Loomweight. From Back Street, St Cross, Winchester, Hampshire.

Loomweight. From Back Street, St Cross, Winchester, Hampshire.

Clay loomweight

Medieval, probably 12th or 13th century

Found during excavations at Back Street, St Cross, Winchester, in the late 1950s

This is one of a group of loomweights found in a heap in a medieval hut that had been destroyed by fire. Their unburnt state suggests that that at the time of the collapse of the building, they had been hanging up. In a line between two posts was a further group of 22 or 23 weights, badly burnt and covered in ash, the remains of a loom that had burnt down in place.

Loomweight. From Back Street, St Cross, Winchester, Hampshire.