Trewhiddle Strap End
Strap ends of the Jelling style were also popular in England, and especially the Danelaw,[2] during this time, as well as in the Baltic and Russia,[3] and the Trewhiddle style does resemble the Jelling style with its long, sinuous, intertwining creatures. However, the Trewhiddle style also shows a resemblance to the earlier Borre style with the round-eared creature represented on the strap end facing forward toward the viewer. This strap end may have been an early version of the popular Jelling strap ends that would come later, and the dates of this object could support this idea. The strap end and the Trewhiddle style could be a transition style that morphed the Borre and Jelling styles of zoomorphic interlace.
Amidst the dates given for this object was the reign of King Aethelwulf in Wessex and the reigns of his four sons, the youngest being Alfred the Great. Their reigns saw a lot of conflict with the micle here, or the viking Great Army, and Alfred himself was the one to ultimately drive them out of England.[4] This strap end was found in Essex, which is along the border of what would later become the Danelaw where it meets with Wessex. It had broken off something, possibly a soldier’s gear, and its location and dates suggest that this may have belonged to an Anglo-Saxon soldier in the armies of Aethelwulf or his sons as they fought against the vikings.
