2012:251 - Corrard, Fermanagh

A gold, flange-twisted torc was reported to the National Museums Northern Ireland as having been recovered from a field in Corrard, Co. Fermanagh.  Under the terms of the Treasure Act 1996 (amended by the Treasure (Designation) Order 2002), the torc was considered as being potential Treasure.  Consequently, the Northern Ireland Environment Agency asked the Centre for Archaeological Fieldwork to assess the reported find spot with a view to refining an archaeological appreciation of the depositional context of the torc, as well as informing the wider Treasure process set in train by the reporting of the find.

The torc is an example of the flange-twisted type with four flanges and was coiled prior to its deposition.  Flange-twisted torcs of this type are dated to the Bishopsland phase of metalworking (c. 1400-1100BC) on the basis of the similarity of their simple hooked terminals with those of gold bar-twisted torcs, which in turn have a close resemblance to copper alloy examples with Bishopsland phase associations (Waddell 2010, 204).  Associations of southern British examples of the type suggest that flange-twisted torcs date to c.1300-1100BC (Ramsey 2011, 2), however, differences in the metallurgical composition of the British and Irish gold flange-twisted torcs, which apparently reflect regional variations in alloying traditions (Warner 2004, 79, fig.11/5a), suggest that the adoption and practice of bar-twisting gold-working techniques in Ireland and Britain may not necessarily be contemporaneous.  The metal detectorist who found the Corrard torc reported that it was recovered from boggy ground, at a depth of approximately 0.6m, and lay at an angle of approximately 45 degrees.  No other finds were found in the vicinity of the torc.

Unfortunately, the assessment of the reported find spot did not add significantly to an appreciation of either the circumstances or the context of the torc’s deposition.  The find spot is located within an area of boggy low-lying ground set within a small park landscape associated with the former demense surrounding Corrard House.  At the time of the torc’s deposition in the Middle Bronze Age (c. 1300-1100BC) the site would have been part of an inter-drumlin bog that opened out onto an embayment of Upper Lough Erne.  This would have been a marginal and wet location, set adjacent to the edge of the lough and subject to periodic flooding.  No prehistoric sites or finds are known within the immediate vicinity of the discovery.  Inspection of the site itself, as well as study of the available cartographic and aerial photographic resources, failed to produce any evidence to suggest that the find spot was associated with prehistoric remains.  Analysis of the find spot of other discoveries of Bronze Age metalwork in the Fermanagh area suggests, however, that the general landscape context of the Corrard find is not atypical of the sort of sites chosen for the deposition of metalwork.  The conducting of both a metal detector survey across the field containing the find spot and a limited magnetometry survey over the immediate area of the reported find spot also failed to produce any further finds of Bronze Age date or a trace of features that may have been associated with the deposition of the torc.  Given the reported depth at which the torc was recovered and the technical problems posed by working in a waterlogged bog, the failure of the surveys to detect the presence of archaeological finds or features at Corrard should not be relied upon to indicate that further artefacts or structures do not exist at the site.

National Museums Northern Ireland intend to acquire the torc.

References

Ramsey, G. 2011. Preliminary Account Concerning the Discovery of a Late Bronze Age Gold Torc from County Fermanagh, (Unpublished Report), Armagh County Museum, National Museums Northern Ireland, Armagh.

Waddell, J. 2010. The Prehistoric Archaeology of Ireland, (second edition) Wordwell, Dublin.

Warner, R. 2004. Irish gold artefacts: observations from Hartmann’s analytical data, in H.Roche, E.Grogan, J.Bradley, J.Coles and B.Raftery (eds), From Megaliths to Metals. Essays in Honour of George Eogan, Oxbow Books, Oxford. 72-82.

Centre for Archaeological Fieldwork, School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology, Queen’s University, Belfast, BT7 1NN