The occurrence of pearls in the British Isles was known two thousand years ago, and frequent references to them were made in Roman writings of the first and second centuries of the Christian era.

In his “Lives of the Cæsars,” the biographer Suetonius, after speaking of the admiration which Julius Cæsar had for pearls, states that their occurrence in Britain was an important factor in inducing the first Roman invasion of that country in 55 B.C.^[184] If this be true, the English-speaking people owe a vast debt of gratitude to these pearls in bringing their Briton ancestors in contact with Roman civilization; and the influence which they have thus exercised on the world’s history has been greater than that of the pearls from all other regions or, we might add, than all other jewels.

The naturalist Pliny (23–79) stated: “In Brittaine it is certain that some do grow; but they bee small, dim of colour, and nothing orient. For Julius Cæsar (late Emperor of famous memorie) doth not dissimble, that the cuirace or breastplate which he dedicated to Venus mother within her temple was made of English pearles.”^[185]

This decoration of pearls was a very proper offering to the goddess who arose from the sea.

The historian Tacitus noted in “Vita Agricolæ” that the pearls from Britain were dusky or brownish (subfusca ac liventia).^[186] In his commentaries on the Gospel of Matthew, Origen (185–253), one of the Greek fathers of the church, described the British pearls as next in value to the Indian. Their surface, he stated, was of a golden color, but they were cloudy and less transparent than those from India.

We have no certain information whether the pearls secured by the Romans were from the edible mussel (Mytilus edulis) of the sea-coast or from the Unios of the fresh-water streams. Tacitus’s statement that they were collected “as the sea throws them up,” seems to locate them on the sea-coast; but conditions in modern times make it appear more probable that they were from the fresh waters.

Some of the very early coins of the country indicate that pearls were used to ornament the imperial diadem of the sovereigns of ancient Britain. In “Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum,” the celebrated English monk, Bede (673–735) surnamed “The Venerable,” enumerated among other things for which Britain was famous in his day, “many sorts of shell-fish, among which are mussels, in which are often found excellent pearls of all colours; red, purple, violet and green, but mostly white.”^[187] And Marbodus, Bishop of Rennes, in his lapidarium, written about 1070, refers to the British pearls as equaling those of Persia and India. About 1094 a present of an Irish pearl was made to Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, by Gilbert, Bishop of Limerick.^[188]

In the twelfth century there was a market for Scotch pearls in Europe, but they were less valued than those from the Orient.^[189] An ordinance of John II, King of France, in August, 1355, which confirmed the old statutes and privileges of goldsmiths and jewelers, expressly forbade mounting Scotch and oriental pearls together in the same article, except in ecclesiastical jewelry (Orfèvre ne peut mettre en œuvre d’or ne argent parles d’Ecosse avec parles d’orient se ce n’est en grands joyaulx d’église).^[190]

Writing in the sixteenth century, the historian William Camden (1551–1623) stated in his “Britannia”:

The British and Irish Pearls are found in a large black Muscle.... They are peculiar to rapid and stony rivers; and are common in Wales, and in the North of England, and in Scotland, and some parts of Ireland. In this country they are called by the vulgar Kregin Diliw, i.e. Deluge shells; as if Nature had not intended the shells for the rivers; but being brought thither by the Universal Deluge, they had continued there, and so propagated their kind ever since. Those who fish here for Pearls, know partly by the outside of these Muscles, whether they contain any; for generally such as have them are a little contracted or distorted from their usual shape. A curious and accomplished Gentleman, lately of these parts, showed me a valuable Collection of the Pearls of the Conway River in Wales; amongst which I noted a stool-pearl [button-pearl], weighing seventeen grains, and distinguished on the convex side with a fair round spot of a Cornelian colour, exactly in the center.^[191]

In 1560 “large handsome pearls” were sent from Scotland to Antwerp.^[192] In 1620 a great pearl was found in the Kellie Burn, in Aberdeenshire. This was carried to King James by the provost, who was rewarded with “twelve to fourdeen chalder of victuals about Dunfermline, and the Customs of Merchants’ goods in Aberdeen during his life.” No record appears of the reward paid to the finder; possibly it was not worth recording.

