Copper alloy rotary key with hollow shank end and asymmetrical elaborate bit with asymmetrical channels, including one along outside edge; collar below lobed lozenge-shaped bow, the corners of which are elaborated and each having a round hole, the upper one presumably for suspension. The end of the stem is damaged, probably from wear and the two outer lobes on the bow appear similarly thin on their outside edges. L: 94; bow 33 x 38 mm (bit 11 x 25 x 5).
Found in spoil from Redwell Marsh, Holme next the Sea, this ornate copper-alloy key is characterised as 13th or 14th century by the massive bit, by the elaborate form of the bow and by the solid shank, drilled at the end. It was probably a chest- or casket-key, and may have been suspended through the loop at the top of the bow.
The bit is comparable to one from London which dates from the late 13th to mid-14th century. A key with a similar decorative-lobed lozenge-shaped bow is illustrated in an early 15th-century representation of St Peter with the key of heaven from the Bolton Hours, c.1420-30.
Julia Huddle
Revisit the finds from previous months