Stone spindlewhorl. From CG 1962-70, Cathedral Green, Winchester, Hampshire.

Stone spindlewhorl

Late Saxon or medieval

Found during excavations by the Winchester Excavations Committee at the Cathedral Green, Winchester in the late 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 67.