Ulster Archaeological Society

A Lost Hoard of Viking-Age Silver from Magheralagan, County DownAuthor(s): C. S. Briggs and J. A. Graham-CampbellReviewed work(s):Source: Ulster Journal of Archaeology, Third Series, Vol. 39 (1976), pp. 20-24Published by: Ulster Archaeological SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20567766 .Accessed: 28/02/2012 15:54

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Ulster Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 39, 1976.

A LOST HOARD OF VIKING-AGE SILVER FROM MAGHERALAGAN, COUNTY DOWN

by C. S. BRIGGS and J. A. GRAHAM-CAMPBELL (Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments in Wales

and University College, London)

SUMMARY References to an 1835 find of silver artifacts and coins from near Downpatrick are noted from

antiquarian papers of the mid-nineteenth century. The present whereabouts of the discovery are not known, but the precise ascription of a coin to a Baghdad mint, and an illustration of an

arm-ring, demonstrate that this was a mixed Viking-Age silver hoard - the first on recordfrom Co. Down.

Nineteenth-century sources The following is a transcript of one of several letters from Thomas Benn of Belfast to John Lindsay, the Cork antiquary and numismatist, which have been brought to our notice by Pro fessor Michael Dolley.1 It is dated 'Belfast, 18 June 1845'.

'My dear Sir, I received your much esteemed letter of 14th

enclosing the 16th plate of the Scotch Work, and the 4 coins mentioned, for which I am very

much obliged to you, and return you my best

thanks, hoping to have it in my power to recip

rocate your kindness. I visited Downpatrick yesterday and availed

myself of the opportunity to reinspect Mr Jas. Martin's Collection; he has some good coins, and other valuable Antiquities, but of the former none of peculiar rarity; however, I took impressions of 4 coins, which I beg to enclose herein (and of which I have also retained

impressions), which do appear to me somewhat remarkable, 3 of them at least are strangers to

me, No. 4 1 presume is a Styca of Ethelred [I and

of no value.

No. 1 is a description of Coinage new to me,

at least I do not at this moment recollect having

seen anything precisely like it, at first I thought it resembled some Eastern /page 2/ or other foreign coinage, especially from its having a very antique appearance, and from having a single hole perforated through it, Mr Martin however assures me that it was found some

years ago at a place called Magheralaggan

about 3 miles from Down,2 along with some

others, of the same kind (but in a very mutilated

and decayed condition), also some silver rings, of very rude workmanship and some ingots of silver.

No. 2 is a coin which on first view I should

have supposed to be a medal, or counter of

more recent date, than that expressed, how ever, it may be a rare coin, it seems to have been

thickly plated or the die imperfectly con structed, the name to the left of the head barely

legible is Kirk; perhaps it is some of the Town pieces referred to by Simon whs book I have now at the moment before me.

No. 3 is probably one of the ecclesiastical

coins of the continent of the eleventh or thir teenth century.

I remain, My Dear Sir, Yours Very Truly, Thomas H. Benn.

Addressing Lindsay in a later letter on 23 December, Benn related how he had just received a letter from Martin

'in whose possession the Cufic coin is; and I have this morning recd his reply which is inter esting, and I beg to enclose it for your perusal. I

think it probable Mr Sainthill will not find his terms unreasonable, as Mr M. says he will not

be particular about rarity'.

The subsequent fate of the kufic coin would be uncertain if it were not for the recent discovery of

a number of nineteenth-century antiquarian let ters in the National Museum of Denmark,

Copenhagen. These were written to the Danish

antiquary C. J. Thomsen and his successor, as

Chancellor of the Museum of the Society of

Northern Antiquaries, J. J. A. Worsaae. Among Worsaae's Irish correspondents were Carruthers, Clibborn Todd, Petrie, Lindsay and Sainthill. Three of the letters are from Sainthill. The first, dated 5th December 1846, is addressed to Dr

(Aquilla) Smith, and was presumably written whilst Worsaae was staying with the Rev. J. H.

