Skip to main content Accessibility statement

We use cookies on this site to enhance your user experience.

By clicking the Accept button, you agree to us doing so. More info on our cookie policy.

Histories of Northamptonshire
View in timeline

Wakerley brooch

Saxon 500 - 700 CE Roman and Early Medieval

Excavated from a burial in an Anglo-Saxon cemetery, this square headed brooch is unusual in being marked with a runic inscription on the back.

Anglo-Saxon square-headed brooch with runic name inscribed on rear. © NMAG
Anglo-Saxon square-headed brooch with runic name inscribed on rear.
Rear of the Wakerley brooch showing the scratched runes, possibly a female name © NMAG
Rear of the Wakerley brooch showing the scratched runes, possibly a female name

This beautifully decorated Anglo-Saxon brooch dating from between 500 CE and 700 CE was found during an archaeological dig in Wakerley, North Northamptonshire. The dig in an Anglo-Saxon cemetery between 1968 and 1969 unearthed 85 burials in 72 graves. An abundance of other grave goods were found, including 70 brooches, a drinking horn, pottery bowls and jars, rings, beads and coins.

What is particularly unusual about this brooch is the short, runic inscription lightly scratched on its back recording the word ‘Buhui’. Recently it has been interpreted as a female name, possibly abbreviated, which may have been the name of its owner who was buried with it.

Similar personal and place name elements do occur in Anglo-Saxon contexts, but these similarities do not definitively mean that the inscription is a name or even a proper word. The Anglo-Saxons loved brooches, which were known as dalc or spennels. They were mainly worn by women as pairs to fasten dresses or single brooches to fasten cloaks. They were usually made of bronze (copper alloy) but could be made of iron and decorated with gold and silver. There were many shapes and styles of Anglo-Saxon brooches, including the saucer, applied saucer, button, annular (circular ring form), penannular (incomplete ring), and the quoit (double ring, one of each of the previous types) brooches. This one is a square-headed brooch which typically has a rectangular head.

Number 31 of the objects selected for the A History of Northamptonshire in 100 Objects exhibition 2025.

Wakerley
Contributed by NMAG
Previous object
Next object

Related objects

  • Medieval Jewish tombstone fragment with Hebrew inscription © NMAG
    Medieval to Tudor

    Jewish Tombstone

    This Jewish tombstone fragment is one of two surviving medieval inscriptions in England; indicating a thriving medieval Jewish community living in Northampton at the time.

  • Length of Buckingham Point Bobbin Lace known as the Paisley Pear © NMAG
    Modern

    Paisley Pear

    This Paisley Pear is an exceptional piece of Bucking Point Bobbin lace. Lacemaking was a prominent Northamptonshire industry from the 17th to 20th centuries.

  • Bronze cast from clay maquete produced by sculptor Henry Moore © NMAG
    Modern

    Madonna and Child Maquette

    Maquette (preliminary model) for Madonna and Child statue at St Matthews Church, Northampton. It was commissioned from the now-famous sculptor Henry Moore.

  • Bronze Age pottery vessel or Beaker © NMAG
    Geologic to Prehistoric

    Bronze Age Beaker

    HIghly decorated pottery vessel, known as a Beaker pot. Found as part of a male burial marked by a Bronze Age round barrow.