Gold medieval brooch found in Dingle Harbour goes on display
AN extremely rare medieval gold ring brooch that was found on the shore in Dingle Harbour will go on display this weekend In Músaem Chorca Dhuibhne, Ballyferriter.
The precious brooch, no bigger than a €2 coin, was found at Cloosmore by English artist Ian Andrews in 2015. Isabel Bennett, Curator of Museum Chorca Dhuibhne, was instrumental in reporting the find to the National Museum in 2016 and the brooch was subsequently acquired for the national collection. The precious artefact will now be on loan to Museum Chorca Dhuibhne for display on Friday and Saturday.
Ian Andrews, who has family ties in Dingle, noticed a bright light shining between rocks while walking on by the sea in Cloosmore. He looked more closely and discovered the exquisite gold ring brooch. How the brooch came to be in Cloosmore is unknown, but it is thought it may have been desposited with soil that was dumped near the shoreline.
The brooch is a vestige of the 13th Century when Dingle was a thriving port with an export trade in wool, animal hides and dried fish, while imports included wine, fine cloth, salt and hardware. The merchants of the town were prosperous and, as is the case today, paid taxes to the Dublin government. (see more information on this online on dinglehistory.com).
The brooch, which is the first of its kind to be found in the south west of Ireland is an example of a rare type of 13th/14th Century ring brooch with projecting hands. The gold brooch has a blue stone setting, now identified as tourmaline, which is similar to sapphire. There is an inscription in Gothic-style lettering on the front of the brooch but, while most of the letters are legible, their meaning is unclear and they may represent a type of code. It is thought that the brooch may have had a magical or talismanic association for the wearer.
The ring brooch will be on display in Ballyferriter on Friday, October 5, from 10am - 5pm and on Saturday, October 6, from 10am - 1pm. This loan has been made possible through a grant from the Mobility of Collections Scheme to Músaem Chorca Dhuibhne from the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. However, to supplement the grant and assist in covering the cost of bringing this treasure home the normal entry fee to the Museum will apply.