Medieval harness pendant identification: shapes, enamel and dates

A small, flat, shield-shaped piece of copper alloy. A loop at the top. Maybe a flash of red enamel or gilding in the corners.

That’s very likely a medieval harness pendant. They hung from a horse’s straps, and they’re one of the most colourful things a field gives up.

What they were for

Medieval horse harness was loaded with decoration: bells, studs, bosses and pendants. Manuscripts from the 12th century onwards show it, and so does Chaucer. His Monk’s bridle jingled “as loud as does the chapel bell”.

Pendants hung from:

• the peytrel, the strap across the chest;
• the brow band across the forehead;
• the headstall above the head;
• the straps from the crupper across the flanks.

The smaller ones probably went on the bridle and reins. Sizes run from about 13 mm to 73 mm.

They did two jobs. Some were heraldic: people entitled to bear arms put their colours on their horses. Others were simply decoration, and some may have been meant as lucky charms. Heraldic pendants weren’t only for knights’ chargers. They were just as likely to be on the horses of estate officials and workers.

How to recognise one

Almost every harness pendant is copper alloy. Most were gilded or tinned, and many, especially the heraldic ones, were enamelled.

Check for:

• a suspension loop at the top, pierced side to side for a pin or wire spindle;
• a flat face, often with recessed areas where enamel sat;
• traces of gold-coloured gilding or silvery tinning in the recesses;
• sometimes a hole in the centre for a separate decorative stud.

If you’ve found the hanger too, it has two lugs that hold the spindle. The lugs were either turned over or drilled for it. Hangers fixed to the strap with a cast stud on the back, or with a separate rivet through a hole.

The main shapes

The London Museum Medieval Catalogue published the five main forms in 1940. Detecting has added many more since. The ones you’ll meet most:

Dating

The true heraldic pendants, with arms cut into the ground and filled with enamel, are believed to date mainly from the late 13th century and through the 14th. UKDFD notes a suggestion that Edward I’s military campaigns helped drive their popularity.

Non-heraldic pendants started earlier. Scallop shell and openwork lozenge pendants from excavations at Castle Acre Castle, Norfolk, were dated as early as the mid to late 12th century. A few pendants with Anglo-Scandinavian-style openwork might be 11th to 12th century, but that’s the writer’s hunch, flagged with question marks.

Excavated examples help pin types down:

• a quatrefoil framed pendant from Hadleigh Castle, Essex, in an early 14th-century context;
• a lozenge pendant from Kidwelly Castle, Carmarthenshire, said to be from a context of 1275 to 1320;
• a scallop-shell pendant from Brooklands, Surrey, in a context of 1200 to 1325.

Quatrefoil pendants with a crowned letter copy a late medieval seal-ring design, usually dated to the 15th century. UKDFD suggests these are late examples of the enamelled type.

Reading the heraldry

Enamel colours stand for heraldic tinctures. The field was gilded to show gold (Or) or tinned to show silver (Argent). Red enamel is gules, blue is azure.

Some pendants can be tied to a family. UKDFD gives examples:

• a gilt cross potance (as UKDFD describes it) with five red mullets on a red field, attributed to Sir Thomas Ughtred, who bore those arms at the siege of Calais (1345 to 1348);
• two crossed keys on red, attributed to a member of the Chamberlain family in the Dering Roll, from the reign of Henry III (1216 to 1272);
• the arms of Roos and Grey, per pale.

Many more carry a stock or pseudo-heraldic device. People not entitled to arms could still pick a symbol, just as they did for seal matrices. A lion passant on red inside fleurs-de-lis turns up at more than one site, which suggests a stock type.

Enamel often falls out. Photograph what’s left before you clean anything, and note every colour.

Hangers and mounts

Pendants rarely come out of the ground with their mounts, but matching sets are known.

• Simple hangers have a stud or rivet hole and two lugs for the spindle.
• Bar mounts with distinctive terminals carried pendants along a strap. A cruciform version sat where two straps crossed.
• Multiple hangers carried two or three pendants, or bells, on one length of wire.
• Crest mounts are big, with arms round a hollow ball and several small pendants. Where they sat on the harness is still uncertain.

Small bells hung from the same kind of mount. If yours is a bell, see our crotal bell guide. Strap fittings often come with buckles of the same date.

Record it

A copper-alloy pendant isn’t usually Treasure. But under the significance class added on 30 July 2023, a metal object over 200 years old can be, if it gives an exceptional insight into history. A rare heraldic piece might. See what counts as treasure, and record every pendant with your Finds Liaison Officer. Heraldic ones add to a growing picture of who rode where.

More object guides are in the Find ID drawer.

FAQ

How do I know it's a harness pendant and not jewellery?

Look for a suspension loop at the top, often with a hole across it for a pin, and a matching hanger with two lugs. Pendants were made to swing from a strap mount. Most are copper alloy that was once gilded or tinned, and many heraldic ones have recesses for enamel.

How old is a harness pendant?

The true heraldic, enamelled pendants are believed to date mainly from the late 13th and 14th centuries. Non-heraldic types started earlier: scallop shell and openwork lozenge pendants from Castle Acre Castle have been dated as early as the mid to late 12th century.

Can I identify the coat of arms?

Sometimes. Some pendants carry the arms of a known family, such as a cross with five mullets attributed to Sir Thomas Ughtred, or two keys linked to a Chamberlain in the Dering Roll. Many others carry stock or pseudo-heraldic designs that don't belong to anyone in particular. Record the colours of any surviving enamel and ask your Finds Liaison Officer.

Is a harness pendant Treasure?

Usually not. They're copper alloy, and gilding alone doesn't make an object gold. Under the 2023 significance class, a metal object over 200 years old found since 30 July 2023 can be Treasure if it gives an exceptional insight into history, so record it with your Finds Liaison Officer and let them judge.

What's the round thing with a glass bead inside?

UKDFD illustrates gilt pendant frames with a glass or crystal bead hanging inside. The writer suggests they may have been amulets, against the evil eye, because it's hard to see another use for them. Treat that as a suggestion, not a fact.

Sources

Every figure in this guide comes from one of these. We checked each one on 2 November 2026.

1. C. J.'s Metal Detecting Pages, “Medieval Harness Pendants” (UK Detector Finds Database, January 2005), citing N. Griffiths, Medieval Harness Pendants, Finds Research Group Datasheet 5 (1986), and S. Ashley, Medieval Armorial Horse Furniture in Norfolk, East Anglian Archaeology 101 (2002). www.ukdfd.co.uk/ceejays_site/pages/medieval_harness_pendants.htm
2. C. J.'s Metal Detecting Pages, “Medieval Pendant Mounts” (UK Detector Finds Database, January 2005), citing Read (2001), Whitehead (2003) and Egan and Pritchard (1991). www.ukdfd.co.uk/ceejays_site/pages/medieval_harness_pendant_mounts.htm
3. DCMS, The Treasure Act 1996 Code of Practice (3rd revision, 2023), GOV.UK. www.gov.uk/government/publications/treasure-act-1996-code-of-practice-3rd-revision