Bronze Trumpets.—A large number of war-trumpets have been found in Ireland during the past two centuries; and an interesting series of these in the Academy collection is to be seen in the National Museum. These instruments are usually classified into (1) those blown in the ordinary way from the end; and (2) those having the end closed, and sounded from an opening some distance from it in the body of the instrument. Among the examples found, some are cast, and others riveted; many are ornamented, and some have highly decorated discs of the Late Celtic period round the mouth. When not in use they were probably slung from the shoulder, some of the instruments exhibiting loops to which straps could be attached.
An interesting group of trumpets from the Academy collection is here represented. The trumpet to the left of the lower central figure is of cast bronze and is 24 inches in length along the convex side. ‘It requires,’ says Wilde, ‘a great exertion to produce even a dull sound with this instrument.’ The central figure, and that immediately above it to the right, are also cast, and have holes on the inner sides. It has been thought that this type of instrument was used more for speaking than blowing; and Latin writers notice the clamour and noise of trumpets made by the Celts on the battle-field. The fourth trumpet is of two portions, and the combined length is about 6 feet. It is not cast, but made of thin sheet bronze; the edges are not soldered, but are held together by thin stripes of metal running along the seam internally and externally, and riveted to each side by alternate studs of bronze. The disc at the end is about 3 inches wide, and has a fine design of Late Celtic pattern punched on the metal. The fifth figure in the illustration represents an exceptionally fine trumpet, and one of the most remarkable yet discovered in Europe for its size. It is 8 feet 5 inches in length, and is in two portions, formed, like the last, of sheet bronze, the edges being held together by an internal strip of metal riveted to the side. This, as Wilde well says, is the most perfect thing of its kind yet discovered; and if the instrument was originally of one piece, exceptional skill and ingenuity were shown in the riveting.104
Bronze Ornaments.—Pins of wood or bone seem to have been the material used in the earliest articles for fastening the dress. Bone pins have been found in considerable numbers in early burial sites, and in crannog remains; many are ornamented and they were very probably used long after the introduction of bronze. On the discovery of this metal the beauty of the colour naturally led to its immediate adoption for objects of personal use and decoration. The number of these objects that have been found in Ireland is very great, and they consist of pins, fibulæ, brooches, rings, bracelets, &c. The bronze pin, which was derived from the ring-brooch, shows a regular development; first in the solid head, which is very varied; later the head was pierced for a ring, or a ring was riveted to it. The ring in time became the special object of development, similar to the process of the parent ring-brooch which ended in the production of those splendid examples of metal work—the Celtic brooches.
Fig. 1. Fig. 2.
Disc and Penannular Types of Ring Pins.
The accompanying figures illustrate varieties of ring-pins not uncommon in Irish collections. Fig. 1 has a ring of the disc type with a plaited design, which plays freely in the loop of the pin-head. Fig. 2 has the penannular type of ring with coin-shaped ends. Spring brooches or fibulæ of the kind shown in fig. 3 are rarely found in Ireland. This is a beautiful example of the ‘serpent’ type, and ‘is curiously frosted with a raised irregular pattern all over the surface; but whether produced in casting, or caused by sudden cooling of the metal, is uncertain.’ Fig. 4 represents a beautiful example of the hinge-brooch and one of the finest ever discovered. It was found in Ardakillin Crannog, near Strokestown. The ends show Late Celtic design; and the ornament was produced by punching from the back. The curved body of the brooch has a raised plaited design of the usual type; and this piece appears to have been cast.
Penannular rings, more common in gold than in bronze, have frequently been found, the larger size having been used as bracelets or armlets. Two of the latter are figured on next page. One is a massive ornament consisting of a double rope-like band joined to a small ring. The second consists of ‘a double circlet of thin bronze, with free ends, one of which is perforated for looping on a stud placed behind the central enlargement; the other extremity, as well as the central space, is decorated with an embossed bird-head pattern.’ (Wilde.)
Gold Ornaments.—By far the largest number of important objects for personal decoration of the Bronze Age found in Ireland are of gold. The quantity that has been discovered is very large; and Ireland has perhaps the richest collection in Europe of prehistoric gold ornaments. There are many references to gold in the Irish ‘Annals’; and, judging from them, its antiquity in Ireland is great. We are told, under date 3872 A.M.: ‘It was Muineamhon that first caused chains of gold (to be worn) on the necks of kings and chieftains in Ireland.’ In the Book of Rights, numerous allusions are made to rings, chains, brooches, and other objects of gold and silver as tribute paid by petty kings and chiefs to the reigning monarch.
