EMAP_2012_Report_6_1.pdf (7.3 MB) - The Heritage Council

a matrix for casting Thor’s hammer symbols (Ó Ríordáin 1984, 137). Other stone ingot
moulds are known from various sites, including Lagore (Hencken 1950, 170-1); Moynagh
Lough (Craddock 1990, 182); Ballinderry II (Hencken 1942, 65); Garranes (Ó Ríordáin 1942,
108-9); Roestown (O'Hara 2009b, 62); Clonmacnoise (King 2009, 343); Cathedral Hill,
Armagh (Gaskell-Brown & Harper 1984, 125); Clonfad (Stevens 2007, 43; 2010, 91) and
Temple Bar West, Scandinavian Dublin (Simpson 1999, 33), Faughart Lower, County Louth
(Schuster & Jones 2012, 46-47). A stone mould for dress-pins was recorded at Caherconnell
cashel (Hull and Comber 2008, 31); a possible stone mould for casting small rings was found
at Reask (Fanning 1981, 126) while another possible example for pewter bowls was found at
Woodstown 6 (O'Brien & Russell 2005, 119).
Clay moulds were used for producing finer objects such as ringed-pins and penannular
brooches (Doyle infra, Section 3). It appears that only bivalve or ‘two-piece’ clay moulds were
used to produce these (Comber 2008, 141). However, most of these are in a fragmentary
state as they were usually broken in order to extract the casting. Once the cast objects were
removed from their moulds, they were finished by filing away the rough edges and polishing.
They were then ready for assembly and for further decoration such as millefiori, enamel or
the insertion of glass or amber studs (Edwards 1990, 91). Clay moulds associated with metalworking
activity are known from at least 15 settlements and nine ecclesiastical sites
(Appendix 1; O'Connor 2005). They are highly friable and therefore easily broken, a factor
which may contribute to their discovery and distribution. Most of the settlement sites are
represented by very small numbers of moulds (less than eight). These are predominantly
high status raths, crannogs and ecclesiastical sites or settlements with burials (Fig. 3.2).
Fig. 3.2: Moulds on different types of Irish early medieval settlements (N=22)
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