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penannular bracelet

• Object type

  • penannular bracelet

• Museum number

  1857,0627.4

• Description

  Gold penannular bracelet. The solid thin body has an oval section and it is unevenly curved. The ends are slightly expanded to form solid, plain and oval sectioned terminals.

• Culture/period

  • Late Bronze Age

• Date

  • 1150BC-750BC (circa)

• Findspot

  • Excavated/Findspot: Mooghaun North (Newmarket on Fergus hoard)
  • (Europe,British Isles,Ireland,Republic of Ireland,Clare (Ireland),Mooghaun North)

• Materials

  • gold

• Technique

  • cast

• Dimensions

  • Diameter: 77.51 millimetres
  • Width: 5.15 millimetres (body centre)
  • Width: 5.69 millimetres (body end)
  • Thickness: 3.96 millimetres (body centre)
  • Thickness: 7.49 millimetres (body end)
  • Diameter: 5.75 millimetres (terminal)
  • Weight: 49 grammes

• Curator's comments

  The hoard was discovered on low ground in the area between Lock Ataska and Mooghaun Loch. It has been stated that the area was under water prior the modern cutting of a deep drain from Mooghaun Lake. Accounts of the precise place of discovery vary, but it appears that the ornaments were packed into a cavity.The bracelet is part of the largest hoard of gold objects found in Ireland near Newmarket on Fergus. The discovery of the hoard was made in March 1854 by labourers working on the construction of the Limerick to Ennis railway.
  The find was dispersed at the time of the discovery and a large proportion was melted down. For that reason the total contents of the hoard can never be established but 146 pieces survived to be presented at a meeting of the Royal Irish Academy on June 26th 1854 weighing 174 oz 11dwt 7 gr or nearly 5kg.

  More 

• Bibliography

  • Murgia et al 2014 3.8.10.1
  • Eogan 1983a p.69-72, no. 58

• Location

  On display: G68/dc5/p2/no3

• Exhibition history

  Exhibited:
  2012 - Present, London, BM, G68 Money Gallery
  1991 23 Aug-24 Nov, Dublin, National Museum of Ireland, Irish Bronze Age Gold

• Acquisition name

  • Purchased from: William Willoughby Cole, 3rd Earl of Enniskillen

• Acquisition date

  1857

• Department

  Britain, Europe and Prehistory

• Registration number

  1857,0627.4