Todd, in Trinity College Dublin, during his study tour of the British Isles, 1846-47.4 The letter lists the three kufic coins then in Sainthill's possession, though recording none of their find-spots. In a

20

postscript, Sainthill directed Smith to tell Worsaae that he (Sainthill) was negotiating the acquisition of a kufic coin from the north of Ireland. The postscript runs:

'Tell Mr W- that a Dirheim of Al Mahdi -

Marsden' Plate 3 Coin 31 - coined at Baghdad

AH 168 A.D. 784 - was found in the North of

Ireland - which, I am endeavouring to get

through Mr Lindsay.'

Sainthill's next letter (dated 7th January 1847, Cork) not only connects this coin more specifically with the discovery outlined by Benn, but also gives an account of his attitude to this non-local coin

age: (page 2)

'I delayed writing to you, as I was in treaty for a

Dirheim of one of the early Khalifs, of the race

of Al Abbas, which was found about 12 years

since at Magheralaggan, about 3 miles west of

Downpatrick, County of Down - with another

similar coin and a great many fragments, cut into halves and quarters - and also a quantity of

fragments of silver rings, and one ring perfect -

I yesterday received this Dirheim for which I gave 4 Saxon Pennies /page 3/ (Eadmund, Eadred, Eadgar, and Cnut) and I enclose you an

impression of it - as also another Dirheim of the

Saffianian Dynasty, which I received last week, but I do not know its history.6

These Cufic coins in Ireland and England generally turn up, with Saxon coins, I am not aware of any being found with coins, sub

sequent to William the Conqueror - There are

too few to indicate Trade, and yet so many, as to seem to prove, continued intercourse with Syria by the English - I should be more inclined to

suppose they were brought from the East by

Pilgrims, but the subject requires more inves

tigation and research /page 4/ than an unlearned Merchant can give it7 - I am glad to hope from

Mr Hildebrand's publication, that the Cufic Coins in the North are likely to be published.'

Amongst the Windele papers, in the Royal Irish Academy,8 is preserved a drawing of a silver ring

(P1. VII), described as'Found at Downpatrick in 1835. In the cabinet of James Carruthers Esq

Glen Cregagh Co. Down'. Given Sainthill's

account in 1847 that the hoard was found'about

twelve years since' (i.e. c. 1835), 'about 3 miles west of Downpatrick', there can be little doubt that this drawing is of the 'one ring perfect' attri

buted by him to the hoard. This identification is

supported in part by the fact that no other

Viking-Age silver ring is known from Co. Down (Graham-Campbell 1976, Appendices C and D).9

Contents of hoard The above sources demonstrate that the

Magheralagan hoard contained two complete

kufic coins (one at least perforated) and 'a great

many fragments, cut into halves and quarters'.

There is no suggestion that Anglo-Saxon coins were present in the hoard.

Benn's 'some silver rings, of very rude work

manship and some ingots of silver' do not equate

exactly with Sainthilrs 'a quantity of fragments of silver rings, and one ring perfect' unless the sup posed ingots are in fact fragments of rings. It is, however, reasonable to list the non-numismatic contents of the hoard as follows: one complete silver ring, some fragments of others, and possibly some ingots.

This combination of kufic coins with a complete silver ornament, hacksilver and ?ingots is well known in Scandinavian hoards of Viking-Age date, but the information available on the

Magheralagan coin and arm-ring enables a closer

estimate of the deposition-date of this hoard to be

made.

The coin Sainthill identifies the Magheralagan kufic coin by reference to'Marsden Plate 3 Coin 31'. Marsden'" copied his original inaccurately and the coin should be dated A.H. 162 and not 168 as Sainthill

believed. Mr Nicholas Lowick (Dept of Coins and Medals, British Museum) has kindly provided the following correct description:

Xbbasid dirham of al-Mahdt_(A.H. 158 69/A.D. 775-85), minted at Madinat al-Salam

(Baghdad), year 162/778-9.

The perforation of the coin suggests that it is likely

to have had a period of use as a pendant by a

Scandinavian owner.

