Copper-alloy harbick. From BS 1965-71, Brook Street site, Winchester, Hampshire.

Copper-alloy harbick. From BS 1965-71, Brook Street site, Winchester, Hampshire.

Copper alloy harbick, or shearboard hook

Medieval, probably late medieval

Found during excavations by the Winchester Excavations Committee in the Brooks area of Winchester in the late 1960s

These objects were used to secure nearly-finished cloth to the cropping board while the nap was sheared. For more information, see Professor Martin Biddle's (1990) book, Winchester Studies 7.ii, Object and Economy in Medieval Winchester, catalogue number 310.

Copper-alloy harbick. From BS 1965-71, Brook Street site, Winchester, Hampshire.