| Ballinderry Brooch | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Material | Copper-alloy, tin,enamel,millefiori |
| Size | head (diameter): 8.6cm, pin (length) 18.3cm |
| Period/culture | late 6th or early 7th century |
| Place | Ballinderry lake,County Offaly |
| Present location | National Museum of Ireland,Kildare Street, Dublin |
| Identification | NMI E6:422 |
TheBallinderry Brooch is an Irishpenannular brooch dated to the late 6th or early 7th centuries. It was found in the 1930s, along with a number of similar objects, underneath a timber floor of the lateBronze Age BallinderryCrannóg No.2, on Ballinderry lake,County Offaly.[1] Made from copper-alloy, tin andenamel, and decorated withmillefiori patterns, it is relatively small, with a maximum ring diameter of 8.6 cm, while its pin is 18.3 cm long.[2]
The brooch is on permanent display in theNational Museum of Ireland Treasury room. It is considered one of the most important and elaborately formed and decorated of the surviving penannular brooches. Although locally produced, it may have connections toAnglo-Saxon metalworkers as it closely resembles designs from a fragment of a hanging-bowl frame dated as pre-625 (probably 600 AD), from theSutton Hoo hoard.[3]
It is thought to pre-date early medieval refurbishments of the Crannóg (a type ofBronze Age river dwelling), and it is likely that at some point it was "pushed down between the timbers to hide it" from attackers or raiders.[4] Much of the archaeology records from the 1930s excavation are poor or incomplete, and so it is not possible to date it from the layer in which it was found, nor to estimate the reasons or conditions of its original depositing. In addition, the site was ransacked for artefacts in the mid-19th century and suffered considerable damage.[4]
A number of similarly styled mountings and fragments from smaller brooches have been found in the Ballinderry area.[2]
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The terminals are shaped as stylized animal heads, whose mouths (or snouts) face each other to form the opening gap for the pin, with small protuberances at these points indicating their ears. Both the terminals and the ring contain panels of redenamel and inlaidmillefiori platelets with full and semi-circle patterns arranged in cross shapes.[5][6] Theconcaved reverse of the terminals containhexafoil designs lined with series of dots.[7]
The arms of the ring are lined with thin series of lines, herringbone andhatchings which resemble tight strips of wire bindings. A pair of copper-alloy coils are banded loosely around the ring and may have functioned as additional fastening devices for cloth; each has a sharp and a blunt ending.[6]
The reverse of the head containssoldered plates decorated with further engravedmarigold designs.[2] The reverse-side marigolds have led to the brooch's comparison tothe marigold stone inCarndonagh,County Donegal, which also contains "the pattern of a geometrical stem rising towards a marigold flower".[7][8]
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