The arm-ring The silver arm-ring is penannular in form and

consists of a broad band of silver with stamped

ornament on its outer face. This ornament consists

of vertical transverse lines, executed with a cir

cular punch, interspersed with a number of fields

which are randomly stamped with a punch shaped in the form of a lozenge suritounting a triangle - a

well-known pattern on Scandinavian Viking-Age silver (Stenberger 1958, fig. 72).

The form and ornament of the Magheralagan

ring establish that it belongs to the recently defined Hiberno-Viking arm-ring type of c. 850 950 (Graham-Campbell 1976, 51-2). Parallels for

the lay-out of the ornament are numerous (e.g.

Armstrong 1915, pl. xxv, 2-7), whilst the

lozenge-on-triangle stamp also occurs on other Hiberno-Viking arm-rings, including an example from the Roosky, Co. Donegal, hoard (Raftery

1969, fig. 1, 21) and another from the Cushalo

gurt, Co. Mayo, hoard (Hall 1973, fig. 1,963/986). It is the only known find of such an arm-ring from

Co. Down.

21

* COIN - HOARD O COI N - HOARD (Co. provenance only)

A MIXED HOARD A MIXED HOARD (Co. provenance only) * COINLESS HOARD O COINLESS HOARD

FCo. provenance only) Ag sv had o S t r e

C-9

~~~~~~~>~~~~~~~ O ~~~~~~~~50 kms

Fig. 1. D)istribution of provenanced Viking-Age silver hoards of Scandinavian type from Ireland.

Deposition date All other known coin-hoards containing kufic coins from Britain and Ireland were deposited in the period c. 875-c. 975, with the majority depo

sited during the thirty-five years between 900 and 935 (Dolley 1966, 26-7, 48-51). Mr Lowick comments that the Magheralagan kufic coin is of a

type common in hoards until the early tenth cen

tury, but which then becomes markedly scarcer. All known coin-dated hoards containing Hiberno-Viking arm-rings fall within the bracket c. 875-c. 930.

On these grounds, a deposition date in the late

ninth/early tenth century may reasonably be established for the Magheralagan hoard.

Comments

The discovery of mid-nineteenth-century records referring to the lost Magheralagan hoard has

enabled the partial reconstruction of a find of

some importance. It is only the fifth coin-hoard

from Ireland known to have contained ornaments

and/or hack-silver, other than ingots (Graham Campbell 1976, Appendix C). It is a valuable

addition to the growing number of kufic coin hoards known from Ireland (Appendix) and, as Professor Dolley has commented (personal com munication), 'there seems no formal reason why

this should not be a ninth-century hoard, and so

one of the earliest from Ireland'. Little other Viking-Age silver is known from

22

Co. Down - the only other hoard being that of Hiberno-Norse coins from Scrabo Hill, deposited c. 1130 (Dolley 1966, 81-4; Hall 1973-4, 81). The

Magheralagan hoard helps to fill what was a somewhat surprising gap in the distribution of such finds down the east coast of Ireland (Fig. 1)." l

The only other recorded finds of silver from Co. Down are two ingots in the National Museum of Ireland. These are described respectively as hav ing been 'Found in the county Down' (Armstrong 1915, 290:W.1), and 'Procured from the county

Down. (Dawson Collection)' (ibid., 291:W.4); no further information is available.'2 Either ingot could have derived from the Magheralagan hoard, as might have the ring and armlet of silver exhi

bited in Belfast in 1852 by James Martin of

Downpatrick,'3 who had the various coins listed by Benn. Further researches amongst the many

nineteenth-century letters and papers, preserved in the Royal Irish Academy and elsewhere, will undoubtedly bring to light other such'new' finds if not further information on the Magheralagan hoard.

Appendix: Kufkc coin-hoards from Ireland

(after Dolley 1966; Hall 1973-4; Graham-Campbell 1976)

Drogheda, Co. Louth c. 905 Glasnevin, Co. Dublin c. 927 Dunmore Cave, Co. Kilkenny c. 929 Co. Kildare c. 935 Co. Meath c. 970

