377 (19)

350

Dress Accessońes

1700 BC72 2822 (150) 11 fig 231 Pouch madę from a rectangular strip of a pink and white lampas-woven silk cloth folded double and finished along both sides and round the opening with a tablet-woven edge, ending in a tassel in each bottom comer. A fiat, five-loop finger braid is slotted through a hole in one comer below the opening to form a smali handle, h 63mm; w 60mm. (Crowfoot et al. forthcoming, no. 339).

Leather purses with flaps

A very different style of leather purse was re-covered from deposits of the late 14th century (ceramic phase 11) and early 15th century (cera-mic phase 12), of which four were found together in a revetment dump at Trig Lane (nos. 1702-

1705) . These purses have a flap closing and were fitted directly onto girdles with the result that they were morę secure than those with draw-strings which were a greater temptation to thieves. They appear to have been wom princip-ally by men. The earliest of these purses from London is decorated with two different types of mount (no. 1701, fig 232; for the mounts, see nos. 894 & 1058). Part of a purse from a deposit dating to the first half of the 14th century (ceramic phase 9) may be an earlier example, but only one side of it remains and the top edge has been cut off Oones 1975, 165-6 fig 31 no. 148). Three others from an early 15th-century deposit appear to have been undecorated (nos. 1702, 1703 & 1704), while a fourth was originally embroidered on the front (no. 1705). A similar purse, also originally embellished with embroidery (no.

1706) , can, in addition, be considered to datę to this period.

These pouches were often madę from several pieces of leather. The smallest consists of six pieces (no. 1701, fig 232). The front section, which is backed with two smaller pieces of leather, does not appear to have been functional, except that it concealed the smali Container where coins would have been kept. The pouch would have been wom over a belt to which it appears to have been stitched.

A larger example of a somewhat similar pouch is less complete with four pieces only now re-maining (no. 1702, fig 233). It appears to have been repaired with rivets and subseąuently cut up for cobbling.

Part of the back of another purse is rather different as it has a series of vertical and horizon-tal slots where it must have been attached by thonging to a belt (no. 1703, fig 234). Meanwhile a piece from the front of a purse, bears an impression of a circular metal fastening, presum-ably a buckie (no. 1704, fig 234). It is possible that both fragments were originally part of the same purse and that one has shrunk morę than the other in the ground.

The two purses from London with stitched decoration were madę from at least two pieces of leather (nos. 1705 & 1706, figs 235 & 236). The front was cut to a semi-circular pattem and slit a little below its top edge to form a wide opening only slightly narrower than the finished width of a purse; below this opening pairs of slots were cut. This suggests that a flap with a wide tongue fitted into the opening and was secured by thongs or laces which passed through the smaller slots, although, admittedly, there is no sign of any wear or strain around these slots. The front was also pierced with awl holes marking out a pattem to be embroidered and the impression of the sewing thread is preserved. The pattem of the back extends to a greater height than the front, but as only part of one example is preserved, the purse cannot be fully reconstructed from the excavated portion. The front and back were subseąuently sewn together with the grain face innermost and then tumed inside out.

A similar purse to the latter decorated examples, from a 14th-century deposit in Stock-holm, enables morę details of construction to be ascertained (Dahlback 1982, 237 fig 208). The back piece is approximately three times the length of the front and a double-ovoid section was cut out from the centre of it. The leather was folded in half and stitched across the width of the purse to form a hollow tubę at the top into which the girdle slotted. The part with embroidered decoration was stitched along its top edge to the back of the purse (no such stitch holes are present on the London pouches) so that the long horizontal slot formed an opening for the hand and not for a tongue. This meant that nonę of the decorative stitching on the front was exposed to view except when the purse was opened.

Sections of three rectangular purses of this type were recovered from a cistern at Dover castle where they were considered to datę to the