Budapest: two Roman heddles

There have been two finds of Roman era rigid heddles in Hungary.  Both have interesting characteristics. 

The most unusual is the heddle found in Aquincum.  This charming heddle has two bottle-nosed dolphins carved along one side edge. It is made of red deer antler. It is 6 cm by 2.9 cm. The slots are only1 mm in width. The two dolphins bring the total width to 4 cm. It is on permanent display at the Aquincum Museum.  

The second heddle was found in a male grave in Pilismarot. Is very different.  It is made of bronze and is larger in terms of overall dimensions. However, both heddles can take up to a maximum of 11 warp ends. The Aquincum heddle has slots of about 47 mm but the Pilismarot heddle has slots of approximately 70 mm.  This determines the height of the shed when lifting or lowering the heddle - although, of course, the shed can be manipulated by hand to stretch higher. 

I visited both museums when I went to Budapest for the first time in June.  It is a beautiful city and well worth a visit. 

Aquincum Museum is on the outskirts of the town and is easy to get to on public transport. https://www.aquincum.hu/en/

It is an extensive archaeological site. 

A view of part of the site. 

The site is fascinating. 

Outside on the approach to the museum

There are a number of buildings housing different exhibits including a reconstruction called the House of the painter. 

The house of the painter

One of the interior rooms. 

There are outside displays of Roman carved stonework - statures, gravestones etc. 

There was a separate buildings containing mosaics - again beautifully displayed and with plenty of information. 

The main museum building is quite extensive and has several rooms of displays.  One of the more surprising items is the find of a Roman organ. I did not realise that the Romans had such a sophisticated musical instrument.  Most of the pipes were found and the organ has been reconstructed.  My photo is not brilliant as the lighting in the display was bright but you can see what it was like. 

The Roman musical organ a 1999 reconstruction

These were expensive and luxurious musical instruments.  The description of the organ said :  In AD 228, Gaius Julius Viatorinus, a prominent official of the Aquincum Civil Town presented a portable organ to the collegium of textile-dealers. The collegium had an important role not only  in the social life of its members, but also in the public service assigned to it, namely fire detection and fire fighting in the town. The instrument donated by the Aquincum dignitary was kept there, and it could have been played during festivities. 

The translation of the plaque reads:

Gaius Julius Viatorinus, councillor of the colonia of Aquincum, former aedile, the commander of the association of textile-dealers, gave this organ to the aforementioned association at his own expense in the consulship of Modestus and Probus (AD 228).

What an amazing find. If you visit the web site of the museum you can hear the sounds that this type of organ would make. 

Another interesting exhibit is a dolphin fountain. 

Dolphin fountain in the Governor’s Palace

Freshwater limestone

2nd century AD

Budapest, District III, Hajógyári Island, Governor’s Palace (1951–1952)

Fragments of the limestone fountain were found in various rooms of the Governor’s Palace (praetorium) on Hajógyári Island during excavations in 1951–1952. The fountain was made at about the same time as the palace was built, in the early-2nd century, and it was used to decorate the courtyard until the palace was abandoned. This dolphin fountain has been reconstructed but is interesting in that the Roman heddle made of antler found in Aquincum also features dolphins. 

Dolphin fountain from the Governors house.

Finally we went to the  museum. 

The museum building

I wanted to see the Roman rigid heddle that was found in Aquincum.  here it is in the case with other objects. The staff were very helpful and found the heddle that I was looking for in the display case. It is quite unique due to the material from which it is made and the two dolphins along one side. 

The small Roman rigid heddle.

I was really thrilled to see it as I had only seen photographs beforehand.  It is 6 cm long and 2.9 cm in width. The holes are 1mm in diameter. It was found in 2016 in a shallow round pit. 

We had a wonderful holiday although it was very hot. Definitely a place to visit.

I used a reproduction of the Pilismarot heddle in one of my latest videos on YouTube   

Weaving a narrow band with a butterfly weft: 

 https://youtu.be/HBhotrWs4-s

Roman heddle reproduction  

I am working on another YouTube video showing simple patterning using a small Roman heddle. It is fascinating to just how versatile these small heddles can be and also speculating on what these narrow bands could have been used for in Roman society.

Happy weaving

Susan J Foulkes  August 2025

#romanrigidheddles

Weaving without a shuttle or beater.

