An interesting item, just three centimetres in length, recently found its way to the museum through the Treasure process. This cast silver hook is engraved with decoration in the Trewhiddle Anglo Saxon style, appearing to show a bird in downward flight. It is inlaid with niello (a black mixture, usually of sulphur, copper, silver, and lead) which remains in the recesses of the engraving.
Presumed by the British Museum to date from the 10th century, this early Medieval clothing hook was probably used to fasten a cloak, though the tip of hook is now missing. The little holes at the top allow the object to be stitched onto a garment and there would have been accompanying ‘eye’ piece to hook into.
The object was found by a metal detectorist in Farningham, in the north of Sevenoaks district. It is thought that a riverside settlement is buried beneath the present-day village of Farningham and it was in Saxon times that the name came into being. Experts believe that the name derives from one of two meanings, the first being the home of Ferningas loosely translating into people living in a ferny place, or the Friningas, the freemen.
You can currently view this object as part of the Wild and Tamed exhibition in the museum.
Written by Liz Botterill, Curator
