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A VEST OF chain mail, which is over 800 years old, has been handed in to the Knights and Conquests Heritage Centre in Granard, Co Longford.
At a Norman People event last weekend a member of the public disclosed that they had a hauberk, or coat of chain mail, in their garden shed.
General Manager Bartle D’Arcy said that he was astonished when the member of the public brought in the precious artefact which is in excellent condition.
“We had a Norman heritage day as part of Heritage week. I was walking around wearing a chain mail coif when people came up to me and said that they had ‘some of that’ in their shed.
“I said ‘what do you mean you have some of that in your shed?’ They brought it in to me two days ago and it is a full hauberk 800 years old.
They took it out of a drain a few years ago with a digger and just had it in their shed. It is extraordinary.
D’Arcy brought the chain mail to the National Museum of Ireland yesterday.
Officers there said that they were amazed to see an intact hauberk having only ever seen fragments of chain mail.
“It is an amazing extraordinary find. This all happened because of a chance encounter. They didn’t know what it was because it got stuck in the digger bucket. Unless you knew your history you wouldn’t really know what it was.
“It wasn’t discovered in Granard but it was discovered locally but we are protecting the identity of the person. We are doing everything by the book and have declared it to the museum and so on.”
Plans are afoot to put the chain mail on display in Longford.
D’Arcy says that the museum will no doubt take the chain mail away to carry out some work on it.
D’Arcy says the chain mail is in such good condition because it was in water for so many years.
“It only rusts if you have water and air and if its only in water it survives. When the digger brought it up it was in peat.”
It is understood the chain mail dates back to 1172 when the Normans arrived in Ireland. It will be restored and preserved before it goes on display.
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If I lived in Longford I would hold onto it and wear it
@Lorrimore: From Longford here. I’d love to say I was offended by that comment, but I laughed out loud!
@Longlin: what ye saying. Is longford a kip or what?
@Lorrimore: Best comment in a long time there Boss..
@John Costello: It doesn’t protect against a pitchfork though!
They don’t build sheds like that anymore!
A bit of WD and it’ll be good for another 800 years.
@Ronan: 40
Chain mail. Wasn’t that a postal scam in the 80s?
Incredible that they had the skills to produce something so intricate 800 years ago. Imagine how long it took to produce?
@Christopher Byrne: i have a pre pentium 286 in the shed.
@Christopher Byrne: probably 799 years
@Chewey Bacca: modern
Dose the finder get a finder fee. I sure it’s very valuable as a state artefacts. ?????
@Jimmy Kiely: Worth an absolute mint in that condition. These guys had no idea what they had. I hope they were paid. Great story
@Vonvonic: is it worth a mint though? I haven’t been keeping up with the second hand chain mail market but I’d say it could be worth a lot less than you think.
@Sean: Even if it was made yesterday with the materials and craftsmanship involved (They are completely hand made) it would be worth 10-20 grand but what with it’s 800 year old history, I think it’s safe to say it’s worth a mint.
@Vonvonic: The State owns all archeological finds, it is illegal to sell anything you find, a museum will not buy the find from you. If you find an archeological artifact, you have 96 hours to hand it in to the nearest museum.
“Under the terms of the National Monuments Acts 1930 to 2014, ownership of any archaeological object with no known owner is vested in the State [Owned by the State]. Anyone who finds an archaeological object must report it within 96 hours to the National Museum of Ireland or to a Designated County or City Museum in the locality. Anyone found guilty of an offence under these provisions is subject to a fine of up to €111,100 and/or 5 years imprisonment.”
It is illegal “to use a detection device for the purpose of searching for archaeological objects anywhere within the State or its territorial seas.”
https://www.museum.ie/en-IE/Collections-Research/The-Law-on-Metal-Detecting-in-Ireland
@David Jordan: And??? Have I contradicted any of that?
@Vonvonic: It’s owned by the State, so it has no value, €0.
Ironically, the rarer and more “valuable” a find, the more likely it will be impossible to sell and will be donated to a museum.
This is unlike the UK were e.g. artifacts >300 years and >10% precious metal can be examined by a Coroners Court, where the item is valued and the finder than can then sell it to a museum or collector. That does not happen here.