The Annals of the Four Masters, at A.M. 3656, state: ‘It was by Tighearnmas also that gold was first melted in Ireland, in Foithre-Airthir-Liffe. (It was) Uchadan, an artificer of the Feara-Cualann, smelted it. It was by him that goblets and brooches were first covered with gold and silver in Ireland.’ A similar entry occurs in the Annals of Clonmacnoise.105 The district referred to includes parts of the counties of Wicklow and Dublin. It is interesting to note that even to this day gold is found in several of the mountain streams of Wicklow. In the National Museum may be seen the model of a Wicklow nugget found in 1796 which weighed 22 ounces; in a few weeks subsequently, 800 ounces were sold for £3000. One has been found of nine and another of eight ounces. It has been computed that in the early part of the last century the jewellers of Dublin paid annually an average sum of £2000 for nuggets from the Wicklow streams, secretly sold to them by the finders. Much has been written, and various theories advanced, to show that the sources from which the ancient Irish derived gold were foreign, and not native. It has been attributed to the Levant, Gaul, Spain, and Scandinavia; while one writer labours to prove that Roman coinage was melted down to supply the material for the manufacture of ornaments. The instances here given—of Wicklow furnishing considerable quantities of the precious metal in modern times—supplies strong presumptive evidence that the main source from which the ore was derived was Ireland itself.
The recorded instances of the discovery of gold ornaments and other objects in Ireland are very numerous, and date back for several centuries.106 The collection of the Royal Irish Academy is one of exceptional interest and value, and numbers over 350 specimens. These have been classified by Wilde as follows: ‘Diadems, tiaras, lunulæ, hair-plates, and ear-rings; those used for the neck—as, for example, gorgets, small torques, flattened beads, globular balls, and necklaces; for the breast—as circular plates, fibulæ, and brooches; for the limbs—as armillæ, bracelets, and finger-rings; and for the chest and waist, in the form of large torques: besides several minor trinkets and miscellaneous articles, such as bullæ, small circular boxes, penannular-shaped articles—supposed to represent money—bracteate medals, and some other objects of undetermined use.’107
Notwithstanding the great number of gold objects found in Ireland, and preserved in public museums or private collections, the majority of those discovered found their way to the melting-pot; some jewellers, according to Wilde, estimated that they had purchased as much as £10,000 worth. This is a matter much to be regretted, for the loss to archæology is great; and it cannot be too widely known that the Council of the Academy and the Trustees of the National Museum are prepared to pay, not only the full bullion value of any object found, but its estimated antiquarian value, which depends on its condition, rarity, ornamentation, and the very special circumstances under which it has been discovered. As examples of the losses in question, we may mention that in 1860 a letter appeared in the Athenæum from Mr. Clibborn, the then Curator of the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy, stating ‘that a considerable gold find had been made near Athlone to the value of £27,000, which had been entirely lost to the antiquarian world.’ Again, in 1854, during the construction of the Limerick and Ennis Railway, certain labourers found under a rude cairn an immense treasure of the precious metal. So great was this find that four days after the discovery four men departed to America with about £6000 each. Large numbers of the objects were immediately melted down in Limerick and neighbouring towns; a few only seem to have been saved from the crucible.
Torques.—The term ‘Torque’ is applied to the various kinds of collars generally worn round the neck, by the Celtic tribes of the Continent and the British Isles. Those of the largest kind were worn round the waist, or across the breast, and the smallest on the arm or wrist. The torque, familiar to all readers of Roman history, and worn round the neck, was a twisted rope-like ornament with bulbous ends at the front. Frequent mention is made of the torque in Irish records, and their use ranged over a long period of time. Considerable numbers, and of great variety, have been discovered in Ireland; and some are among the largest yet found in Europe. ‘The simplest form,’ say Wilde, ‘is that of a square bar of gold, twisted so as to present a funicular, or rope-like figure. In the more complete forms, two or more flat stripes of metal, joined at their inner edges, are twisted spirally.’
The subject of the above illustration is a group of four torques of types usually found. The two outer examples were dug out of a bank of earth on the Hill of Tara. This was in 1810—a time when little was known about Irish antiquities; and the torques were hawked about the streets of Navan for sale as old brass, but nobody would purchase them. They were found in the immediate vicinity of the monuments identified by Petrie as Mael Bloc and Bluicni, two magical stones of the pillar class. Wilde states that these ornaments were purchased by the Duke of Sussex, from whom they passed to the firm of West; and in 1839 they were purchased by subscription, and presented to the Royal Irish Academy. The outer figure represents as far as we are aware, the largest ever recorded to have been found anywhere. It is 5 feet 7 inches long, weighs 27 ounces and 7 pennyweights, and is formed of four flat bars, united at their edges when straight, and then twisted.
