EMAP_2012_Report_6_1.pdf (7.3 MB) - The Heritage Council

Fig. 8.5: Sites with iron ornaments and evidence of iron-working: number for
each site type
Non-ferrous metalworking
While crucible residues and other traces are a useful indication of metals worked on site,
mould fragments are a key part of the evidence for the manufacture of particular types of
ornaments. Stone moulds occasionally provide such hints, for example a complete mould for
‘dress-pins’ from Caherconnell (O’Sullivan et al. 2010, i, 118). Clay mould fragments, broken
open after casting to release the ornaments, may occasionally provide sufficient detail to
allow brooch or pin types to be identified, which might potentially reflect the ornaments also
found on site. Sheet metal working, however, can also be used for ornaments; this was the
method used for the bird-headed brooches from Lagore and Moynagh Lough (see below).
While evidence for non-ferrous metal working occurs on forty-four sites which also produced
personal ornaments (see Table 8.8), it is rarely possible to directly link the process and
products. The possibility that ornaments found on these sites could have been made there
remains, but is not conclusive. Some sites, however, have more convincing evidence for the
manufacture of dress ornaments. At Garranes, both stone and clay moulds for casting pins
and rings were found (Ó Ríordáin 1941-2, 110, 123-4), while a copper alloy pin was noted as
being fresh from casting (ibid. 95). Evidence from Lagore included an unstratified mould for a
ring-headed pin and a mould fragment showing part of a large ring, possibly for a brooch
(Hencken 1950, 126, fig. 60 nos. 1517 & 872). The manufacture of copper alloy ornaments
was also noted at Dooey (Ó Ríordáin & Rynne 1961, 62); evidence included quantities of both
complete and fragmentary clay moulds, including one for a penannular brooch (ibid. Fig. 7).
Finished personal ornaments from the site include around fifty bronze pins, along with
brooches and buckles. At Lough Faughan, a clay mould for a flat-headed pin was found
(Collins 1955, 59), although this type does not correspond with the actual pin found on site.
The multivallate site of Clogher has been identified as a brooch factory, with two specific
types of zoomorphic penannular brooches apparently being manufactured there, one of them
by an individual craftsman (Kilbride-Jones 1980, 63). In addition to manufacturing evidence,
the site has been proposed as the centre for dissemination of these particular brooch types
(ibid. 66).
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