Photograph: Bell of a thin brass trumpet with a slight dent in one side. There are 3 more sections that fit together to form the complete trumpet.
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Photograph: Mouth-piece of a thin brass trumpet. There are 3 more sections that fit together to form the complete trumpet.

Trumpet

Date: Late 1300s

This is the oldest surviving complete medieval trumpet. It was possibly used at sea for signalling ship-to-ship. The four sections could be dismantled for carrying. The bell and one section are made of sheet brass (copper-zinc alloy), the other sections of copper-zinc-tin alloy. A decorative flag or pennant may have hung from the hole in the rim of the bell. The trumpet was found with one straight section tucked inside the bell during archaeological monitoring of building works at Billingsgate (City of London) in 1984. It may have been dropped overboard from a ship on the river in the late 1300s.

Accession number: BWB83[335]<225>

Place of collection: Billingsgate Market Lorry Park, Lower Thames Street EC3 [City of London]

Material: copper alloy

Measurements: L (overall) 1.6 m

Gallery location: Case 17.9

Related material

Subjects:

Leisure
River Thames
River Thames
Transport

Objects:



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