Lead spindlewhorl. From BS 1965-71, Brook Street site, Winchester, Hampshire.

Lead spindlewhorl

Late Saxon or medieval

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

Used to balance the spindle during spinning, these objects could also be made of pottery, bone or stone. Lead whorls, as here, are less common in the archaeological record, their weight perhaps giving them a specialised use, for spinning double yarn. For more information this whorl, see Professor Martin Biddle's (1990) book, Winchester Studies 7.ii, Object and Economy in Medieval Winchester, catalogue number 193.