I have been exploring others ways of weaving a narrow band.  I have just uploaded a video about weaving with a butterfly weft.

https://youtu.be/HBhotrWs4-s?si=KUwtb9KqyZ8Hm1jv

However, what about weaving without a shuttle, beater, or a rigid heddle?  I have made a short video to show the process. I used six warp ends because the Roman heddle found in Lingenfeld Germany can only accommodate six warp ends. 

Weaving with 6 warp ends. https://youtu.be/BLaA0_JcadM

Weaving without a shuttle, beater and heddle is known from 19th century Iceland and early 20th century Ireland. The crios belt of the Aran islands is made in this way.  Crios weaving was known as weaving 'on the foot' as one end of the warp was attached to the weavers foot. The other end was held in the hand and the two hands were used to pickup each shed.  

I wove a copy of the Crios belt in the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford

Close up of the Crios belt

You can view the original on the Pitt Rivers online collection.

https://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/collections-online#/item/prm-object-131617

The Crios has 60 warp ends.  You can see my attempt at weaving it using a circular warp on one of my YouTube videos.  Five ways to weave a crios. 

I found it easier to weave a wider band than these narrow ones which only have 6 warp ends. All the bands are warp faced. 

Using a replica Roman heddle

I decided to explore this method of weaving using a Roman rigid heddle and then trying with no heddle. 

The Roman era heddle from Germany only has three slots and three holes - spaces for 6 warp ends.  I wove narrow bands in chunky wool, 3 ply wool and Dk cotton.  Using only a few warp ends makes the tensioning slightly tricky and I will need to practice more to get an even 'beat'.  The weft thread is placed into position, then the shed is changed and the two layers of warp ends are pulled slightly apart to 'beat' the weft into place. I am using a butterfly of the weft yarn. 

Here is the Crios belt and the three very narrow bands using only 6 warp ends. I found it easier to weave a wider band than these narrow ones.  

Tapestry Band

I have tried using the small Roman heddle from Germany to weave a tapestry band.  Six warp ends was a useful way to trial a narrow tapestry band.  I found that the heddle holds the warp ends at a fixed distance apart.  I used the my first loom.  I was about 8 years old when I was given this loom as a Christmas present. 

My first weaving loom and the beginnings of the tapestry band.

I am exploring many avenues in my research about Roman era heddles for the workshop at the Pitt Rivers Museum in October. There are still a few places left on the Friday workshop.  https://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/event/band-weaving-workshop

Happy weaving

Susan J Foulkes  July 2025

Arbeia Roman Fort, South Shields, UK

 Arbeia Roman Fort is in South Shields, UK. The site is now a museum. It is here that the Roman heddle was found in the late 19th century. 

The Romans occupied the site from 125 CE. It became a supply base for the Roman frontier and many granaries were built. 

Various buildings in the site have been reconstructed: the gatehouse, barrack blocks and the commanders house.

Reconstructed gate

The barrack blocks were very cramped for the ordinary soldier. 

The barrack block

The barrack housed the centurion and his family at one end.  The soldiers in groups of eight shared two rooms - very cramped indeed. 

Centurions bedroom

In contrast the centurion had more spacious quarters at one end of the block. 

Centurions kitchen.

The large courtyard house was probably the residence of the commanding officer and were very luxurious.

Summer dining room

Commanders courtyard

The last rebuilding of the fort marked the arrival of the a new unit of Tigris bargemen. Arbeia may  mean 'the place of the Arabs'. It is thought to have been  formally known as Lugudunum. By the fifth century it was a srtonghold controlling the northern area. 

It was a fascinating day out as we had not visited the fort for many years.  

The South Shields heddle is now in the Great North Museum in Newcastle. 

reproduction heddle with the actual Roman find.

happy weaving

Susan J Foulkes  may 2025

Making a rigid heddle and shuttle at Northern Bowl

 I have just attended a one day workshop at Northern Bowl - organised by https://www.landofroots.co.uk/

I live within walking distance but I had not heard of this gathering before. However, I found that Amy Leake was running a one day workshop on making a rigid heddle so I signed up.  

https://www.facebook.com/a.woodmungler

I walked to the gathering ( about 45 minutes) and was pleased to see this sign.  

Workshops at the gathering

Once there, I could appreciate the number of workshops on offer - all were filled. It is a very popular event. 

