from Tullamore Tribune - September 8th, 2000

The Derrinboy Hoard

The hoard found during turf cutting in June 1959 included five objects surrounded by copper wire. The artifacts were found at a depth of about four metres below the surface of a bog.

The hoard is famous for its two gold broad-ribbet armlets of outstanding beauty and amazing craftsmanship and believed to be over 3,000 years old.

The armlets are cylindrical in shape with the ends touching. They are made of fairly heavy gold sheets, the edges of which were turned over to form a raised re-inforced border.

They have been dated to 1200-1000 BC. The decorative work is regarded as Southern British with some continental influences.

The hoard also consists of two gold tress rings, also cylindrical in shape and a neck ring, with a cylindrical leather core around which a gold wire was closely wound.

When the object reached the National Museum, where the entire hoard is currently located, most of the wire had been pulled off the leather.

The entire find was located surrounded in copper wire.

The nature of the objects (personal adornment in gold) suggests that the items were probably a type of funerary deposit related to one individual.

The Banagher Hoard

Details of the find are sketchy with the first publication of the artifacts stating that the items were found in a field some years before 1918.

The hoard includes a bronze bracelet, a gold dress fastener, two solid bronze rings and 125 amber beads.

The solid bracelet is pennanular in form, meaning that it is incomplete with a gap to allow a free-swivelling pin to pass through. It has evenly expanded bronze terminals at each end of the bracelet.

The dress fastener is lozenge-shaped. It is solid and tapers from a maximum thickness of 9 mm in the middle to 5.5mm at the junction with the terminals.

The circular terminals, one of which is slightly damaged, average 42 mm in diameter.

The terminals thicken towards the outside forming a sort of beaded edge.

The amber beads are probably from a necklace. The beads vary in shape and size with the largest (40 mm) likely to have been located at the centre front of the necklace.

The hoard is again located in the National Museum.

The Charleville Hoard

Extreme variation in dates of bronze items found in Charleville Estate in 1960 means that the collection of artifacts is not generally regarded as a hoard.

The collection includes spearheads, axeheads, gouges and a sickle.

A shield-pattern palstave (a form of bronze axeheads common in the Early Bronze Age in Europe) found in Charleville is usually associated with the period around 1,500 BC while another of the finds is dated to the 8th century BC.

These items too are stored by the National Museum.