A HIDDEN treasure unearthed during preparatory work for the long awaited Adare Bypass will have pride of place in a new exhibition in the National Museum.
The 8th/9th century brooch was discovered at Ardshanbally, County Limerick, in 2024 and is made of cast bronze. It is 12cm in length and features blue glass settings and a cast animal and abstract ornament.
The Early Medieval brooch was discovered by archaeologists working for Archaeological Management Solutions, who are providing archaeological services for the pre-development excavation of a site near Adare, on behalf of Limerick City and County Council and Transport Infrastructure Ireland.
The Minister for Arts, Media, Communications, Culture, and Sport, Limerick TD Patrick O’Donovan, visited the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin to view the brooch and a number of other treasures recently discovered in Limerick.
The brooch is one of over 100 objects that will go on display at the National Museum as part of a unique exhibition exploring the extraordinary journeys of people, books, and ideas between medieval Ireland and Europe.
The ‘Words on the Wave: Ireland and St Gallen in Early Medieval Europe’ exhibition will open on May 29, featuring precious manuscripts from the Abbey of St Gall, Switzerland, some returning to Ireland for the first time in 1,000 years.
Minister O’Donovan was also shown a 6th/7th century hand pin, found by a farmer in Crean, County Limerick, in 2016, close to the Minister’s hometown of Newcastle West, and subsequently conserved at the National Museum of Ireland.
Measuring just 20cm in length, the 1,400-year-old object would have been used as a dress fastener. It is intricately decorated with three inter-connected spirals surrounded by a bed of red enamel.
This type of ornate fastener probably originated in Scotland but became popular in Ireland in the sixth and seventh centuries. It is about 100 years older than the Ardagh Chalice, which was discovered close to Crean in the 19th century.
Minister O’Donovan said the brooch “brooch really is a remarkable find, beautifully detailed and dating from well over 1,000 years ago. It shows what significant skill, talent, and wealth there was even in Early Medieval period in and around County Limerick.”