Amy had two tables with a variety of equipment and examples. There were six of us signed up and we were soon drawing and cutting and sanding. Amy demonstrated everything very clearly and was very helpful once were were let loose with the equipment. 

The group were lovely and two of them kept us entertained whilst we were working by singing.

 The cutting of the slots could be achieved on a treadle machine.

Here is a heddle being finished by one of the group. 

Everyone had lunch around an open fire.  Home made bread and soup - very welcome on a cool day.

The gathering tent

In the afternoon, participants whittling wood used this area and were entertained by music. 

Music while you whittle

By the end of the day we had all made a heddle and shuttle and a warp and started to weave.

It was a wonderful  experience.  I will definitely sign up again if there is another workshop. 

The other workshops were also very busy.  Here are a few photos.

Carving a bowl

Pole lathe

There were two areas with pole lathes

Leather bag making

basket weaving

Finally, yes I made my shuttle and heddle.  Here is my heddle and shuttle.  I did not have the confidence to do a cut out design on the top. I thought that I would stop whilst it still looked OK.  I thought that I might decorate it by painting a design once I got home. 

My shuttle and heddle made from Sycamore wood

Here are some of Amy's designs.

Amy's designs

happy weaving

Susan J Foulkes  May 2025

The Turkuu heddle

This is a reproduction of the heddle from Turkuu, Finland. This is, at the present time, the oldest heddle found in Finland. It dates to the fifteenth century and is made of birch wood. It has holes and slots for 19 warp ends. 

This is another of Robin Goatey's lovely creations. See the dancinggoats studio  . 

I have tried it using a 16/2 linen warp.  I designed the first pattern but I was not happy with it when I wove it.  I cut off the warp and rethreaded it and tried again.  The second combination did not seem quite right.

Finally, with very little warp left I tried again. This time I was happier with the colour order but only 18 warp ends were used. 

The two single centre warp ends are a doubled thread. The weft is the mid orange colour so that it shows on both selvedges. 

The woven band is 8mm in width. 

Close up of the woven band

It is fascinating using old designs of rigid heddles to weave.  There is so much to be learned from trying out the form of an heddle. 

Happy weaving

Susan J Foulkes  March 2025

Small heddle weaving

         

I made two heddles out of cardboard to see how easy it is to weave with small heddles using only a few warp ends. 

Small heddle in blue cardboard. 

The first heddle has three slots and four holes.  It measures  approx 2.5  cms x 2.5  cm

For this band I used a sock darning yarn which is very fine but strong.  If you buy Laing sock yarn it comes as a spool in the centre of  each ball.  It is ideal for band weaving as well. There are nine warp ends in the following order

White White  White, Blue, Blue, Blue; Pink. Pink, Pink.

I used a white weft so there is a pretty dotted line along the pink edge of the band. 

The width of the band after weaving is approximately 3mm

The major difficulty with cardboard as a medium for heddles is that it is difficult to get a smooth finish to the holes and slots.  When using this small heddle, the yarn broke through one of the holes because of frictional wear. 

Stribinic Heddle

The second heddle has four slots and five holes. It measures 6 cms x 5.2 cms.

It is a copy of the Roman rigid heddle found in Croatia. The original is made of bone and has an unusual feature.  There is a single additional hole in one corner. The dimensions are approximately 4.6-4.8 x 7.2-7.4 cm. It was found as part of grave goods in the grave of a young man. 

For this warp I used seven warp ends of chunky wool yarn. The colours are in the following order:

Blue, Blue, Yellow, White, Yellow, Blue, Blue. The weft is blue.

The width of the band after weaving is approximately 5 mm.

Findings.

I was surprised to find that with the very small heddle it was relatively easy to weave a narrow warp-faced band.  Unfortunately, cardboard is not a good medium for heddles as the fine yarn wears the holes. 

The larger heddle was easier to use and was sturdier. The corner hole is rather unusual in the design.

I am going to try weaving a tubular band with each of these heddles. 

Jewellery

I bought a lovely heddle necklace which has an attached shuttle.  This is very small indeed. It is a mini handmade beechwood rigid heddle loom from AntjeVanMargje on Etsy.

I wove a tubular cord in sock darning wool in three colours with this tiny shuttle and it worked. 

I wanted a new cord for the necklace necklace so I lucetted a silk cord using two strands of 60/2 silk in green. 

And here is the  new silk cord in green silk.

Happy Weaving

Susan J Foulkes  February 2025