413 (9)

386

Dress Accessories

lining, which was presumably glued into place, so that the lining projected above the edge of the exterior enabling a cap to fit on top; a ąuatrcfoil is engraved on the front of it (no. 1781, fig 256). The narrow width of this case is in contrast to that of an elaborately decorated case of this type in the Roach-Smith collection at the British Museum (Roach-Smith 1854, 131 no. 650; BM MLA acc. no. 56, 7-1, 1901), which would have held larger implements, including perhaps a comb. Leather cases were, indeed, purpose madę for a wide rangę of domestic items, for example spoons and quills, and all of these could be hung from a girdle (see fig 139B).

The three metal needlecases from recent ex-cavations in the City were madę from sheeting. The basie component was a thin, rectangular sheet from which four triangular segments were removed at one end (fig 254). Conseąuently, when the sheet was bent into the form of a tubę the flaps could be pushed to meet in a point at the base and soldered together, thereby preventing needles from escaping. The smallest needlecase has an additional tubę inserted into the mouth of its main cylinder (no. 1784, figs 255 & 256), which can be compared with the lining of the leather case. This device, by narrowing the open-ing, would have helped to limit the loss of needles by restricting the number that could be tipped out when the case was opened. To attach the needlecases to a girdle, a slot was soldered on either side of the main cylinder through which a cord or thong could pass. The size of slots on the smaller case would only have allowed a fine fibrę cord to have been used, and traces of a linen cord are preserved in the side slots of a contemporary 14th-century tin needlecase recovered from the Thames waterfront at Billingsgate. A cap would have rested on top of the slots and complete examples in the Medieval Department of the Museum of London show that such caps usually had corresponding side slots, which would have helped to hołd together the cap and Container and would have allowed the cap to slide up and down. One of the metal cases catalogued here, which is broken along its upper edge (no. 1782, fig 256), has no side slots and may, therefore, have been carried inside a pouch.

Needlecases were sometimes designed to have morę than one compartment, a characteristic which they shared with some knife sheaths. An example in copper alloy from Billingsgate shows a smali tubę soldered onto the main cylinder (MoL acc. no. 84.206/3, fig 256).

The number of needles contained in these cases would have varied according to size but the gunmetal case could have held at least six, and the smaller, copper case only two or three. This latter case, fortuitously, preserved a short iron needle inside, proving beyond doubt that such cases carried needles.

Bonę

1780    MLK76 acc. no. 310 (context 1062) ceramic phase 6 fig 256

Bird longbone (P Armitage); cylindrical with two pairs of holes positioned diagonally in the centre of the highly polished shaft; 1 53mm.

Leather

1781    TL74 1942 (2332) 11 fig 256

Calf leather; cap missing; one slot on each side bclow the lining; 1 58mm; internal w lOmm. (Cowgill et al. 1987, 154 no. 459).

Copper alloy

1782 BWB83 1911 (362) 9 fig 256

Brass (AML); cylindrical Container with soldered seam. The lower end is serrated with the resulting four flaps meeting in a point at the base. Two strips of metal with cross-hatched decoration are soldered to the outside of the tubę and between these a band of chevrons has been incised. Lower down the cylinder is a narrow band of cross-hatching. The upper edge of the case is broken and the cap is missing. Surviving 1 59mm; d 6mm.

1783 BWB83 5927 (298) 11 fig 256 Gunmetal (AML); folded into a rectangular Container and soldered along one side; the lower end is as preccding item; the cap is missing; an cxtra strip was soldered to each of the opposing narrow sides, near the top of the case, through which a cord or thong could pass and on top of which the cap would have rested; 1 61mm; w 6-7mm.

1784    BWB83 367 (399) 11 figs 255 & 256 Copper (AML); as preceding, except that the Container is cylindrical and a second tubę was inserted at its open end; side slots circular in section aligned with the edge of the main cylinder; 1 55mm; internal d 2mm. Iron needle madę from drawn wire, head flattened and punched to produce a tiny eye; 1 35mm; d lmm.