1992:005 - SHANMULLAGH OR BALLYCULLEN, Armagh

Dredging of the River Blackwater in this area in 1990 brought to light a 10th-century hoard. The finds included a set of weights and a ballance-pan, together with pieces of Hiberno-Viking silver and metalwork of ecclesiastical character, typically clipped or broken into small pieces. Similar finds were obtained from the surface of consolidated dredgings which had been taken from the river at this point in 1970.

In October 1992, during a period of 2 weeks, the consolidated deposit was excavated with the aim of recovering further pieces. An area measuring some 20m x 300m was stripped mechanically and searched in successive 'layers'. Some artefacts were recovered, most of which can be associated with the hoard in question. These include a gold finger ring and armlet fragments of Hiberno-Viking type, a silver brooch terminal of a type ancestral to the bossed penannular series, pieces of enamelled bronze and angle bindings from shrines. Also recovered were fragments of raw silver, bronze and lead, pieces of slaggy waste and a crucible fragment.

The whole assemblage is identified as the stock-in-trade of a Hiberno-Viking metalworker, perhaps derived in part from the treasury of Armagh, only some 10km from the findspot. The loss may have been occasioned by misadventure when fording the river or when travelling by boat. The findspot lies immediately downstream of a ford which was defended by Hugh O'Neill at the end of the 16th century.