For example, eBay has a page where it explains Irish law on archeological artifacts, stating that selling such items on eBay is not permitted unless the find is declared at a museum and the Minister (Department of Culture, Heritage & the Gaeltacht) provides a waiver of ownership, which is impossible to obtain for valuable items. It essentially mean that selling valuable archeological artifacts is impossible.
@David Jordan: it’s a shame that no one can use a detector or get some reward for a find like they do in the UK. Imagine the thousands of artefacts under soil that hobbyists could locate and turn in, instead left to rot or be destroyed by development instead,
@David Jordan: An artifact of this quality that absolutely noone is looking for? You don’t think that couldn’t be shifted? I think that’s naive.. Regardless of it’s value under Irish law; it’s still worth a mint.
@David Jordan: vonvonic said what it is worth (a month). They didn’t say anything about selling it
@David Jordan: vonvonic said what it is worth (a mint). They didn’t say anything about selling it
@David Jordan: Go back to work, Karen.
They’re so very good on the beach for finding watches and jewellery and such.
@Vonvonic: *also very good
@Golden Steph: Most people who used metal detectors in the 1980s, before they were illegal, kept objects taken from public and private land for themselves. Often archaeological objects were destroyed or discarded because there was no conservation or through a lack of understanding. The archaeological sites they were taken from were partially destroyed without record by treasure hunters digging through archaeological layers to retrieve iron objects that returned a signal by the metal detector, but the object was often discarded if it was not ‘valuable’. Hense the National Monuments Ammendment Act in Ireland to ban their use, unless by licence, to retrieve an archaeological artefact.
@Edmond O’Donovan: Can anyone apply for the licence?
@David Jordan: “ Found it in the false bottom of an auld blanket box me great grandparents had left in the attic’ “Always heard the auld story at family gatherings that our ancestors fought in battles back in the 1200’s”. Add a little bit of flower to that and sell away, no state ownership there…
@David Jordan: a bloke I worked with his grandfather found the Somerset find in Galway 1943 or there. Got nothing for it.
@David Jordan: You’re not wrong in saying that you have to surrender archaeological objects / artefacts to the State but rewards may be paid to finders in respect of discoveries. Objects can also be purchased by to the National Museum of Ireland. If someone finds an ancient gold brooch for example there might be a temptation to melt it down or sell it on so the financial reward makes it less likely for the finder to do so. I doubt they get anywhere near full market value or how you even arrive at a value for certain items but finders may get something for their troubles anyway. I found something once part of an ancient implement they took me into a room said it dated from very early Dublin and thanked me for bringing it in. They held onto it. I didn’t get and nor did I expect a reward.
Norman’s be like: Merci, le Penny’s
The’ Just Do It ✓’ lettering is badly faded!
I can only imagine a poor Norman buck out footing turf and the midgets eating the head off him and the chain mail tearing the back off him. No wonder he threw it into a bog hole.
“I’m not wearing a silly cake jumper, This is yuk”
Never been to Longford. I’m sure people are very nice and civilised, but after what happened to that poor Norman after a night out 800 years ago , travel plans have changed.
First thought I had was ‘jaysus, how old is yer shed?!’
Mithril
@Steve O’Farrell: Equipable Goblin mail
1172? That’s a tad exact for a find with no context. I’d like to know who came up with the date and how.
Sounds a bit doggy to me that a machine would have dug it up and no one said anything, I suspect there is more to this story than is in the public eye
@Edmond O’Donovan: Doggies generally tend not to talk about these things…
More pictures please??!
Norman was reluctant to write the ‘Thank you’ letter to his Gran for yet another ill fitting Christmas jumper.
Heard of; ‘Chain Letters’.
Yes we got good news
Very suspicious. It came out of a digger bucket when they were ransacking an archaeological site. And didn’t report it to the national museum and continued to dig or build or whatever. No wonder they’re keeping their name out of it.
800 years in the ground. Perhaps 50 or 60 years in a museum and then mysteriously disappears only later to resurface in a private collection. Yeah I’m cynical.
Has the age and authenticity of the alleged 800 year old chainmail been verified yet by a qualified and experienced archaeologist or museum official ?
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