The Somerset Horde

In 1954, in the course of land reclamation operations, a group of metal objects was discovered about 10 inches below the surface of a field on the farm of Mr. Michael Hanney in Somerset. The specimens appear to have constituteda hoard in the archaeological sense. They had been deposited in the earth about 50 yards outside the bank of a large earthen ring-fort known as Caltraghgarraun Fort. Included in the hoard were some iron objects which were thrown away by the finder and of which no accurate description could be obtained by Mr. Martin Joyce, N.T., Aughrim, to whom the Museum is grateful, not only for bringing the hoard to scientific attention but also for his painstaking endeavours to reassemble the items which had been dispersed amongst the people of Clontuskert.

Martin Joyce

A Cylinder of Bronze found in the Somerset Horde.

The objects acquired to date by the National Museum are as follows:

1958: 156 Gold Tork. Made from a single ribbon of metal, 6mm. wide, 0.5mm. thick, with an open twist. It is 11cm in diameter. The terminals, which are not everted, are rectangular in cross-section. They bear tiny hammer marks and gradually thin from 5mm. at their extremities to ribbon thickness. In the tip of each there is a roughly square, sunken hollow. The torc is now bent into a double-coiled spiral.
1958: 157 Shallow cylinder of bronze, open at one end.
1958: 158 Shallow cylinder, bronze, open at one end.
1958: 159 Openwork mount, bronze.
1958: 160 Open mount, bronze.
1958: 161 Bronze fibula.
1958: 162 Cup handle, cast bronze.
1958: 163 Cake of bronze.
1958: 164 Rod shaped ingot, bronze.

All the other articles in the Hoard are made of Bronze, they include a round shallow box, openwork mount bronze, Bronze fibula, cup handle, Cake of bronze and Rod shaped ingot.


History Menu

Allan Pollock
"The Great Shame"
History of
Sport
Clontuskert
Around 1837
Gortnamona House
Battle of Aughrim
The Old Abbey of
Clontuskert
The Somerset
Horde
The Old School
Glann Church


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