Two from East Anglia closely resemble the Harraton brooch.