In 1621 the Privy Council of Scotland issued a proclamation that pearls found within the realm belonged to the Crown; and conservators of the pearl fisheries were appointed in several of the counties, including Aberdeen, Ross, and Sutherland. It was the duty of the conservators, among other things, to nominate experts to fish for pearls during July and August, “when they are at chief perfection.” The conservators and fishermen were compensated by selling those pearls of ordinary quality, but “the best for bignesse and colour” were to be remitted to the king. It was reported to the Privy Council that the conservator in Aberdeenshire did very well in the first year. “He hath not only taken divers pearls of good value, but hath found some in waters where none were expected.” The first parliament of Charles I abolished these privileges.

Robert Sibbald, physician to Charles II, wrote that he had seen a necklace of Scotch pearls which was valued at two thousand crowns; they were “larger than peas, perfectly round, and of a brilliant whiteness.”^[193]

It is said that Sir Richard Wynne of Gwydir presented to Catherine of Braganza, queen of Charles II of England, a pearl from the Conway in Wales, which is said to be even yet retained in the royal crown. In his “Faerie Queene” (1590), Spenser speaks of the

The White Cart River in Scotland, on which the city of Paisley is situated, was distinguished, according to Camden, “for the largeness and the fineness of the Pearls that are frequently found hereabouts and three miles above.”^[194] And the pearls from Irton in Cumberland, England, were so noted at that time that “fair as Irton pearls” became a byword in the north country. In their history of Westmoreland and Cumberland,^[195] Nicolson and Burn state that “Mr. Thomas Patrickson, late of How of this county (Cumberland), having employed divers poor inhabitants to gather these pearls, obtained such a quantity as he sold to the jewellers in London for above £800.” But in 1794 Hutchinson^[196] stated that none had been seen for many years past.

Pearl fishing in Ireland was of some consequence in the seventeenth century. Speaking of the Slaney River, Solomon Richards, in a description of Wexford about the year 1656, said: “It ought to precede all the rivers in Ireland for its pearle fishing, which though not abundant are yet excellent, for muscles are daily taken out of it about fowre, five and six inches long, in which are often found pearles, for lustre, magnitude and rotundity not inferior to oriental or any other in the world.”^[197] In 1693 Sir Robert Redding wrote that there were four rivers in the county of Tyrone in northern Ireland which abounded in pearl-mussels, all four emptying into Lough Foyle and thence into the sea. They were also to be found in several rivers in the adjacent Donegal County. Redding gave an interesting description of the fishery:

In the warm months before harvest is ripe, whilst the rivers are low and clear, the poor people go into the water and take them up, some with their toes, some with wooden tongs, and some by putting a sharpened stick into the opening of the shell; and although by common estimate not above one shell in a hundred may have a pearl, and of these pearls not above one in a hundred be tolerably clear, yet a vast number of fair merchantable pearls, and too good for the apothecary, are offered to sale by those people every summer assize. Some gentlemen of the country make good advantage thereof, and I myself, whilst there, saw a pearl bought for £2, 10s. that weighed 36 carats, and was valued at £40, and had it been as clear as some others produced therewith it would certainly have been very valuable. Everybody abounds with stories of the good pennyworths of the country, but I will add but one more. A miller took a pearl, which he sold for £4, 10s. to a man that sold it for £10 to another, who sold it to the late Lady Glenanly for £30, with whom I saw it in a necklace; she refused £80 for it from the late Duchess of Ormond.

The young muscles never have any pearl in them. The shells that have the best pearls are wrinkled, twisted, or bunched, and not smooth and equal, as those that have none. And the crafty fellows will guess so well by the shell, that though you watch them never so carefully, they will open such shells under the water, and put the pearls in their mouths, or otherwise conceal them. Yet sometimes when they have been taking up shells, and believing by such signs as I have mentioned, that they were sure of good purchase, and refused good sums for their shares, they found no pearl at all in them. Upon discourse with an old man that had been long at this trade, he advised me to seek not only when the waters were low, but on a dusky, gloomy day also, lest, said he, the fish see you, for then he will shed his pearl in the sand; of which I believe no more than that some muscles have voided their pearls, and such are often found in the sands.^[198]