Taynton Metal Detecting Club
The Gannets
Chariot Lynch Pin
An enamelled copper-alloy terminal, and part of the iron shank, of a late Iron Age or early Roman lynchpin.
A lynchpin is a fastener used to prevent a wheel sliding off the axle it is riding on. The majority of ancient lynchpins have a copper-alloy head and foot, with an embedded iron shank between them. However, a few all-iron examples are also known.
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The main body of the terminal is circular in section and bullet-shaped in plan. At the free (smaller) end, it flattens in one plane, and expands in the other to form a semicircular end, which carries the enamel decoration. At the centre of the semicircle, there is a small circular cell containing blue enamel. The field around it is enamelled in red, and there is an additional dot of red enamel at the shank end of the terminal. The iron shank is fitted into an axial socket in the terminal. The back of the terminal is plain.