On this day in 1980, the magnificent Derrynaflan Chalice was found by Michael Webb and his son Mike at a monastic site on Littleton Bog near Thurles.
The chalice dates from the early 9th century and can be seen in the photographs below after restoration work carried out by the National Museum. Also pictured are other artefacts from the hoard, all of which would have been used during the celebration of mass. They include a communion paten and a strainer, used to filter impurities from wine.
The chalice is made of beaten silver which was then polished. The handles and stem are the most elaborately decorated parts, featuring filigree panels (ornamental work of fine gold or silver wire) and finely decorated with 54 amber stones. The Derrynaflan Chalice has been likened to the Ardagh Chalice and may have been inspired by it.
Once the importance of the artefacts had been established, the Derrynaflan Hoard was hailed in The Nationalist as the 'archaeological find of the century.' There was a push to have the Chalice kept in Tipperary and in the link below, you will see MEP TJ Maher in 1983 making the case for the Chalice to be kept in Cormac's Chapel at the Rock of Cashel. Alas it was to no avail.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnT15-ZUE0c
Much as we would love to have this fabulous piece of Tipperary history in our gallery, it is on display in the National Museum in Dublin. We do however, have some beautiful postcards of the Chalice and are offering them free of charge in the Museum.
Follow up to Saturday’s post regarding the anniversary of the discovery of the Derrynaflan Hoard
The Derrynaflan Hoard was found by Michael Webb and his son Mike in February 1980 when they were looking for archaeological objects using a metal detector on the ancient monastic site on the bog at Derrynaflan.
Their remarkable discovery opened a Pandora’s Box about archaeological finds made by members of the public using metal-detectors. Who owns the items? Is it the finders, the landowners or the state? Although the Webbs had no problem handing over the items to the care of the National Museum, they did expect to be compensated for their efforts and they baulked at an initial offer of £10,000 to release their claim to the objects which were deemed to be worth millions of pounds by Sotheby’s Auction House in London. Especially considering the owners of the land were offered £25,000.
Unfortunately, the case soon became adversarial and ended up in the courts. After six years of legal battles, the high court deemed in 1986 that the full £5.5 million value of the hoard should be paid to the Webbs, who had sought the return of the objects after the £10,000-pound offer on the grounds that they were the rightful owners. However, in 1987 the National Museum successfully appealed that verdict and the Supreme Court judged that the objects belonged to the state. Nonetheless, the court also praised the Webbs’ ‘entirely praiseworthy behaviour’ and deemed that they should be offered £50,000 for the discovery.
The Derrynaflan case subsequently had a huge impact on the National Monuments Act and the use of metal detectors by the public. According to the updated Act, the unregulated and inappropriate use of detection devices causes serious damage to Ireland’s archaeological heritage. It is now illegal to use a detection device to search for archaeological objects anywhere within the state or its territorial seas and the penalty for such an offence can include fines of tens of thousands of euros and/or imprisonment. The logic is that the unsupervised recovery of archaeological objects by untrained users of metal detectors can greatly diminish, or entirely eliminate, any knowledge or research value that might be gained from a particular discovery. Failure to expertly record the context from which an object has been removed results in an irreplaceable loss of knowledge of the past.
To learn more about the laws regarding metal-detecting, you can visit the website of the National Museum at the following link: https://www.museum.ie/.../The-Law-on-Metal-Detecting-in....
