Stone spindlewhorl. From BSSC 1963-1964, Brook Street Site C, Winchester, Hampshire.

Stone spindlewhorl

Late Saxon or medieval

Found during excavations by the Winchester Excavations Committee in the Brooks area of Winchester in the early to mid- 1960s

Used for balancing the spindle during spinning, these objects could be made of pottery, bone, lead or stone as here. Often, the stone used to make them is not local to Winchester, implying that whorls were sometimes specially imported from other parts of Britain. For more information about this whorl, see Professor Martin Biddle's (1990) book, Winchester Studies 7.ii, Object and Economy in Medieval Winchester, catalogue number 105.