EMAP_2012_Report_6_1.pdf (7.3 MB) - The Heritage Council

emains are insufficient to offer a broad view of dress across society, but confirm the use of
both wool and linen; silk, however, has not been found outside of Dublin and Waterford.
Some of the textiles from Dublin have been identified as head-coverings in the form of caps
or scarves (Wincott Heckett 2003), but there is little evidence from rural sites of such items.
The small size of most of the rural fragments limits the possibility of reconstructing garments,
although occasional details of hems and other stitching are found, including a finely-worked
hem and decorative stitching on one fragment from Lagore, and a skilful darn on another
(Edwards 1990, 83).
A small number of textiles offer evidence for the colours used in dress. As noted above, one
pink textile from Lagore may have been dyed with madder, and analysis of a red textile from
Deer Park Farms indicated the probable use of wild madder or bedstraw (Wincott Heckett
2011, 356). Analysis of textiles from Dublin showed the use in a few cases of imported
madder R. Tinctorum, probable woad, and lichen purple (Wincott Heckett 2003, 128);
madder and lichen purple were also found in textiles from Waterford, along with yellow weld
and the use of tannins and barks to enhance natural brown colours (Wincott Heckett 1997,
747-750, 761). Apart from the textiles, occasional remains of animal or plant sources used for
dyestuffs occur; these will be discussed later in the context of textile working. One site, Deer
Park Farms, produced both dyed cloth and raw dyestuffs; however, the dyes involved were
different (red from madder and blue from woad respectively).
Accessories
Leather shoes are preserved mainly in waterlogged conditions, and while complete examples
occasionally occur, much of the artefactual evidence consists of fragments which may
represent shoes, belts, garments or other items such as bags and satchels. A range of types
of shoes was identified by Lucas (1956), who catalogued five types, of which the first four
may date to the early medieval period. Both one-piece and composite shoes are known, the
former at times elaborately decorated. Only fourteen of the sites in the gazetteer produced
leather remains which may reflect shoes; sites with definite shoes (uppers, soles, heels, etc.)
include Ballinderry II (two Lucas Type 1), Craigywarren (two Type 1 also), Deer Park Farms,
Moynagh Lough, Lissue and Rathtinaun (three Type 1). Large quantities of leather (268
fragments) including shoes were also found at Lagore.
As with textiles, the preservation conditions required for leather, and the fragmentary nature
of most of the surviving remains, limit the potential for discussion of the original distribution
of these artefacts. Six of the fourteen sites with leather remains are crannogs, but more
localised waterlogging can occur in other site types, for example in ditches; the small sample
size makes it futile to generalise about the extent of shoe-wearing, either in terms of
geographical distribution or site types.
Fragments of leather might also represent the remains of belts, although the possibility of
woven textile belts having been used must also be considered. The more usual evidence for
belts occurs in the form of buckles. These are a relatively rare find on excavated sites,
although some have been found in burials (e.g. Raheennamadra (Stenberger 1966, 44) and
Cherrywood (Ó Néill 2006, 69)), where they have sometimes been interpreted as indicating
intrusive, possibly Anglo-Saxon, elements (Ó Floinn 2002, 176; O’Brien 1999, 179-84).
Twenty-seven sites in the gazetteer produced one or more buckles; most sites had just one
or two examples, although some are recorded simply as ‘plural’; Ballinderry I and Lagore
each have three buckles, Cahercommaun possibly four (one bronze fragment, three possible
iron), and Knowth nine (six iron and three bronze). Both copper alloy and iron are used in
making buckles; most are quite plain (and often incomplete), but Lagore produced a highlydecorated
bronze example from an unstratified context (Hencken 1950, 66 & fig 11, 323)
while Ballywee has a silvered bronze example (Lynn 1988). It is interesting to note that the
larger quantities of these finds come from the traditional ‘high-status’ (even royal sites) such
as Lagore, Knowth, and Cahercommaun, although the general scarcity might suggest this
was not a widespread ornament. This may confirm the sense that this is an unusual item,
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