Magheralagan, Co. Down late 9th/early 10th C. Co. Derry late 9th/10th C.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors are most grateful to Professor Michael Dol ley (Queen's University, Belfast) and Mr Nicholas Low ick (British Museum) for their advice and comments.

We also wish to thank for their assistance Mr George Boon (National Museum of Wales, Cardiff), Mrs Brigid Dolan (Royal Irish Academy, Dublin), Mr John Hop kins (Society of Antiquaries, London), and Fru Fritze Lindahl (National Museum of Antiquities of Denmark, Copenhagen).

P1. VII is reproduced by permission of the Royal Irish Academy, and was taken by Mr Albert Glaholm (Uni versity College, Dublin). The map was drawn by Mrs Eva Wilson.

NOTES

1. The originals form part of a run of Lindsay cor

respondence, mostly from Sainthill and Windele, now in the possession of Hunter of Hunterston, and

made available to Professor Dolley through the

good offices of Col. and Mrs J. K. R. Murray of Cheltenham. A set of photostats are in his pos session and full publication is planned over the next

few years. 2. Magheralagan townland (which appears in the cor

respondence as Magheralaggan) lies some 3 miles

SSW. of Downpatrick (grid r?f. J 4343/4). 3. Professor Dolley points out that the piece is almost

certainly one of the mid-eighteenth-century coin

weights put out by the London maker John Kirk

(1724-1776), who frequently signed his products KIRK below the busts copied from the coins associ

ated with the weights in question. 4. Worsaae was in Dublin from November to January

1846-7, as recorded in his published letters, En

Oldgrandskers Erindringer (ed. V. Hermansen,

Copenhagen, 1934), 317-44. 5. W. Marsden's great work, which was privately

printed in two parts, is entitled Numismata Orien talia Illustrata. The oriental coins, ancient and mod

em in his collection, described and historically illus trated. With numerous plates, from drawings made under his inspection (London, 1823, 1825).

6. There is now no enclosure with this letter, nor is the coin identifiable in the Department of Coins and

Medals, National Museum of Denmark. 7. Richard Sainthili (1787-1869) was a Cork wine

shipper without formal education beyond the

grammar-school. 8. R.I.A. ms. 12.C.l,p. 135. 9. This arm-ring is that listed previously by Graham

Campbell (1976, Appendix D) as a single-find from

Downpatrick. 10. Op. cit. in note 5. 11. This new map is based on Graham-Campbell 1976,

maps 2 and 3, with the addition of two recent finds

of coinless hoards from Co. Cavan and Co. Meath.

12. Dr A. T. Lucas has kindty confirmed that there

appears to be no further documentation for these

pieces in the National Museum of Ireland. 13. Descriptive Catalogue of the Collection of Anti

quities and other objects . . . exhibited in the

Museum (Belfast, 1852), at a meeting of the British Association.

23

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Armstrong, E. C. R. (1915). 'Catalogue of the silver and ecclesiastical antiquities in the collection of the

Royal Irish Academy', Proc. Roy. Irish Acad., 32C

(1915), 287-312.

Dolley, M. (1966). The Hiberno-Norse Coins in the British Museum (British Museum, London, 1966).

Graham-Campbell, J. A. (1976). The Viking-Age silver hoards of Ireland', in ed. B. Almquist and D.

Greene, Proceedings of the Seventh Viking Con

gress (Dublin, 1976), 39-74.

Hall, R. (1973). ' A hoard of Viking silver bracelets from

Cushalogurt, Co. Mayo', J. Roy. Soc Antiq. Ire

land, 103 (1973), 78-85.

Hall, R. (1973-4). ' A check list of Viking-Age coin finds

from Ireland', Ulster J. ArchaeoL, 36-7 (1973-4), 71-86.

Marsden, W. (1823, 1825). Numismata Orientalia Illus

trata, 2 vols (London, 1823 and 1825). Raftery, J. (1969). 'A hoard of Viking silver bracelets

from Co. Donegal',7. Roy. Soc. Antiq. Ireland, 99

(1969), 133-6.

Stenberger, M. (1958). Die Schatzfunde gotlands der

Wikingerzeit, vol. 1 (Stockholm, 1958).

24

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