The next in size measures 5 feet 6 inches in length, and is twisted closer; its weight is 12 ounces, 7 pennyweights, and 13 grains. These large torques were seemingly intended to be worn over the shoulder and across the breast; the smaller examples were evidently for the neck.
Lunulœ or Lunettes.—A number of these interesting objects, which there is good reason to believe belonged to royal persons, may be seen in the same collection. In Irish they are called ‘Min’ or ‘Mind,’ and consist of ‘a thin crescentic or moon-shaped plate, with the extremities formed into small, flat, circular discs at right angles with the plane of the article.’ They are remarkable for the elaborate ornamentation worked upon them, the pattern being filled with closely engraved lines single and cross-hatched; the design is of the type found on bronze weapons and sepulchral urns. These ornaments are considered to have been worn upright on the head, and held in position by the terminal plates set behind the ears. They are similar in form to the ‘nimbi’ in pictures of saints; and in those on panels, the ‘glories’ were often represented by silver-gilt plates of metal.
The above figure represents a beautiful and finely decorated example of lunette; it is 7 inches high, and about the same broad, and weighs 18 dwts. 2 grs. The terminal plates are of oblong shape and not circular.
The Diadem or Tiara is another and not uncommon type of the ‘Min.’ They are made of thin plates of gold; and the illustration here shows a semi-oval-shaped object, wide at the top and narrowing at the ends, and elaborately decorated. The ends are fixed in double plate-discs; and when worn, these terminals are supposed to have been in front of, and partially covering, the ears. This object is a magnificent specimen, and perhaps the finest of the kind yet discovered. It weighs 16 oz. 10 dwts. and 13 grs., and measures in height, internally, 11 inches by the same in breadth. It consists of three rolls or ridges, the hollows being occupied with fine rope-shaped bands. It is richly ornamented with rows of conical studs; and the discs are also decorated with rows of small studs round a central umbo.
Many penannular rings have been found in Ireland; and from these were developed a remarkable series of ornaments usually called Fibulæ, and which are typical of Irish collections. A slight enlargement at the ends of the ring gave rise to a cup-like expansion, which in time developed into such a size that the connecting ring became quite a minor feature in the ornament. The terminals are either flat, or cup-shaped; the former are usually plain, and the latter highly ornamented.
The fibula here represented is a massive ornament weighing 33 oz., and is the heaviest of its kind yet discovered. It is 8⅜ inches long, and stands 3½ inches high. The external surface of the cups is ornamented with a concentric circle pattern; while the inside edges and the junction of the handle and cups are decorated with a triangular design similar to that on the lunette.
The great interest aroused in the recent discovery of gold ornaments, the possession of which has formed the subject of debate in and out of Parliament, renders a brief reference to them necessary. They were discovered at Broighter, near Limavady Junction, on the Derry and Coleraine Railway line, in a ploughed field not far from the shores of Lough Foyle. This great ‘find’ consists of:—(1) A boat of beaten gold, 7¼ inches long by 3 inches wide, weighing 3 oz. 5 dwts.; it has eight seats, and 15 oars, with other fittings. (2) A bowl also of beaten gold, 3½ inches in diameter, with 4 small rings for suspension, and weighing 1 oz. 5 dwts. 12 grs. (3) Two chains of delicate workmanship, one 14¼ inches long, weighing 2 oz. 7 dwts.; and another 16½ inches, weighing 6 dwts. 12 grs. (4) A small torque, 5 inches diameter, weighing 3 oz. 7 dwts. 9 grs.; and a portion of another weighing 1½ oz. (5) A collar of very remarkable workmanship, and one of the first of the kind ever discovered. A small portion is missing; but when closed, it forms a circle 7½ inches diameter. It consists of a highly decorated hollow tube, 1⅛ inches diameter, formed by two plates soldered together. It is fastened at the ends by a T-shaped projection and slot. The ornament is in repoussé work, in the trumpet pattern of the Late Celtic period, the spaces between being filled with finely engraved lines like the back of a modern watch.
Mr. A. J. Evans had little doubt that the hoard was a thank-offering dedicated by some ancient Irish sea-king, who had escaped from the perils of the waves, to a marine divinity.’ Mr. Robert Cochrane, however, in a scholarly paper, suggests, with more reason for acceptance, that the offering might have been made to one of the neighbouring churches by Aedan, King of the Albanian Scots, who accompanied St. Columba to the Convention of Drum Ceat.108