Wakeman's handbook of Irish antiquities

by W. F. Wakeman

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.

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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.’

Gold Torques, Royal Irish Academy Collection.

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.